Electricity at Saturday
- naftali bilig
- Jan 8, 2025
- 2 min read
Updated: Jan 19, 2025
Talmud, Tractate Eruvin, Chapter 4, Mishnah 1:
"Someone who was taken out [of the Shabbat boundary] by gentiles or a 'ruach ra'ah' [an evil spirit] has only four cubits [he can walk]. If they returned him, it is as if he did not leave. If they took him to another city. If they put him in a stable or a pen, Rabban Gamliel and Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah say, he may walk through its entirety. Rabbi Joshua and Rabbi Akiva say, he has only four cubits. An incident occurred where they came from the ship of Parendisin and their ship was cast about at sea. Rabban Gamliel and Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah walked throughout it. Rabbi Joshua and Rabbi Akiva did not move from [a space of] four cubits, as they wanted to be stringent upon themselves."
Regarding the electricity that has emerged in our era, it is clear to anyone who has learned a bit of electricity and basic physics that it is not possible to prohibit electricity on Shabbat from the essence of the law, as the construction of electrical circuits occurs in various situations that are permissible on Shabbat, such as clasping hands after wearing woolen clothing, and other such scenarios where electrical circuits are formed, which are not the place to detail here.
However, our generation's sages were stringent out of concern and the appearance of doing something wrong, likening electricity to the fire explicitly commanded in the Torah. Since all our work today is done with electricity, and if we permit regular use of electricity, we would come to permit all forms of labor and find ourselves working on the Shabbat, which is a day of rest and favorable time for contemplation, prayer, enjoyment in song, eating, and study.
This is why Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Joshua were stringent upon themselves regarding the laws of techumim (Shabbat boundaries), which is also fundamentally about rest, as it is written "Let no man go out of his place." There is room for stringency, and today, the halacha (Jewish law) is practiced this way even among the traditionalists, and there are also secular Jews who understand this value and sanctify it in their homes. Therefore, the halacha was decided this way, even though it is a stringency beyond the essence of the law, due to the appearance and mere likeness it presents.
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