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What prohibition would talking to a virtual assistant like Alexa, Siri or Google on Shabbos fall under?

"Alexa, turn on the lights"

"Alexa, play Zemiros"

msh210
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harvey
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  • possible duplicate https://judaism.stackexchange.com/q/12572/759 – Double AA Feb 20 '19 at 20:21
  • In this answer it falls under the last two - Minhag and non-Sabbatical behaviour: https://judaism.stackexchange.com/a/12604/15579 – Al Berko Feb 20 '19 at 20:25
  • First I was thinking about wiping "turn on the lights" because this is entirely different question, but it seems that that's the only interesting part here - manipulating elactricity with the power of the mind (non-physical interaction). – Al Berko Feb 20 '19 at 20:27
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    ME: "Alexa, turn on the lights." ALEXA: "Did you mean to say -- Alexa, it's dark in here, hint hint?" – Shalom Feb 20 '19 at 21:26
  • @Shalom That's not Alexa. Maybe "Alexandra" or "Sendra", for short ;-) – DanF Feb 20 '19 at 21:35
  • Besides the issues mentioned in the answer for @DonielF's link, I think that talking to Alexa might constitute the same issues as activating a microphone / speaker / voice receiver on Shabbat. Alexa uses the receiver to listen, as well as a mic to talk. (I won't delve into the issues of whether Alexa needs to rest on Shabbat, or not.) You're also intentionally activating that blinking blue light. – DanF Feb 20 '19 at 21:43
  • @DanF Why would Alexa have any issues not applicable to Siri? – DonielF Feb 20 '19 at 21:52
  • https://www.yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/888311/rabbi-zvi-sobolofsky/must-alexa-keep-shabbos-hilchos-shabbos-for-the-21st-century/ – Alex Feb 21 '19 at 00:54
  • @Shalom- that's actually the interesting part of the question – יהושע ק Feb 21 '19 at 01:26

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