[Avodah] Could a New Gadget Change Shabbat Observance - Forever

[Micha Berger via Avodah]

On Tue, Apr 14, 2015 at 09:44:04AM -0400, Prof. Levine via Avodah wrote:
: From http://tinyurl.com/njr5j7a

:> List of leading rabbis endorse 'Kosherswitch' to allow lights on
:> Shabbat. High-voltage project could send a current through Jewish
:> world.

:> Will Shabbat observance change forever with a flick of a switch?

Unlikely. They say this is new tech, which could be true since they got
a [atenmt, but the How it Works page and the ptent describe something
much like what Machon Zomet uses in their wheelchairs
<http://www.zomet.org.il/eng/?CategoryID=198&ArticleID=409>.
Actually, Zomet makes sure their switch changes the amount of current,
I see nothing in the patent about anything but turning the power on
and off entirely -- it appears *more* problematic. The engineers
among us can check out <http://www.kosherswitch.com/liv/?wpgb_dl=7>.

As you can read on Zomet's site, R Neuwirth permits the wheelchair only
because the issue is basic mobility. KosherSwitch.com shows you that that
RYN signed on a "me too" to R' Pinchas Zabihi's haskamah. I have a notion
that once things are clarified, the truth is more somewhere in between.

When a house is on fire, and someone puts up a wall of pottery flasks
filled with water to arrest its progress, geram kibui is mutar. See SA
OC 334:22. The Rama either adds or explains (citing the Mordekhai),
that this is bemaqom peseida. But gerama isn't suddenly mutar even
without hefsed meruba or kevod haberios as a matir.

So it all boils down to whether they really have a new tech that
is more legitimate for them to call "un-grama" than Machon Zomet's
design.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Today is the 10th day, which is
micha at aishdas.org        1 week and 3 days in/toward the omer.
http://www.aishdas.org   Tifferes sheb'Gevurah: When does strict
Fax: (270) 514-1507                  judgment bring balance and harmony?