Are we Losing the War on Sensor-ship?

 

When I was a lad, we did not use the term “Orthodox” to describe mitzvah observant Jews. We primarily had two other terms – the more colloquial “frum” Jews and the more formal “Shomer Shabbos” Jews. For centuries, being “Shomer Shabbos” was the defining point of being a “frum” Jew. Once one is “Shomer Shabbos”, it is taken for granted that he or she keeps kosher, wears tefillin and tzitzis (for him), and keeps mikvah (for her). But it all goes under the banner of being “Shomer Shabbos”.

Keeping Shabbos has always been challenging but those of us who were born into it take it in stride. On Shabbos we don’t cook or bake or write or turn on lights or watch TV or use the phone or tear toilet paper or fix things, etc., etc. That’s the way it is. We just follow the rules.

How do we know the rules?

For the simple Jew, there is good old tradition. Ma and Pa said we don’t do these things on Shabbos. So we don’t. We learn about it in cheder and we just know. We also listen to tapes from Shmuel Kunda, Z”L, (not on Shabbos) and read books by Rabbi Baruch Chait. All good.

The more learned ones among us might even learn Masechet Shabbos and Shulchan Aruch (with Mishna Berura).

Yet, the times, they are a-changing.

Up until about 200 years ago, it was enough to learn Masechet Shabbos and then learn Rambam and Shulchan Aruch. All we needed to know was how to define the 39 melachos. But we didn’t need to worry about lots of things. Aside from fire, there were no lights or radio and TV, no cars, trains or even bicycles, no washing machines, refrigerators, air conditioners, gas stoves, electric ovens, crockpots, salad spinners, computers, faxes, wrist watches, rain hats and umbrellas or even toilet paper (and definitely baby wipes). Oh, and no Shabbos clocks, either. Keeping Shabbos wasn’t so hard and whatever was good for the parents was good for the kids.

For generations. Up until just 200 years ago.

But then things started to change and change fast. The Shulchan Aruch did not answer all of our questions. We needed new updated Halachic digests on Hilchos Shabbos. And we still do.

I believe that the trend started circa 1800. HRHG Avraham Danzig, ZTL, was one of the first who recognized the need for a concise halachic digest on Orach Chaim and Yoreh Deah for der heimisher oilam – the pious but relatively unlearned man in the street. Thus, he gave us Chayei Adam for Orach Chaim and Chochmas Adam for Yoreh Deah. In Chayei Adam, he devotes 79 “klalim” to Hilchos Shabbos and is very thorough. Of course, at that point, the industrial age had not taken root and his sefer only covers the generations-old basics. Still, it paved the way for what was to follow.

The next digest took another 65 years and still only dealt with the age-old basics. This was the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch by HRHG Shlomo Ganzfried, ZTL and it was published in 1864. I am not sure why it was necessary after the Chayei Adam but I surmise that Rav Ganzfried thought we needed something even more concise. He devotes only 25 simanim to Hilchos Shabbos. But, just about then, technology and Halachic analysis began to accelerate.

In 1884 – just 20 years later – the Chafetz Chaim published the first volume of Mishna Berura. The third volume, the one on Hilchos Shabbos came out in 1891. We know that his style was different. It was in the form of analytical notes directly on the Shulchan Aruch. It was geared for the more studious baal-habayis. The Chafetz Chaim had two goals in mind. One was to sift through all of the contending opinions and to give the everyday Jew a clear psak on which to follow. But the other was to bring Orach Chaim into the 19^th (and 20^th) century.

The one who really did bring Orach Chaim into the 20^th century was the Chazon Ish whose first notes on Orach Chaim came out 20 years later in 1911 with new revisions popping out over the next forty years. Someone once told me that the Chazon Ish said later in life (I cannot verify this): “People think that I am a big machmir. Let me just say that there are just about 300 points of contention between myself and the Chofetz Chaim in Orach Chaim and, in most of the cases, I am the meikel!”

But the modern age wasn’t truly ignited until 1935 when HRHG Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach put out his sefer, Meorei Eish, which was a monumental work dedicated to how to deal with electricity on Shabbos and Yom Tov. This is when electricity (and telephone) was first becoming a household item for the average person. It was just that, in the early years, we controlled electricity. It did not control us.

Since 1935, we have been bombarded with technological innovations and we needed to rely on the “teshuvos” of the great poskim, those mentioned above and the Igros Moshe, Tzitz Eliezer and others. Yet, we didn’t have a comprehensive modern day Shabbos handbook until 1965 when HRHG Rav Yehoshua Neuwirt, ZTL put out the first edition of Shmiras Shabbos K’Hilchasa. To keep up with the fast-moving times, two more editions came out with the last one in 2010.

Rav Neuwirt, ZTL passed away in 2013, but the need for a dynamic comprehensive guide to Hilchos Shabbos is here to stay. This is due to the vision of one prophetic man:

George Orwell.

In 1949 George Orwell described a future world that he thought would come to existence 35 years later in 1984. And he gave us the slogan: Big Brother is watching you.  

He was talking about the era of censorship sensorship.

In his book, 1984, Orwell was envisioning a world of 24/7 sensorship. Telescreens, surveillance cameras, microphone recorders and other devices following us around everywhere we go and watching everything we do and reacting to every move we make.

Cameras, motion detectors and digital readers - all triggered by sensors.

Orwell may have been about thirty years ahead of his time, but the time has come. Everything we do is being censored sensored. They are everywhere. They turn on lights, they open doors, they answer phones, they flush our toilets. They know when we open our refrigerators and close our ovens. They measure our weight and body temperature. And they count how much water we use.

Wherever we are. Wherever we go. The sensors are watching us. With electric eyes. 24/7.  

24 hours a day - seven days a week. Yes, seven days a week.

Even on Shabbos.

Modern technology is supposed to make life easier for us, isn’t it? We have air conditioners and refrigerators and now use electric plattas instead of blechs and have Shabbos clocks that manage everything. Let the electricity do the work for you. We don’t even need a Shabbos-goy.

But the sensors are watching us.

So after Rav Neuwirt passed on, we need a new generation of poskim. Brave courageous people who can stand up to the sensors and other modern problems (like salad spinners). And so, Mori V’Rabi HRHG Rav Yitzchok Mordechai HaCohen Rubin, Shlita Rav of Kehillat Bnei Torah in Har Nof (my shul) together with his chavrusa HRHG Sholom Yosef Gelber, Shlita came out with the Hilchos Shabbos handbook for today’s generation – Orchos Shabbos.

The first volume came out in 5763 (2003) and the latest volume on candle lighting came out this past year. And it’s already out of date. So let’s look at some of today’s shailas:

Reverse osmosis filters – are they borer or not? (Rav Rubin holds it is borer.)

Can one use a salad spinner to dry lettuce on Shabbos? (This was the Rav’s Friday night shiur three weeks ago. Rav Rubin holds one can’t even rinse the lettuce in the first place – see HERE).

What about running water on Shabbos in places that use digital water meters (which is just about in any modern place in the world except Yerushalayim, Bnei Brak, Beitar and Kiryat Sefer)?

This is a real tough one. Rav Rubin, Shlita has said that if the water runs on a digital meter, one must turn on a tap before Shabbos and only use that tap all Shabbos. However, I have heard about making a distinction if one is at home or in a Jewish house where the homeowner is paying for the water so the meter is working for him versus being in a hotel or other public place where the user does not pay for the water so he has no personal stake in what the meter is doing.

So, does your house use a digital water meter? You probably don’t want to know.

And, Shabbos before last what did he discuss?

The sensors – motion detectors that turn on lights!

Rav Rubin holds that if one is merely walking on his way outside and passes a motion detector which lights up an area that he has no involvement with (i.e., a private yard on the other side of the fence) or opens a door he has no intention of entering, the action “does not relate” to him and he may go there even though he is aware that he will probably unwillingly trigger a motion detector. [The same concept basically applies to surveillance cameras.] But if the motion detector does something that he benefits from, such as it lights up the way for him, one may not go to such a place.

So what if one lives in a building (co-op) which has cameras that benefit him and motion detector doors or lights for the stairwells?

The Rav holds he has a very serious problem.

So Shabbos before last, he was discussing such a case where one lives in a building wherein if any individual uses the stairwell instead of the elevator, a sensor will light up the stairwell for that person. The poskim generally agree that there is no hetter to use the staircase.  

Well, a Shomer Shabbos can’t use an elevator on Shabbos so, what to do?

A Rav in Bnei Brak wanted to suggest that, if the tenant installs emergency lights in the stairwell so there is always some amount of light, enough to comfortably climb the stairs 24/7, then the individual is not really benefitting from the additional light triggered by the sensor. So, perhaps, this would be like the lights lighting up in other people’s yards that do not relate to him and we can be lenient.

The Rav analyzed the issue in his Friday night shiur and, although he did not reach a firm conclusion, it seems like if the question was put directly to him, he would not be able to permit it.

We did not have shailos like this when I was a boy. If we wanted to cross a street, we just went to the corner and waited for the traffic light to change from red to green. It changed all by itself. We did not need to worry if there is a hidden weight sensor or electric eye telling the light that there are people waiting to cross. The light just guessed. Now, we may never know which traffic light is a chillul Shabbos trap.

Oh, but for the good old days when they said, “If you don’t come to work on Saturday, don’t bother coming on Monday”. Keeping Shabbos was a lot easier then. Maybe you had to work in a factory but at least you could cross the street and climb the stairs to your flat and even open your ice box refrigerator without being mechallel Shabbos.

And we could stay at a regular hotel. No electric doors, electric keys, automatic faucets and toilets. Nothing. We just needed to remember to cut the toilet paper in advance. Now staying at a hotel on Shabbos is like staying in a minefield.

Every generation has their nisyonos but ours is certainly the hardest. Our venerable and sagacious bubbies and zeidis did not have the nisyonos we have.

And it’s all because of sensorship!

I don’t suppose George Orwell ever thought of keeping Shabbos, but he knew what was coming.

The sensors are watching us!