(Video/Text) What Does It Mean to Rest on Shabbat and Holidays?

The following is a rough transcript/adaptation of of Rabbi Saks’s Rosh Hashanah 5781 D’Var Torah, the video of which can be found at https://utj.org/viewpoints/videos/what-does-it-mean-to-rest-on-shabbat-and-holidays/.

Related: See Rabbi Saks’s d’var Torah “How Adas Kodesch Shel Emeth Survived the Pandemic” which discusses related issues regarding how best to respond to the pandemic vis a vis religious services.

Why aren’t we live streaming services?  We’d all prefer to watch a sporting event live as opposed to recordings – it’s more exciting, it’s more fun, so it begs the question, why aren’t we live streaming services?   Why are you watching a recording now?  The real question is, what’s the issue of the use of electricity on Shabbat and Yom Tov?  Rabbis allow people to use hearing aids, shabbos elevators, and timers on shabbat and those certainly use electricity, so why not just tell people to turn on their computer before Yom Tov and we could live stream services?

The question is begged especially in light of the fact that a group of Sefari orthodox rabbis of Moroccan origin in Israel allowed people to live stream zoom seders over Passover – they said turn the computer on before Yom Tov and you could live stream the seder.  This sounds like a nice compassionate hora’at sha’ah emergency ruling to help people deal with the problems the coronavirus is causing, maybe even an act of pikuah nefesh, sparing people from the horrible pain that isolation causes,  but yet this ruling was slammed across the board in the observant world and even by the decidedly non-orthodox ???

The Rabbinic Council of Bergen County took a different approach.  They said we’re not going to issue a blanket heter, a blanket permission for people to live stream the zoom seder, but what we are going to do is tell you to do is to consult with your individual rabbi for a p’sak, for a ruling based on your specific circumstances so somebody may go to rabbi,  tell the rabbi his or her circumstances, and the rabbi may say turn your computer on before Yom Tov and you can engage in a zoom live seder.  That same rabbi may hear somebody else’s circumstances and say, “sorry can’t give you permission.”

Let’s sharpen the question now.  What’s really the problem with electricity?  Is electricity even akin to any of our 39 forbidden melakhot, those 39 laborers were forbidden to perform on shabbat? Is electricity akin to esh (fire), boneh (building) or is electricity akin to completing a new object from its existing parts? That is, does electricity violate the prohibition of creating something new rabbi?  Rabbi Shlomo Auerbach one of the leading halakhic figures of the 20th century rejected all of these.  He said it’s not fire, it’s not building, you’re not creating something new, but it’s not mutar, it’s not permitted. Why shouldn’t it be permitted if it’s not among the 39 forbidden laborers?

Let’s look at some of these 39 forbidden labors kotev (writing), bishul (cooking) – these are things we relate to – we do all the time in our regular lives.  Other laborers include zoreh (winnowing) and dash (threshing), and setting up a loom these were laborers needed for the provisions of life in the ancient world, not today – most of us aren’t harvesting, skinning animals, or knitting clothing.  What is necessary to function in today’s world?  The internet.  Even some of the frumest (most observant) people who try to shut out the outside world as much as possible still have internet access for the sake of work and we all know that once you’re connected it is hard to escape work.  Remember the good old days when you left the office you got in your car and you were done for the day? Nowadays, that’s not the case.  You go to check the baseball score – maybe you want to see the score of the Phillies game – as you go in the click on mlb.com on your phone you see a notification, an email or text ,and you go to check it it’s a work text or email next thing you know you’ve forgotten all about the baseball game and your mind is back on work.  Work has become so intrusive because of the internet that even non-Jews now call for a digital sabbath.

Professor Chaim Saiman wrote a fascinating piece in Mosaic addressing the issue of why the rabbis do not permit electricity.  He said let’s be honest about it here.  What happened is the rabbis first decided that electricity had to be made asur (forbidden) and then said we’ll figure out why, which is not the way law is usually made in cases issur v’heter (permitted and forbidden) you’re supposed to make a decision based on the merits – you’re not supposed to say I’m going to make a decision and then I’m going to figure out why I made the decision.  For instance, if you ask me if a hamburger is kosher or not, I’m going to look at the hamburger and then decide, I’m not going to decide first and then look at the hamburger.  Here, the rabbis decided first and then said we’ll figure out why we decided afterwards.  We could ask the question have the rabbis overstep their bounds?  Is this the case of rabbinic activism?  People talk about judicial activism,  is this a case of rabbinic activism where the rabbis fail to judge the judge electricity on its merits?

Before we convict the rabbis of rabbinic activism listen to this. The Talmud bases the prohibition of discussing business on shabbat on a verse from Isaiah which reads, “Keep your feet from breaking shabbat and from doing as you please on your holy day.” )Isaiah 58:13)  This is used to establish the concept of a t’hum, a boundary of how far you’re allowed to walk on shabbat, obviously you’re allowed to walk on shabbat, but not too far because it’s a day of rest.  The rabbis are using this first to establish a t’hum, a boundary as to what we’re allowed to talk about as well on shabbat.  Why?  Because they want to preserve the integrity of shabbat.  If you’re busy talking about business all of shabbat, it doesn’t really feel like shabbat.  They’re saying, though speaking about business is not one of the 39 forbidden labors, if you’re going to spend all of shabbat talking about business, suddenly it’s not shabisdic, it doesn’t feel like shabbos anymore,  so therefore we have to forbid it.  The Rambam and the Ramban say acts can be forbidden even though they’re not among the 39 forbidden laborers to protect the integrity of shabbat.  For instance buying and selling is not among the 39 prohibited labors yet the rabbis forbid it to help us observe the Torah’s command of shvita, of resting.  If you’re buying and selling or talking about buying and selling, again it’s not shabisdic, it doesn’t feel like Shabbos, so the rabbis actually have the authority to forbid.  Let’s put it this way.  As the world evolves,  the way we perform work evolves, and the Talmud tells us the rabbis have the authority to create new mitzvot, new prohibitions, to ensure that as the way we work changes, work-related matters don’t fall through the cracks and damage that beautiful oasis which is Shabbat.

Speaking of an oasis, it reminds me of a beer commercial I saw years ago.  I don’t remember which beer it was, it doesn’t really matter.  But you have a guy sitting on a tropical beach with his beer and then in the background you have his work email come on and it plays his message saying “if you have anything you want me to hear about please send me an email at xy2z blah blah blah blah blah,” in other words he’s not really interested in receiving your email about work because he’s on vacation.  The rabbis are saying if we allow electricity, our oasis which is not a place, which is a time, which is Shabbat, will be intruded upon constantly by work and it will damage that oasis.  What is at stake here is the nature of Shabbat for us moderns.  Every time the phone vibrates that shabbat menuhah, that shabbat rest will be intruded on.

Before I conclude now, let me address the elephant in the room.  I realize many of you are watching this live over high game over the holidays.  By producing these services am I not guilty of lifneh iveri, of putting a stumbling block before for blind?  Years ago I heard a conservative rabbi deal with this issue.  It wasn’t quite with the issue of electricity but it pertains to what we’re talking about.  It’s actually the issue of driving to shul (synagogue) on shabbat.  And I realize many people drive to shul on shabbat.  He was upset with the Conservative movement’s heter (permission) permission allowing people to drive to shul on shabbat.  He too had a congregation of people who drove to shul on shabbat.  What he said is the Conservative movement should not have told people it is okay to drive to shul on shabbat.  What they should have said is “let’s let the last part of your shabbat’s observance we worry about the issue of how you get to shul.”  In other words don’t tell people it’s okay, just tell people we’ll leave that issue for later on.  We’ll worry about it later.  And by the way even some of the frumest people who do kiruv (outreach) invite people over for a Shabbos meal knowing they’re going to drive to their house and say they’d rather have people drive for a shabbos meal than drive to the mall.  We’ll worry about how you get to the house of a shul later on.  Let’s take that very same logic and apply it to the use of electricity and davening over Yom Yov.  Under the circumstances – these are very unusual circumstances, the coronavirus – let’s let the use of electricity as it pertains to watching services be the last part of your observance we worry about.  Let’s just say you found a way to daven amid these bizarre circumstances – kol hakavod (congratulations).  Notice that’s different than issuing a blanket heter (permission).  We’re not saying it’s okay.  We’re still preserving the ideal shabbat as an oasis, yet we’re being flexible enough to deal with the reality of the situation. So, even if you’re watching live over the holidays, I want you to create your own t’hum, your own boundary.  When you go to log on to watch the service, don’t check all the other notifications.  Don’t let your mind be invaded with thoughts of the outside world.  Go directly to the service and just focus on enjoying the holidays.  Ahad Ha’am wrote, famously I should, “more than the Jews have kept Shabbat, Shabbat has kept the Jews.  It’s preserved for Jewish identity, and preserving the ideal of Shabbat gives us a much-needed break in that nonstop world.   Shabbat Shalom and Hag Sameah (happy holiday).