Q&A: Electricity and Fire on a Jewish Holiday
Electricity and Fire on a Jewish Holiday
Question
What is the Rabbi’s view regarding turning on electricity on a Jewish holiday, as was the practice among the sages of North Africa and as Rabbi Mashash ruled, or should that ruling be set aside because of lack of knowledge on this subject?
Also, what about lighting matches on a Jewish holiday—is there any authority one can rely on?
Answer
Regarding lighting a fire, the Mishnah in Beitzah 33b prohibits it. The commentators disagree about the reason for this prohibition (see Maimonides and Raavad, chapter 4 of the laws of Yom Tov). Some attribute it to the prohibition of creating something new, and according to Raavad because there is no prior preparation here; others (Maimonides and Rashba, Beit Moed, gate 2, chapter 6, section 7) explain that anything that could have been done before the holiday was forbidden on the holiday itself. Some understood Maimonides to mean that the prohibition is because of the effort involved in lighting, and therefore they permitted a match and an electric bulb, where there is no such effort. But that is forced, and the halakhic decisors rejected it.
I don’t know what lack of knowledge on the subject you’re referring to. What exactly here is unknown?
For more, you can look here.
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Questioner:
Rabbi Mashash wrote in his book that turning on electricity is like transferring fire from an existing fire, and he did not consider it creating something new. That’s what I meant: scientifically speaking, did the sages of North Africa not understand the nature of electricity, or were they misled about the electrical process?
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Rabbi:
I also once thought that electricity was transferring fire rather than lighting a fire. But it seems to me, logically, that this is incorrect. I’m not sure this is a misunderstanding. It’s a matter of reasoning, not physics.
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Questioner:
If someone turns on an air conditioner on a Jewish holiday, does he have whom to rely on, like Rabbi Yosef Mashash, or is there a real prohibition here?
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Questioner:
I don’t understand what my permission would add for you if you’re unsure about Rabbi Mashash’s permission, which I’m not familiar with (that permission, that is). After all, even if I tell you it’s permitted, you’ll go ask a third person whether you can rely on me, and so on. There’s no point in just collecting opinions. Either you decide for yourself, or you rely on some halakhic decisor. If you rely on Rabbi Mashash and it’s clear to you that he said this—then turn it on. What is clear is that in the view of the overwhelming majority of halakhic decisors, turning on electrical appliances on a Jewish holiday is prohibited.
Discussion on Answer
It is forbidden to activate pumps. However, if it is indirect causation or a mechanism that activates them at set times, there is room to be lenient.
The Rabbi said:
"Regarding lighting a fire, the Mishnah in Beitzah 33b prohibits it. The commentators disagree about the reason for this prohibition (see Maimonides and Raavad, chapter 4 of the laws of Yom Tov). Some attribute it to the prohibition of creating something new, and according to Raavad because there is no prior preparation here; others (Maimonides and Rashba, Beit Moed, gate 2, chapter 6, section 7) explain that anything that could have been done before the holiday was forbidden on the holiday itself. Some understood Maimonides to mean that the prohibition is because of the effort involved in lighting, and therefore they permitted a match and an electric bulb, where there is no such effort. But that is forced, and the halakhic decisors rejected it."
If from the outset they tied it to the prohibition of effort, then they should also have prohibited the effort involved in food preparation on a Jewish holiday—no?
And I wanted to ask about the effort involved in keeping the “lamp” = “fire” burning all night long (getting up and checking), adding oil or wood to the bonfire. Isn’t that effort too?
They didn’t prohibit even full-fledged labors done for food preparation, so why would the effort involved in food preparation be prohibited?
And in general, one should not compare different kinds of effort. Whatever the sages prohibited is prohibited, and whatever they did not prohibit is not.
It’s pretty interesting, because usually only the men would make the pilgrimage—“all your males shall appear”—and then who would cook for them? The women at home. So if they spend the whole day dealing with food, how would they feel the holiday? From here came the thinking about the effort involved in preparing food. Practically speaking, nowadays you buy lots of ready-made and preserved food and it’s easy to cook from it. But in their time everything was done by hand—no refrigerators and no preserved canned food.
To the questioner—I’m not a rabbi or a halakhic decisor. But many worthy authorities already permitted it: Rabbi Raphael Aharon ben Shimon of Egypt, Rabbi Yosef Mashash, Rabbi Tzvi Pesach Frank, Arukh HaShulchan, Rabbi Uziel. Rabbi David Shlush wrote a long responsum on this with all the aspects and concluded that it is permitted.
As for turning it off, that is subject to dispute.
In another place the Rabbi wrote that the prohibition of electricity on a Jewish holiday is because of creating something new, whereas Rabbi Uziel argues altogether that creating something new is not a prohibition. What is the Rabbi’s view on the issue of creating something new?
https://haravuziel.org.il/%d7%a1%d7%99%d7%9e%d7%9f-%d7%99%d7%98-%d7%90%d7%95%d7%97/
I assume there’s also a dispute about this kind of creating something new…
Afterward my view shifted that it is forbidden because of building. There’s a long column here about that. As for creating something new, those are old discussions.
The Rabbi wrote:
I also once thought that electricity was transferring fire rather than lighting a fire. But it seems to me, logically, that this is incorrect. I’m not sure this is a misunderstanding. It’s a matter of reasoning, not physics.
What is the Rabbi’s reasoning?
But you explained to him that it’s not a correct comparison, so why are you encouraging him to turn it on?
By the way, Rabbi, if electricity is kindling fire, then why is it permitted to activate electric pressure pumps when people open the water taps in the house? The pressure in the tap is indirectly produced by electric pumps.
Would it be permitted for me to install a temperature sensor and set the air conditioner so that when the surroundings reach temperature X, the air conditioner turns on automatically?