May one run a program or machine that will operate on Shabbos, either by setting a timer to activate once Shabbos has started, or by leaving it running continually? What if the action is one that is only meaningful on Shabbos (i.e., it couldn't be accomplished on any day other than Shabbos?) If yes, could one then benefit from that operation on Shabbos, e.g. a coffee-maker or a Roomba?
I read this response (update: the link is dead, but the suggestion was to write a script to visit SE on Shabbos in order to earn the enthusiast and fanatic badges) and while I think that that suggestion may be dishonest, it is an interesting question.
In summary then, there are several questions:
- May one leave a device, mechanical or computerized, operating continually from Friday into Shabbos? (This is asked in another question (below), but the answer doesn't bring any contemporary sources)
- What if it doesn't run continually, but rather uses a timer to activate itself once Shabbos has started?
- What if one benefits from said device on Shabbos itself? (Lights, coffee, TV, Robotic vacuum cleaner?)
- What if the function performed can only be performed on Shabbos specifically? (Fanatic badge)
- Is Maaras Ayin* the only concern?
Please include contemporary sources where applicable.
Related: Computer working on Shabbos
*Maaras Ayin is the concern that others will think you are doing/have done something that actually is forbidden, but they will think that because you have done it, it must be alright. In this case, people will think that I have visted the site on Shabbbos (which is forbidden), and will conclude that visiting the site on Shabbos isn't forbidden at all, "after all", they'll say, "HodofHod did it!".
Update: While YDK's answer is very good, I'd like to see someone even more contemporary than R' Moshe address this question, especially regarding computers, which could be different than timers. Also, R' Moshe's teshuva doesn't cover a case where there is no benefit/interaction with the device until after Shabbos.
Answer
From daat.ac.il:
(Non-quoted paragraphs are ones I have summarized from that page.)
The discussion seems to center around the following Halacha (SA 252:1).
It is permitted to start an action on Friday near darkness even though the work cannot be completed on Friday and can only be finished on Shabbat.
The Gemara (Shabbos 18a) records a dispute between Rava and R' Yosef about whether this applies to noisy [i.e., public and obvious] things, like leaving grain in a watermill on Friday. The Mechaber rules leniently, like R' Yosef, while the Rema is stringent.
Based on this stricture of the Ramo, there are some who claim that using a timer on Shabbat should be prohibited when it creates audible or visible action. For example, absent some significant need, both Rabbi Feinstein and Rabbi Auerbach (Minchat Shlomo pp. 68-69) agree that this rule prohibits one from playing a radio on Shabbat even if it is left on for all of Shabbat. Placing a radio on a timer is analogous to putting wheat into a water mill. Both cause noise on Shabbat and arouse suspicion that its owner has violated the laws of Shabbat. Hence, they rule that it is rabbinically prohibited to set a radio on a timer or to let it run the entire Shabbat.
Other rabbonim have given other reasons to forbid it. Some compare it to placing a dish around a sparking flame, which is forbidden due to the concern that one might forget and adjust it, accidentally extinguishing the flame. Others say that one may begin an activity on Friday that continues on Shabbos, provided one does not benefit from it on Shabbos.
The consensus of the achronim as well as the accepted practice is not in harmony with any of the opinions which prohibit timers [emphasis mine]. As the Encyclopedia Talmudit ("Electricity" 18:679) states:
Many of the achronim permit one to set a Shabbat clock on Friday - and this is the common practice - even those who prohibit creating a sound permit the use of timers... since all know that these timers are set before Shabbat. Essentially, since it has become common practice to use timers, there is no appearance of impropriety when timers are used. This approach has been accepted by most contemporary decisors such as Rabbi Waldenberg, Rabbi Breisch, Rabbi Henkin, Rabbi Auerbach, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the Chazon Ish, Maharam Schick and many others.
There are many relevent footnotes and sources there.
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