Q&A: Smartphone on the Sabbath
Smartphone on the Sabbath
Question
If the smartphone is already on, in your opinion is it possible to use it on the Sabbath?
Answer
What do you mean by “already on”? Is the call itself already open? You’re not pressing any buttons at all? If we’re talking about such a situation, then it’s really hard to see a clear prohibition here, but there is at least a custom here, and it has a rationale.
Discussion on Answer
In my opinion that is forbidden, maybe even Torah-level. Because of building.
Yair,
Additionally,
maybe you should ask yourself how we got to a situation where the Sabbaths bore you so much that what would fill you up is YouTube.
It’s sad for me to hear that.
Sabbaths are meant to be a time when a person disconnects from material needs and engages in spirituality. What will be when you retire? Will you fill the day with YouTube?
Sorry for the bluntness, but this is really hard for me.
According to the Rabbi, building is the very connection of the device to electricity, in this case the battery. Seemingly, if the device is on, there is no building here, only the prohibition of generating something new.
The connection to electricity creates something new here. Pressing YouTube also creates here a device that projects videos. That’s something new.
That you don’t need to turn it on. Of course you do press buttons, but the phone is already on and you want to go into YouTube to relieve the boredom on Sabbaths.