

A roundabout way of turning on a light. See the explanation b4 reading - JerusaEnt
http://www.kosherswitch.com/live/tech/how
In Judaism, you are not allowed to use electricity on Saturday. So this company made a light switch that according to them (and granted, many others) IS allowed to be used on Saturday. So I thought HN would like the way it works to try to get around things.&#60;p&#62;If your interested in seeing why this is allowed on Saturday as opposed to a normal light, if you go to Halacha&#62;&#62;Halacha: overview, it goes through it
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D_Alex
Poe's Law - an axiom suggesting that it's difficult to distinguish between
parodies of religious fundamentalism and its genuine proponents, since they
both seem equally insane - seems to apply here.

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notphilatall
Quick explanation: In orthodox judaism, one is not supposed to operate a
light-switch on the Sabbath.

I'm not jewish, but some of my friends are observant (but progressive) and use
the Sabbath as a day of reflection. This seems to completely go against the
spirit of the rule (to spend a day living simply with friends and family,
without technology for maximum reflection, introspection, and rest).

I don't see how this gadget would catch on -- unless someone is bound is
follow the rule to the letter, but doesn't really want to (but then at that
point, they should just stop adhering IMHO)

~~~
JerusaEnt
I am Jewish.

So I can tell you that you are 100% right. I don't think this is really going
to catch on for that very reason. Sabbath is a day set aside for family,
religion, and not working.

I think what the main use is going to be is people will install it for
emergencies. So I'm sure in Israel a lot of people will put it in their bomb
shelters so if they need to spend Sabbath in the shelter and need to use the
light, it won't be directly going against Sabbath.

~~~
emmelaich
> will install it for emergencies

Surely use in emergencies is allowed already.

(I am not Jewish, but I heard an Oy Vey once)

~~~
JerusaEnt
That is true. If any ones life is in danger, your supposed to "forget" the
Sabbath right away and do what's necessary. But, for example, if your wife is
very very pregnant and can give birth over Sabbath, if she goes into labour on
Sabbath, 100% you HAVE to driver her to the hospital. But it's better if
before Sabbath you order a taxi.

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kichuku88
Hi. I am not Jewish (I am in a country with hardly any Jews) and I do not know
what relation there is to electrical switched to a religious day.

Sorry for being ignorant. But can you please explain in simple words what is
need for this for Jews?

~~~
MiguelHudnandez
As far as I understand it, some orthodox jews are not permitted to do any
"work" on the sabbath.

Some factions believe that flicking a light switch is "work," or that pressing
a button is "work." So some enterprising fellows have been creating ingenious
inventions to allow observant orthodox jews to live comfortably while still
not _technically_ violating their rules.

It all seems pretty silly to me, but you have to admit, it is indeed _hacking_
and I think the devices are clever.

One specific example is an elevator, which has a sabbath mode. On the sabbath,
it will stop and open its doors at every floor, over and over, so that an
observant rider can simply walk on, and walk off at their desired floor,
without the perceived sin of _pressing the button for their floor_.

~~~
howardr
One of my friends said that his grandparents would light their stove before
sundown on friday and leave it lit until sundown Saturday so they would not
break kosher laws

I have also heard that a lot of devices have kosher mode. E.g. refrigerators
lights not coming on and power randomly going in and out much like this swith

~~~
_delirium
The random-refrigerator-compressor one is something I read about recently and
would never have occurred to me. The reasoning is that in a normal setup, the
compressor's operation is driven by internal temperature, which is impacted by
opening/closing the door, so opening/closing the door is indirectly
"operating" an electric motor, the compressor. To avoid that, in Sabbath mode
the compressor runs on a non-thermostat-based schedule, so its operation is
not being directed by any human activity.

Some electric ovens and stoves also have a Sabbath mode that lets them stay on
all day; in the normal mode most have an auto-shutoff after 12 hours, under
the assumption that an oven left on for more than 12 hours was probably an
accident.

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timinman
This is a fantastic discussion about what God might want (or not want). I am a
person of faith, I'm impressed by the respectful tone of many commenters even
thought they are obviously from very different backgrounds (rare in online
discussions). I think God likes that, too.

------
earl
Here's another article about jewish appliances in general [1] with more detail
about the restrictions. Essentially, jewish law differentiates between direct
and indirect responses to actions. And I can verify you'll occasionally see
this stuff on the UES, and a little more often in the Hasidic bits of
Brooklyn.

    
    
       Sabbath law prohibits Jews from performing actions that cause a direct reaction;
       that would qualify as forbidden work. But indirect reactions are, well, kosher. In
       Hebrew, this concept is called the gramma. There are two types of grammas,
       Ottensoser tells me. Say you hit a light switch, but it doesn't come on
       immediately - that's a time delay, a time gramma. There's also a gramma of
       mechanical indirectness, like a Rube Goldberg contraption in which a mouse turns a
       wheel that swings a hammer that turns a key that launches a rocket. You can't
       claim the mouse actually launches the rocket.
    

That being said, as an atheist, it sure looks like these people are playing
rules lawyer with their god, just like the dick at your D&D game. I have to
wonder if such a god would be pleased.

[1] <http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.11/kosher.html>

