HaRav Dov Lando and HaRav Beifus
The very impressive gathering this past Thursday in Bnei Brak organized through the efforts of the Mishmerest HaShabbos, was attended by hundreds of rabbonim and residents who came to do honor to Shabbos and the observances of its laws, and to hear and learn about the development of popular electric devices and their implications on those laws.
The gathering was headed by the Slobodka Rosh Yeshiva, HaRav Dov Lando, who delivered a fiery talk regarding the tremendous importance of keeping the Shabbos in all of its particulars. He expressed pain and sharply depicted the pain of the Shabbos itself, because of those people who regard the Shabbos laws lightly, preferring to rely on dubious leniencies or fallacies, while in truth, the Shabbos itself, whose laws are so stringent, should be regarded most seriously.
"One must know," he said, "that grama is not a game. It does not constitute a full transgression but is forbidden, nevertheless. Besides this, the parameters of what is considered grama are very complex. Grama with regards to Shabbos is not the same as grama regarding murder or damage, as is explained by the Chazon Ish (Bava Kamma 14) that there are ways where with regard to damages an act can be considered as grama while on Shabbos it is koach sheini which is like a direct action.
"People don't think about this. Shabbos is a game? Everything can be done in a permissible way? Upon whom do they rely? Suddenly they become lax with regard to Shabbos. Not everyone knows about the limitations of grama. Besides this, there is the matter of lo ploog sometimes. There are acts which can combine infractions punishable by sekillah and koreis without question. How can one relate to this with equanimity?"
It is often problematic in buildings of several floors, modern water systems are used with computer-controlled supply. These are problematic on Shabbos. The Mishmeres displayed a home water pump which was developed by Moses Shabbos Solutions whose system serves home users with water without any need to involve changes to the water pump of an apartment building.
This unique meeting ended late at night, yet many of the participants remained to ask questions regarding modern electric device of the Mishmeres rabbonim.
Many of them expressed the need of additional gatherings of the kind in places throughout the country because of the importance of the subject.
HaRav Beifus ended it with a strong call to the public: "We have been privileged here in Israel with great Heavenly assistance to find solutions for fully permissible use of an array of electric devices. We have been fortunate that thousands of them are being used throughout Israeli homes, but there is not sufficient widespread awareness, especially outside of Israel, of the problems. We hereby call upon everyone here to publicize the prevalent obstacles and their outstanding possible solutions for Shabbos use."
