Q&A: Electricity on the Holy Sabbath
Electricity on the Holy Sabbath
Question
I studied the laws of the Sabbath carefully and I didn’t see any basis, in my opinion, to forbid electricity on the holy Sabbath (I also saw an article the Rabbi wrote here on the site). Do I need to defer to the opinion of the rabbis of the sages of Israel who forbade it anyway (regardless of the reason) — and is that itself a sufficiently justified reason to prohibit it?
Answer
No. If you are competent in the matter and have a clear position, then you may (and should) act accordingly.
Discussion on Answer
By the way, would you also recommend that a doctor who thinks and claims that it’s clear to him that some surgery needs to be done, while the rabbis of the greatest doctors warned that it is truly life-threatening — should he too act according to his own opinion, based on the fact that in his view nothing will happen if they don’t do it?
Why doesn’t the absolute consensus of the sages of Israel to forbid electricity have the status of a Sanhedrin and of “do not deviate”?
A sitting Sanhedrin has the law and authority of a sitting Sanhedrin.
The agreements of the sages of Israel from some faction, or even from several factions, have the law and authority of sages of a faction or factions.
It’s not the same product.
In medicine, what matters is the truth. In Jewish law, both the truth and autonomy matter. See the latest column.
What does “competent in the matter” mean in this context?