[Avodah] If you have an electronic water meter, can you turn on your faucet on Shabbos?

[Zev Sero]

On 1/08/2012 5:26 AM, Marty Bluke wrote:
> R' Micha Berger wrote:
> "I would be happier if PVWC put the meter on a timer and gave me my water for free on Shabbos. Therefore, helping them bill me is lo nicha lei."
>
> And I would be happier if when I cut off the chicken's head it
> wouldn't die, but it will.

That's a law of nature; it's impossible for it not to die.  And in the
iconic example, the bird's death is not lo nicha leih, it's simply
irrelevant to him.  He doesn't care whether it lives or dies.


> The same thing applies here, the water company is billing me for usage
> and when I turn on the faucet the meter will record my usage on Shabbos.

There is no physical law that compels the water company to charge you.
There's no physical reason why it can't give you water for free.  It
chooses not to do so, and that decision is definitely lo nicha lach; it
hurts you in the pocket.  You understand the decision, but you wish it
had gone the other way.


> When I come to turn on the water faucet on Shabbos, we can't deal with
> hypotheticals but the facts as they are right now and

You've just destroyed the whole concept of "lo nicha leih".


> right now I want
> the meter to record my usage so I will know how much to pay.

No you don't.  Right now you *still* want not to have to pay.  If the
meter were to stop running you'd be happy, not sad.

-- 
Zev Sero        "Natural resources are not finite in any meaningful
zev at sero.name    economic sense, mind-boggling though this assertion
                  may be. The stocks of them are not fixed but rather
		 are expanding through human ingenuity."
		                            - Julian Simon