[Avodah] Rabbi Noach Isaac Oelbaum's Position on the Kosher Switch

[Micha Berger via Avodah]

On Thu, Apr 16, 2015 at 03:43:24PM -0400, Zev Sero via Avodah wrote:
:> BTW, I found a reference to the case in the SA at
:> <http://www.kosherswitch.com/liv/tech/the-analogy>. To quote:
...
:>       * More accurately:  A person opens/closes the window before the wind
:>         is created, before the candle is placed by the window, at a time
:>         when the device's indicator is green, knowing that sometimes gusts
:>         of wind hit the candle [its future location] and sometimes they
:>         miss, and even when they do strike the candle, sometimes they're
:>         able to extinguish it, but other times they do not... Welcome to
:>         KosherSwitch (R).

: Yes, and it seems from the SA that this would be permitted.   The big
: difference, though, is that in the SA's case there is no intention to
: extinguish the flame, and here there is.

Getting back to the post that started this tangent, the question was
whether this last bullet item actualy is relevant.

What's relevant is the probability of the wind eventually blowing the
candle out or the switch turning the light off. If it's a rov or maybe
a rube deruba, then it's gerama. At least, that's what was consensus
decades ago when Machon Zomet first produced their switch technology
and wheelchair.

Whether you can break down the likelihood of the melakhah occuring into
a union of the probability of a number of sub-steps or not doesn't seem
to me to impact the question. Because this isn't a safeiq situation,
it's whether your action can be blamed for the melakhah.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Today is the 12th day, which is
micha at aishdas.org        1 week and 5 days in/toward the omer.
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