1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,000 2 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:09,000 The Jewish Law Corner 3 00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:12,000 Hello everyone. In today's "Jewish Law Corner", we'll discuss 4 00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:17,000 a frequently asked question: "what is this Shabbat timer I've seen in many homes?" 5 00:00:17,000 --> 00:00:20,000 "If turning on electricity is prohibited on Shabbat, 6 00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:26,000 what does it matter if a timer is turning it on? What are you trying to pull? 7 00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:29,000 Who are you trying to fool?" So what is the meaning of this practice? 8 00:00:29,000 --> 00:00:32,000 "And, if a Shabbat timer can be used to turn electricity on, what if I connect 9 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:38,000 my sound system, my TV and radio to a Shabbat timer and watch my favorite TV show?" 10 00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:43,000 So let me explain: the Torah says, "you shall not do any work" (Ex.20:10) 11 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:51,000 One of the Ten Commandments states that a Jew is not allowed to work on Shabbat. 12 00:00:51,000 --> 00:00:55,000 In a different lesson, we spoke at length about the definition of "work", but the 13 00:00:55,000 --> 00:01:03,000 Torah says "you shall not", meaning YOU shall not, the Jew shall not. But when we 14 00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:09,000 use a Shabbat timer, and set it before Shabbat to turn things on and off 15 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:17,000 on Shabbat, we are actually behaving properly on Shabbat. We have lights, 16 00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:22,000 air conditioning, everything we want for Shabbat, by way of a Shabbat timer. 17 00:01:22,000 --> 00:01:29,000 We set it to the latest time we think we may need the lights or air conditioning on. 18 00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:34,000 In this manner, a Jew can keep Shabbat in accordance with Jewish Law, because he 19 00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:39,000 is doing no work. A mechanical system is in place to turn things on and off automatically, 20 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:44,000 so he doesn't have to. The fact that he set it before Shabbat is not a problem, because 21 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:49,000 he did that work on a weekday; he did no work on Shabbat. The Torah said "YOU (as a Jew) 22 00:01:49,000 --> 00:01:59,000 shall do no work on Shabbat". So it is crucial that each person spend the small sum 23 00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:04,000 necessary on a Shabbat timer for his home, thereby resolving many issues with Shabbat prohibitions. 24 00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:11,000 But the obvious question then is, "if this is so, what's wrong with plugging in other devices?" 25 00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:17,000 "I have a radio and I want to hear news and other programs. Or TV, or anything else I 26 00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:21,000 have in my home," he asks. There are things he wants to hook up to a Shabbat timer, 27 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:30,000 and thereby listen, or watch something. Jewish Law states that some things are prohibited because of 28 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:34,000 "Marit Ayin"--the negative impression they will make. This concept must be explained. 29 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:39,000 For example, one should not hang laundry on Shabbat. Why? I didn't wash the clothes 30 00:02:39,000 --> 00:02:43,000 on Shabbat. I have clothes that were washed before Shabbat. I just want to hang them out to dry. 31 00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:49,000 Jewish Law prohibits this. Why? Because people will suspect you. When people see 32 00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:54,000 a woman hanging clothes on Shabbat, the sense is that she just finished washing them 33 00:02:54,000 --> 00:03:00,000 and now she's hanging them. Some might say, "I don't care what people think of me." 34 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:04,000 "Let them suspect me. I know that I'm beyond reproach. I haven't sinned against my Creator." 35 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:08,000 "Let them think whatever they want." But this approach is wrong. The Torah states, 36 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:13,000 "you shall be vindicated from Hashem and from Israel" (Num.32:22). Not just from Hashem-- 37 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:19,000 also from Israel. One is not allowed to enable others to suspect him. He can't come along and say, 38 00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:26,000 "but I forgo my own honor. Let them suspect me." Since, when people suspect that he is 39 00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:31,000 doing prohibited work on Shabbat, it is not his own honor in question here, but rather Hashem's honor. 40 00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:38,000 The more Jews are seen washing their clothes on Shabbat--at least according to the suspicions-- 41 00:03:38,000 --> 00:03:46,000 this diminishes Heaven's honor--Hashem's honor. It is one less person faithful to his Creator, according to 42 00:03:46,000 --> 00:03:52,000 the Torah He has given. But when you are careful not to be suspected, even when you're beyond reproach, 43 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:58,000 "you shall be vindicated from Hashem and from Israel", everyone knows there is another loyal soldier 44 00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:05,000 in the Creator's regiment. Therefore the suspicion, the "Marit Ayin" in Jewish Law, is a very important 45 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:10,000 concept, to the point where one must not hang his washings on Shabbat, in case people suspect him 46 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:17,000 of having done laundry on Shabbat. So someone will come along and say, "Fine, I won't hang it 47 00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:21,000 in public view. I'll hang it up in my bathroom. I'll lock the door, shut the window, pull down the blinds. 48 00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:28,000 And I'll hang my laundry there." Jewish Law states that anything that is prohibited because of Marit Ayin 49 00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:35,000 is prohibited even in the most private inner rooms. And, as we all know, that any simple government 50 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:42,000 law can't have loopholes. It's dangerous. if there's a loophole, you never know how far people will take it. 51 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:50,000 Therefore, we erect a fence, as it were, around the prohibitions in Jewish Law, and everything that is 52 00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:53,000 prohibited because of Marit Ayin will be prohibited even in the innermost chamber. 53 00:04:53,000 --> 00:05:02,000 Therefore, electrical systems--such as a radio, stereo system or TV--that are not usually plugged 54 00:05:02,000 --> 00:05:13,000 into a Shabbat timer, must not be used on Shabbat with a timer because of Marit Ayin. 55 00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:17,000 When people see a light turning on or off inside your home, or the air conditioner turning on or off, 56 00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:26,000 everyone knows a Shabbat timer is being used to turn the light on and off. But when electrical systems 57 00:05:26,000 --> 00:05:32,000 that cannot be connected to a Shabbat timer--for an additional reason we will discuss shortly-- 58 00:05:32,000 --> 00:05:40,000 but they cannot be plugged into a Shabbat timer, then anyone who sees a TV on inside your home, 59 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:48,000 or hears the radio, what does he think to himself? According to today's norms, what does he think? 60 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:54,000 Does he say, "he probably plugged it in to a Shabbat timer?" Or does he think, "this person turned it on 61 00:05:54,000 --> 00:05:59,000 during Shabbat". We all know that, according to current norms, the sense would be that this person 62 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:03,000 turned something on during Shabbat. This is an instance of Marit Ayin. And everything that is 63 00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:09,000 prohibited because of Marit Ayin is prohibited even in the innermost chamber. Furthermore, it's also 64 00:06:09,000 --> 00:06:18,000 important to note that, with regards to Israeli TV, or Israeli government radio stations, or any pleasure 65 00:06:18,000 --> 00:06:23,000 one derives from work that is done on Shabbat, that a Jew does on Shabbat somewhere else, then 66 00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:28,000 from the perspective of Jewish Law, an additional problem arises on Shabbat. 67 00:06:28,000 --> 00:06:39,000 As we all know, if a Jew cooked food on Shabbat, that food is prohibited on Shabbat. Even if a non-Jew did 68 00:06:39,000 --> 00:06:44,000 work on Shabbat for a Jew--meaning he didn't do it for himself (because if he did it for himself, I am 69 00:06:44,000 --> 00:06:50,000 allowed to benefit from it)--but if he did it for a Jew, then a Jew is not allowed to benefit from it on 70 00:06:50,000 --> 00:07:00,000 Shabbat, because it was done for him. With regard to radio and TV, and any other instrument that, 71 00:07:00,000 --> 00:07:05,000 at that same moment, some Jew somewhere is doing prohibited work on Shabbat so that I may enjoy 72 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:10,000 the result of that work, according to Jewish Law, I may not benefit from that work done on Shabbat. 73 00:07:10,000 --> 00:07:14,000 And this is another reason for the prohibition of enjoying work done on Shabbat even when I 74 00:07:14,000 --> 00:07:22,000 plugged the device into a Shabbat timer before Shabbat. Whenever we discuss instruments 75 00:07:22,000 --> 00:07:27,000 and there are others who are doing prohibited work on Shabbat for me, I cannot take pleasure from this. 76 00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:36,000 Everything I mentioned earlier, the subject of Marit Ayin, pertains to work that is not the product 77 00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:40,000 of anyone's Shabbat desecration, whether Jew or non-Jew, anywhere in the world, for my benefit. 78 00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:50,000 But rather, for example, if I connect my DVD player to a timer, no one else in the world is doing work, 79 00:07:50,000 --> 00:07:54,000 just the Shabbat timer. This would seem to be the same situation as the lighting and air conditioning. 80 00:07:54,000 --> 00:08:00,000 But the truth is, that although a person viewing a recording in such a manner is 81 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:06,000 not transgressing as severely as a person who actively desecrates Shabbat, and 82 00:08:06,000 --> 00:08:11,000 turns something on with his bare hands, the issue of Marit Ayin nevertheless still exists, 83 00:08:11,000 --> 00:08:16,000 and everything prohibited because of Marit Ayin is prohibited even in the innermost chamber. 84 00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:22,000 This is the halachic explanation of all aspects of using a Shabbat timer with the electronic devices 85 00:08:22,000 --> 00:08:30,000 commonly used nowadays. I'd like to wrap up by wishing all of us wonderful, blissful Shabbatot, 86 00:08:30,000 --> 00:08:35,000 surrounded by our loved ones. I thank you all and wish you great success. 87 00:08:35,030 --> 00:08:53,000 Translated by Onkelus Translations www.onkelus.com onkelus@gmail.com