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There are many problems with using electricity on Shabbat, and many ways to understand those problems. The issue of using a fridge is especially problematic (as explained in depth by Rav Nissan Kaplan in this shiur), but the issue I find most confusing is that of opening the door.

According to this excellent answer, there are several reasons as to why opening the fridge might be problematic, and as this question implies, the easiest solution is to remove the light fitting in advance.

My question pertains to the fact that removal of the light fitting only appears to enable one to open the door if we pasken like Rav Auerbach, who held that the problem is either one of minhag or of heating the filament. What happens if one were to pasken like the Chazon Ish, who held that the problem is one of boneh?

I don't understand how the fridge mechanism works, but I would think that the prohibition of boneh would still apply even if the light doesn't come on. If the bulb is broken or is not in its fitting, flicking a switch (in this case, opening a door) still causes the circuit to close.

If one were paskening according to the Chazon Ish, would he need remove the circuitry from his fridge every Friday?

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Shimon bM
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    The whole circuit doesn't close if there is no lightbulb. If it did there would be current flow. The two ends that the lightbulb connect to are still open. – Double AA Mar 22 '13 at 05:24

2 Answers2

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To make a circuit it must be a complete circuit, i.e. a full unbroken circle.

If there is no bulb then you did not make a complete circuit, since the bulb is part of that circle.

This seems to be a science question, not a halachik one.

Personally I tape down the switch because modern fridges do other functions besides turn on a light. Fancier fridges will turn off the fan when you open the door, to prevent cold air blowing out. Other fridges will count how many times the door gets opened, and after a certain number of times they will trigger the auto-defrost.

It's better to buy a simpler fridge because fancy ones don't do well when these mechanisms are overridden. The simpler ones have frost sensors, or just really long timers to trigger the auto-defrost.

Circuit:

/-----generator--------------------\
|                                  |
|                                  |
|                                  |
\----(bulb)-------#switch#---------/

PS. I assume you know the argument that it's not boneh because it's a routine action. Just like putting a storm window in the window on shabbos is not boneh, because that is a routine action done every night.

Ariel
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  • Thank you. Rav Kaplan speaks about some of those issues in the shiur that I linked to in my question, but this is something that I didn't know and that he doesn't explain. You're right: it's a science question moreso than a halakhic one. Thanks for your answer. – Shimon bM Mar 22 '13 at 05:35
  • @Ariel you answered great according to Rav Auerbach who holds that electricity is like a current or water in pipes and is only problematic when it causes light or heat. However according to the Chazon Ish's understanding this does not work. He definitely holds that any throwing of a switch is boneh, and that it causes fire to spread. I'll try and hunt up the sources over shabbat. – Rabbi Michael Tzadok Mar 22 '13 at 06:08
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    Unless there's a transformer between the light and the switch... that would be problematic but is unlikely. – Charles Koppelman Mar 22 '13 at 06:19
  • @mekubal but ssuming the circuit looks like Ariel suggests, the electricity does not travel any further at all. Electrons don't flow from the negative unless there's a positive for them to flow to. – Charles Koppelman Mar 22 '13 at 06:26
  • @CharlesKoppelman Yes and Rav Auerbach would agree with you. However the Chazon Ish does not. He rejects electron theory, and says if you place your finger in the socket you will get shocked, and so the electricity has traveled. AishDas dealt with the general disregard of science in halakhic rulings in favor of the observable universe, see their for an in depth understanding. – Rabbi Michael Tzadok Mar 22 '13 at 06:42
  • @mekubal I understand why the Chazon Ish would say that because of how it looks, but it is factually incorrect. There is no energy in the wire until after the complete circuit is made. First you make the circuit, then the electricity "notices", and only then does it travel. It's extremely fast, since it's at the speed of light, but that is the correct sequence. – Ariel Mar 22 '13 at 07:10
  • @Ariel I understand that it is factually incorrect, however that is not necessarily the concern of halakha. Like I said see the AishDas discussion on the matter. However in general the Chazon Ish rejected non-observable science. – Rabbi Michael Tzadok Mar 22 '13 at 07:27
  • @mekubal Edited by a moderator to remove a section related to now-removed comments. Anyway getting back to halacha - there is no "fire" in the wire because the electricity in the wire is only relative - you have to have both sides of the circuit. If you have two separate generators, and connected to the neutral on one side, and the hot on the other nothing would happen. This shows that a circuit must be a complete circuit for there to be any energy "fire" in it. – Ariel Mar 22 '13 at 07:49
  • @Ariel You are correct according to Rav Auerbach. However that simply is not the way the Chazon Ish or Rav Ovadia Yosef understand electricity from a Halakhic perspective. They both understand it as actual fire in the line. Whether that is scientifically factual or not is beside the point. Whether halakha must coincide with science is also a side point(and good question). However, for the purpose of this discussion the Chazon Ish understands electricity as actual fire in the line, and rules accordingly. – Rabbi Michael Tzadok Mar 22 '13 at 07:54
  • @mekubal I have to say that this is really shocking me (NPI). Electricity really is only medrabanan. I always thought boneh made it deoraysah, but if this understanding is the basis for boneh then it's drabanan. (I have no problem respecting this opinion, even if it's factually incorrect. Rabanan have the right to make greiras like this, but of course that doesn't make them deoraysa.) So why do we not treat electricity as derabanan for things like a choleh? – Ariel Mar 22 '13 at 08:14
  • @Ariel IIRC the Boneh is the magnetic field he believes happens that kind of sticks the switch... I don't know that he is correct(this is unique to the CI, ROY doesn't hold that way). – Rabbi Michael Tzadok Mar 22 '13 at 08:30
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To answer the latter part of your question, let us first leave aside whether or not throwing a switch in and of itself is a matter of Boneh. The Chazon Ish clearly held that it was, however that position is contested both from a halakhic as well as scientific standpoint. However you asked what do people do who pasken like the Chazon Ish.

For the Chazon Ish the issue is not the door itself being opened, it is that throwing a switch is a matter of Boneh. Therefore if one could conseivably arrange it so that the door could be opened without the switch being thrown, than the issue would be resolved. The simplest solution for this, that does not require an understanding maintenance man, is to simply tape the switch down. In a Refigerator the automatic light operates on a pressure release switch. Meaning when the door is opened, it releases pressure from the switch, and an interior spring inside the switch cause it the switch to be thrown. Therefore, by taping the switch down, one ensures that the pressure will remain whether the door is opened or closed.

Rabbi Michael Tzadok
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  • Technically speaking, the "switch" on the refrigerator door is different from the actual switch which causes the problem of boneh. In electrical terms, a switch is the part of the circuit that becomes closed when the door is opened. It is controlled by the "switch" on the door, but it is a separate thing. It's all the same, though, because your method of taping the door switch down will indeed prevent the actual switch from being closed. Removing the light bulb would also prevent the circuit from being completed because an empty bulb socket is like an open switch. – Daniel Mar 22 '13 at 06:42
  • Now that I think about it, I'm actually surprised that the act of opening the refrigerator door, causing a mechanical piece to move, which then causes the switch to close is not considered a sufficient grama to simply allow opening the refrigerator lechatchila without worrying about the light. – Daniel Mar 22 '13 at 06:44
  • @Daniel removing the lightbulb would not satisfy the Chazon Ish. He is not concerned with a complete circuit. He is concerned with whether or not electricity has "arrived" at the end of the line. If you can put your finger there and get a shock, he will say it has, regardless of the fact that it only did because you completed the circuit. – Rabbi Michael Tzadok Mar 22 '13 at 06:45
  • if you take the light bulb out of the socket, you would not get a shock from touching the wire. No electricity flows. If you touched both ends of the wire, then you would get a shock, but only because you complete the circuit with your fingers. – Daniel Mar 22 '13 at 06:48
  • @Daniel Neither the Chazon Ish or Rav Auerbach conisdered opening the door a sufficient gramma for either the light, or the condenser engaging to make up for the loss of refrigeration. In the latter case both ruled that the door may only be opened when the motor is running. See Shemirat Shabbat Chapter 10 footnote 45 and chapter 31 footnote 1 for Rav Auerbach's reasons. – Rabbi Michael Tzadok Mar 22 '13 at 06:49
  • @Daniel Precisely. If you can get a shock by completing the circuit the Chazon Ish would say the electricity was already there. It may be frustrating and it may be bad science, but it is his halakhic(which is divorced from non-observable science) view on the matter. When this site is working http://www.mp3shiur.com/ they have a good three part series on the various halakhic understandings of electricity. – Rabbi Michael Tzadok Mar 22 '13 at 06:53
  • By that logic, taping the switch down isn't good enough either because it does exactly the same thing as removing the light bulb. – Daniel Mar 22 '13 at 06:56
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    @Daniel No, if you were to put your finger int he socket with the switch down(as the interior switch is not thrown) you will not get shocked. – Rabbi Michael Tzadok Mar 22 '13 at 07:01
  • @mekubal If adding a length to the wire puts fire in it (builds it), then simply standing on the ground does the same thing, since one side of the power system is attached to the ground, and into you. – Ariel Mar 22 '13 at 07:52
  • @Ariel But I do not get shocked from simply standing on the ground. Scientifically you are right. Halakhically you are not. I'm not here to argue whether the Chazon Ish(and Rav Ovadia Yosef) have a scientifically accurate assessment of electricity, or even whether halakha must abide by scientific fact. They have given their rulings that electricity is fire, and thus we must deal with those rulings. – Rabbi Michael Tzadok Mar 22 '13 at 07:57
  • @mekubal I understand. I am attempting to rearrange my thoughts to see electricity that way (and understand the implications that result), but it's hard. I wonder what he would think about low voltage, low power, electricity that can't make fire even if you tried. – Ariel Mar 22 '13 at 08:20
  • @Ariel if I understand it, those are like minor sparks, but they are still "fire." The benefit to his view is that on Yom Tov you can turn the lights on, as it is Eish m'Eish. – Rabbi Michael Tzadok Mar 22 '13 at 08:28
  • @mekubal Static electricity existed in the time of the Talmud. I've never heard of it being mentioned though. Do you know if anyone actually holds that way for Yom Tov in practice? – Ariel Mar 22 '13 at 08:37
  • @mekubal, If you put your finger in the place where the switch was, you would get shocked, though (and turn on the light, for that matter). Furthermore, what about the case where the switch comes after the light in the circuit. For all we know, that could be exactly how refrigerators are made today. – Daniel Mar 22 '13 at 14:10
  • @Ariel Eish M'Eish? Yes Rav Ovadia Yosef does. You can find it in the Yalkut Yosef as well as in his Chazon Ovadia, that he says one may plug things in or turn on lights on Yom Tov because it is Eish M'Eish. – Rabbi Michael Tzadok Mar 22 '13 at 14:20
  • @Daniel again scientifically you are correct. However that is simply not how the Chazon Ish views it. I will admit that even though I am sephardi I side with Rav Auerbach on this against the Chazon Ish and Rav Ovadia because I can't turn my brain off enough to accept a anti-scientific view of electricity. However, strictly speaking of the halakhic ramifications of the view... well that is a lot easier. – Rabbi Michael Tzadok Mar 22 '13 at 14:22