Q&A: Automatic Event Photography on the Sabbath
Automatic Event Photography on the Sabbath
Question
I read several responsa on the topic and still didn’t understand the nature of the prohibition. I’d be grateful if the Rabbi could clarify the picture for me.
On the Hilchata site: “According to most halakhic decisors, a photo taken by a Jew in violation of the Sabbath is forbidden under the law of an act done on the Sabbath.” But here there is no act by a Jew.
On the Din site, for example, they introduced the argument of an animal or utensil’s required cessation of labor. In others it was argued that this is an inevitable result that is beneficial to him.
And I still wonder: how is it permitted to turn on a light on the Sabbath by means of a timer, when not only is that an inevitable result that is beneficial to him, but we also benefit from it during the Sabbath?
Answer
I don’t understand: who said there is any prohibited product of Sabbath labor here? They were talking about a picture taken by a Jew, not automatic photography.
The requirement of cessation of labor by one’s utensils was not ruled as practical Jewish law. That is the view of Beit Shammai.
It also isn’t an inevitable result, because you are not doing any action simultaneously. To speak about an unintended act and an inevitable result, you have to be doing some action on the Sabbath that is permitted, and alongside it a prohibited labor is performed. But here you did nothing on the Sabbath.
In short, all of these seem to me like nonsensical arguments.