Q&A: Igniting a Flame on a Jewish Holiday
Igniting a Flame on a Jewish Holiday
Question
To Rabbi Michael Abraham:
Is it permitted to light a gas burner using the electric igniter that is activated by pressing the knob?
(This question came up for us today, and what happened was that someone lit it with a match held close by, claiming that he did not intend to light it with the spark. Is that correct?)
Thank you very much,
Have a healthy winter
Answer
What’s the difference from lighting a match? I didn’t understand the question.
Discussion on Answer
Can we speak plain Hebrew? I don’t understand what the question is.
Sorry, I was trying to be brief.
With today’s gas burners, in order to light them you have to press the knob, and only then does the gas flow — except that pressing it also activates the electric igniter.
Is there any allowance in a case where I also hold an already-burning flame next to it, so that I do not want the lighting to happen via the spark but via the flame that is already burning? If so, would that count only as transferring fire from an existing flame, rather than creating a new fire through the spark?
In such a case, you are creating the spark for no reason, and that itself is a forbidden act of ignition.
There are opinions that permit an inevitable result in a rabbinic prohibition, and lighting a fire on a Jewish holiday is, according to most opinions, prohibited only rabbinically. But those who permit such an inevitable result are marginal opinions.
So that means that a spark is considered actual fire, and producing the spark itself is considered ignition?
Yes
Indeed, that was a mistake.
I meant with an already-burning flame, not a match.