[Avodah] The Kosher Switch: A Response from the Tzomet Institute’s Rabbi Yisrael Rosen

[Prof. Levine]

 From http://tinyurl.com/43wk22s   Note A in particular! YL

o Rabbi David Mescheloff, 21st of Elul 5771,09/20/11

Subject: Kosher Switch for Shabbat

In response to your request, I shall refer to the 
electric switch presented as the ‘Kosher Switch’, 
and to the website link you sent me, which 
explains the Halachic background, and even 
appends a long list of rabbis who have expressed a blessing or support.

The following is my position:

A. Truth be told, I was amazed how easy it is to 
receive endorsement letters from rabbis. It is 
apparent that one relies on the other, without 
taking personal responsibility, and with the fall 
of the foundation the entire house falls. I do 
not know what was explained to the rabbis that 
’signed’; however it is clear to any reasonable 
halachic man that there is no way to permit 
prohibitions of Shabbat (D’Oraita or D’Rabbanan), 
not even with Halachic tricks or acrobatics.

B. The whole proposed story relies on the 
leniency of ‘Gramma’, which no consensus rabbi 
would permit L’chatchila for domestic and 
personal use.  All ‘Gramma’ or similar halakhic 
arrangements carried out by the Zomet Institute 
or Technology Institute in Jerusalem were 
permitted solely for medical, security and 
similar needs.  Even if they added to the 
‘Gramma’ additional apparatuses, and even if 
there is a one in a thousand chance that the 
action will not occur, I have received from my 
rabbis (R. Shlomo Zalman Auerbach and R. Shaul 
Yisraeli) that this does not change in any way 
the halakhic status of regular ‘Gramma’ (just 
like Gramma D’Gramma and other artificial arrangements).

C. Even if the method of operation is non-active 
from the point of view of the agent, i.e. because 
he merely removes the “preventing 
element,”  Rabbi S. Z. Auerbach and others wrote 
that this remains forbidden and is treated like 
it was done directly by the person, since the 
action occurs immediately after the human 
intervention/action.   Even if the result comes 
only after a delay caused by an additional 
factor, this is plain Gramma, which is still not permitted L’chatchila.

D. And here is the main part of my remarks: 
Yesterday I went to my teacher and rabbi HaGaon 
Rabbi Yehoshua Neuwirth, Shlita, and I asked him 
whether he permitted to use this switch to 
activate electricity on Shabbat for the purposes 
of Oneg Shabbat, etc
 He was really shocked and 
said he never permitted that.  When I showed him 
the endorsement letter, he added in his 
handwriting: “Only for medicine and security” 
(see photo in attached Hebrew article). Rabbi 
Avigdor Nebenzahl Shlita, who signed a similar 
letter, also told me yesterday that he does not 
recall ever signing anything like that, and 
expressed the opinion that there is no place for 
this and was puzzled about the whole thing.

I suppose that whoever managed to get the 
signatures of important rabbis ’sold’ them an 
invention that is a kind of a complex Gramma used 
for the purpose of medicine or security, and 
succeeded in skipping this condition when they signed.

E. With regard to the claim, written in their 
accompanying halachic responsum, that it is 
permitted to use this Gramma switch to minimize 
the prohibition of those who willfully the 
violate the Shabbat, we have never heard of such 
rabbis who permit this. I am sure that those who 
‘agreed’ did not see this argument, and this is 
an argument that should not be stated.

With prayer L’Ktiva Vachatima Tova to all of Israel,

Rabbi Yisrael Rosen, Head of the Zomet Institute

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.aishdas.org/pipermail/avodah-aishdas.org/attachments/20110923/d48aae50/attachment.htm>