*Thanks to Rabbi David Wolkenfeld of Princeton JLIC and to Rabbi Arye Kaplan of UCLA JLIC who helped me start my research, and to my other JLIC colleagues who shared their insights with me.
The university is planning on installing motion sensor lighting is some of the dorms. The university officials have been incredibly sensitive and accommodating towards the Shabbat (Sabbath) observant community and they would now like to know when there is room for leniency as far as entering a room with motions sensors on Shabbat.
The truth of the matter is that this issue can be discussed at length, but I will try and cover only the basics.
There are contemporary scholars[1] who dealt with this issue and showed that according to some sources activating motion sensors might constitute a grama (indirect action[2]). This is extremely questionable and I don't believe that we can rely on the leniencies[3] that apply to a case of grama.
 |
| Should you avoid the sensors? |
Rav Shmuel Wosner discusses[4] a case where there are motion sensors on the street. He ruled that it is permissible to pass by them because the person is taking no extra action to activate the lights. In his opinion, from a purely halchic[5]perspective we do not attribute the activation of the sensors to the walking person. Mind you, his claim is that fundamentally this is not considered a forbidden action at all and thus would permit it even in situations involving written law prohibitions. This is not to be confused with the following concept of psik reisha that we will soon discuss.
For a number of reasons it is not clear if Rav Wosner would rule the same way in a private home setting. Thus we must try and explore other possibilities for leniency.
Generally on Shabbat when one performs an action that will possibly but not surely result in a forbidden outcome – that action is permissible[6]. This is called aino mitkaven (lit. without intent). When the forbidden outcome will definitely occure one may not perform that act6. This has been coined as psik reisha. According to some medieval scholars[7] if there is no benefit in the outcome, even if it is a definite one, it is not forbidden on Shabbat.
Although the latter is not generally accepted in regards to a prohibition originating in written law, it is accepted by many poskim (codifiers) when discussing a rabbinic prohibition[8]. Thus if the light bulbs which are being used are prohibited for use only by rabbinic law, such as neon or LED[9], and there is other lighting such as sunlight or if the lights aren't off rather dimmed[10] it is permissible to walk into the room. The reason for this being that although the sensors will surely be activated (psik reisha), yet the prohibition is rabbinic in origin and there is no benefit[11] being derived (due to other lighting).
In conclusion, I suggest according to all of the above that we keep the manual switches on in dark corridors and staircases while we can keep the automatic mode, if needed, in areas where there is constant partial lighting or in rooms that we can assume Shabbat observant students will not enter. All of this is assuming we're discussing lighting that constitutes a rabbinic prohibition on Shabbat.
If we cannot keep the lights on in the dark areas, the students will have to wait for a non-Jew to first enter the room and then they would be able to follow.
[1] See Rav Elyashiv Knohl in Techumin 23 pp. 278-286[2] Tossafot, Tractate Shabbat 47b s.v. Mipnei. For other definitions see Rashi and other commentators on that page.[3] See Shulchan Aruch OC 334:22[4] Techumin 23 pp. 277[5] Pertaining to Jewish law.[6] Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Shabbat 22a. See also Shulchan Aruch OC 337:1.[7] See Ran on Shabbat 41a s.v. Aval[8] Tossafot, Tractate Shabbat 103a s.v. Lo. See also Yabia Omer 5 OC 39. [9] Talmudic Encyclopedia, Volume 18 Column 715.[10] In this case we have extra room for leniency as there is a difference between turning the light on and amplifying the existing light. [11] Convenience is not considered a benefit in this case. As long as general actions can be performed, such as finding a key hole, as far as we're concerned there is not benefit in the extra lighting.
Hiç yorum yok:
Yorum Gönder