Question

In the series of columns on kindness and law, you explained that the rules of Jewish law, like rules in general, are meant only to bring us closer to the truth, but they are not the truth itself. You gave the example of a rabbi who permitted theft in the ghetto, and you justified his claim, because that is what his cognitive tools indicated at the time—to step outside the rules. On the other hand, regarding the prohibition of electricity on the Sabbath, you argue that those who think it is only a rabbinic prohibition (unlike you, who base it on the category of building, following the Hazon Ish) are not sufficiently straightforward. My question is: can it not be said that for all those rabbis who prohibited it, it was crystal clear that electricity is forbidden by the Torah on the Sabbath, except that the Torah was not given in a period when electricity existed in the world? After all, using electrical devices undermines the fundamental idea of rest and cessation that underlies the Sabbath, so one could say that the kindness—the initial intuition, prior to rules—is what forbids its use. In other words, one can use that reasoning not only to permit things, but in this case also to prohibit them.
One can add another layer to this and say that sometimes Jewish law is meant only to anchor the commandment within some particular system of rules, even though its essential foundation is really intuitive. For example, regarding an issue relevant to our own times, the Sages prohibited blowing the shofar on the Sabbath for a reason that seems strange and far removed from reality—the concern that someone who is learning might carry it. Canceling a Torah commandment for all of the Jewish people because of the concern over a Torah-level transgression by a few individuals. (Especially since those who are not careful about carrying because of forgetfulness could seemingly also forget because of other things.) It is similar to saying that the Sages would prohibit eating and drinking all day lest a person fail to recite a blessing. But perhaps here too the reason is more hidden and deeper (as the Lubavitcher Rebbe, I think, wanted to say—that it is connected to the fact that on the Sabbath there is delight even without the shofar), and the Rabbis simply sought to anchor this halakhically and defined it in terms of a concern about carrying.