Tuesday, November 09, 2010

Talmudic disputation

During the visit last weekend to our daughter's home in Beersheva we engaged in an interesting talmudic disputation. During the Friday night shabbat meal my grandson happened to press against a switch and inadvertently turned off the fans. However, noone could turn them back on because this is considered against halacha, the rules that govern Jewish religious behavior. So we had to suffer in the heat without the fan above the table. I offered to turn the switch back on, but my daughter would not allow this, even though I am not a believer.

At this point I should mention that once before I performed a similar task in our shool on Yom Kippur when suddenly during the service all the lights and air conditioners went out. The Chazan continued the service but everyone was sitting in the dark and it quickly became hot and stuffy. I went outside and found a group of men gathered around the fuse box. I asked what was the problem and I was told that one of the switches had turned off, but the (non-Jewish) janitor was coming. However, when I asked how soon he would come it was clear that they had no idea. So I asked which switch would turn the power back on, and suddenly all the men ran away. I saw that there were two switches that were down, so I first tried one and nothing happened, so then I tried the other and all the lights and a/c's came back on. From inside the congregation there was an audible sigh of relief and I heard someone whisper "God answered our prayers."

But, in the case of the fans at my daughter's house a different solution arose. Because they are run on timers and the timer turned off late at night and was not due to turn back on until the following afternoon, while the timer had turned the electricity off, my daughter turned the switch back on. She considered this halachically acceptable, because she was not actually activating any device when she turned the switch. But, I argued against this approach, since by turning the switch she did eventually activate the fans, and I used an analogy. Suppose a terrorist turns on a timer that blows up a bomb when he is distant and kills several people, is he not as guilty as if he activated the bomb in real time. This issue was discussed by a group of Jews far more informed on talmudic analysis than I am, and the conclusion was that I was right. The delay in the action makes no difference, since it is the intent when turning the switch to activate the event, whether it be a fan or a bomb, that is instrumental.

What is it that is halachically unacceptable in turning a switch? It does not involve "work" in the accepted sense of the word (i.e. no big effort); it does involve making a circuit, but circuits were unknown in Biblical times; and it does not involve making fire, since electricity and fire are completely different phenomena and furthermore fans do not emit light or heat (even though they may produce some heat locally as they spin). So there you have it. I believe that this is the first halachic argument I have ever won, although the reasoning behind it is entirely alien to my way of thinking.

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