Hundreds of rabbonim from all kinds of chareidi Jewry attended a special gathering organized by Mishmeres HaShabbos to discuss electric appliances in the digital age.
HaRav Yosef Sholom Eliashiv zt"l asked his talmid, HaRav Yitzchak Darzi, to undertake the initiative that became Mishmeres HaShabbos. In its early days, the organization used to meet with HaRav Eliashiv regularly for guidance and halachic advice.
It was HaRav Eliashiv who gave the organization its name: Mishmeres HaShabbos. He declared as the guiding principle of its operation: "Shabbos is not an agunah who needs heteirim." In the halachic world, an agunah, a woman whose husband is missing, is someone whom the halachic authorities seek to find a way to permit her to remarry. Halachic authorities who can find creative ways to permit agunos to remarry, are respected and honored. But Shabbos is not something about which it is proper to seek heteirim. In other words, the goal is not to adapt Shabbos to the digital age, but to adapt the digital age to Shabbos.
At the time the organization was founded, HaRav Nissim Karelitz added, "We do not see ourselves as obligated to find a solution for everything, but rather to clarify the permitted and the prohibited to those who wish to keep Shabbos as the halochoh requires. At the same time, it is good try to design products and procedures that can be used without any issues of chilul Shabbos whatsoever."
HaRav Avrohom Beifuss, one of the rabbonim active in Mishmeres HaShabbos, described the three principles that guides the organization: 1] To clarify the technical facts at a high level of technical proficiency, and to bring the results to maranan verabonon for a halachic decision. 2] To find technical solutions for issues to ensure that science serves Shabbos and not, chas vesholom, the opposite. 3] To stand in the breach against those who undermine the Shabbos by using and spreading digital devices that violate Shabbos.
He stressed that it is important to note that a digital record involves the passage of an electric current through billions of microscopic cells, and changing them from dead to living. Even if there was a low level electric current with no significant activity passing through the circuit before one's action, the new action is still the equivalent of a transformation from dead to alive. If someone turns on an electric vehicle, would anyone argue that his action is not like bringing the vehicle to life even if there was a small current passing through previously?
HaRav Yitzchok Mordechai Rubin, author of Orchos Shabbos, talked about the novelty of the new appliances. He noted that they are significantly different in many respects from those dealt with by the poskim of earlier generations. Thus, the new issues raised were in many cases not discussed previously. Also he noted that it can take dozens, and sometimes even hundreds, of hours of work and experiments to fully discover and describe the reality of what is going on.
He noted that the rabbonim of Mishmeres HaShabbos do not seek chumras which are not required by the din. However he noted that those appliances that they endorse must satisfy the requirement that they have no sheilos at all. He also noted that all their work is lesheim Shomayim in order to minimize chillul Shabbos, and they have undertaken debts to advance their goals and do not make a profit.
Rabbi Yehuda Heinreich, an engineer, explained how digital switching and recording works. He also discussed various sensors and the complicated programs that control modern appliances. He noted that modern appliances have complicated command systems, and, for example, sliding open a drawer might trigger a sensor that will send a message that will cause the control system to shift the flow of air to a different direction. He noted that it is almost impossible to reprogram a machine to operate within halachic boundaries on Shabbos, because there is a large amount of code, different combinations of equipment, different versions of the software and more. Even the manufacturers have a hard time keeping up with the complexity.
"This is the reason that the approach of Mishmeres HaShabbos is to physically cut off every sensor and button, to ensure that there is no possibility of chillul Shabbos," said Rabbi Heinreich. His discussion was illustrated with slides and pictures.
A number of innovative systems were discussed, including a staff-paging system that does not use electricity, a special water filtering system for Shabbos and a way to lock hotel rooms that use digital keys on Shabbos.
