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

[Micha Berger via Avodah]

Yesterday, at 7:13 pm EDT, I wrote:
> And my question becomes: In that rather typical setting, how the
> switch not gerama of one of those two melakhos? (Or possibly both, if
> a glowing filament is hav'arah, and the resulting boiling of mercury 
> in
> the fluorescent bulb, bishul.)

And then "ssvarc" (RMSS) wrote on Torah Musings at 8:28 am 
<http://k.mp/1Ojtuzf>
or 
<http://torahmusings.com/2015/04/will-the-kosher-switch-bring-mashiach-2/#comment-108271>
> In all likelihood, the Zomet one doesn’t have the light on a 
> randomized
> timer (with indicators), nor the randomized chance for the light 
> pulse
> to operate the switch.

Now for an updated version of my response (not yet approved) there:

Zomet's Grama Switch does have a randomizer on the LED whose light you
may or may not block. As do Shabbos mode ovens.  The Kosher Switch has
a the same randomizer on the detector opposite the LED, but I don’t
see how that makes anything more random.

But now that you had me looking at their “How it Works” page, the
key difference has the description of a sefeiq sefeiqa. It’s far from
clear what is meant. Here’s the quote from
<http://www.kosherswitch.com/live/tech/how>:

> This creates two safeiks (Halachic uncertainty): the first, whether
> or not the light pulse of the Light Pulse Pair will fail; the second,
> whether the switch will fail in triggering the circuit based on the
> results of the Light Pulse Pair.

“The switch will fail in triggering the circuit”? What are they
doing to introduce this second safeiq? The best I can tell, it's
a simple bit of software -- a randomizer that says "don't respond
anyway". But that's just guessing, I'm not good enough at reading their
patent to be sure.

Also, in what sense is either a safeiq? Both will eventually happen,
the question is when. I am not sure how “sefeiq sefeiqa” applies to
gerama, or to be more precise -- avoiding gerama. But at least I’m a
step further in my understanding.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

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Micha Berger Here is the test to find whether your mission
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