WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.000 00:00:02.000 --> 00:00:09.000 The Jewish Law Corner 00:00:09.000 --> 00:00:12.000 Hello everyone. In today's "Jewish Law Corner", we'll discuss 00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:17.000 a frequently asked question: "what is this Shabbat timer I've seen in many homes?" 00:00:17.000 --> 00:00:20.000 "If turning on electricity is prohibited on Shabbat, 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? 00:00:26.000 --> 00:00:29.000 Who are you trying to fool?" So what is the meaning of this practice? 00:00:29.000 --> 00:00:32.000 "And, if a Shabbat timer can be used to turn electricity on, what if I connect 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?" 00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:43.000 So let me explain: the Torah says, "you shall not do any work" (Ex.20:10) 00:00:43.000 --> 00:00:51.000 One of the Ten Commandments states that a Jew is not allowed to work on Shabbat. 00:00:51.000 --> 00:00:55.000 In a different lesson, we spoke at length about the definition of "work", but the 00:00:55.000 --> 00:01:03.000 Torah says "you shall not", meaning YOU shall not, the Jew shall not. But when we 00:01:03.000 --> 00:01:09.000 use a Shabbat timer, and set it before Shabbat to turn things on and off 00:01:09.000 --> 00:01:17.000 on Shabbat, we are actually behaving properly on Shabbat. We have lights, 00:01:17.000 --> 00:01:22.000 air conditioning, everything we want for Shabbat, by way of a Shabbat timer. 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. 00:01:29.000 --> 00:01:34.000 In this manner, a Jew can keep Shabbat in accordance with Jewish Law, because he 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, 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 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) 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 00:01:59.000 --> 00:02:04.000 necessary on a Shabbat timer for his home, thereby resolving many issues with Shabbat prohibitions. 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?" 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 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, 00:02:21.000 --> 00:02:30.000 and thereby listen, or watch something. Jewish Law states that some things are prohibited because of 00:02:30.000 --> 00:02:34.000 "Marit Ayin"--the negative impression they will make. This concept must be explained. 00:02:34.000 --> 00:02:39.000 For example, one should not hang laundry on Shabbat. Why? I didn't wash the clothes 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. 00:02:43.000 --> 00:02:49.000 Jewish Law prohibits this. Why? Because people will suspect you. When people see 00:02:49.000 --> 00:02:54.000 a woman hanging clothes on Shabbat, the sense is that she just finished washing them 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." 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." 00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:08.000 "Let them think whatever they want." But this approach is wrong. The Torah states, 00:03:08.000 --> 00:03:13.000 "you shall be vindicated from Hashem and from Israel" (Num.32:22). Not just from Hashem-- 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, 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 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. 00:03:31.000 --> 00:03:38.000 The more Jews are seen washing their clothes on Shabbat--at least according to the suspicions-- 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 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, 00:03:52.000 --> 00:03:58.000 "you shall be vindicated from Hashem and from Israel", everyone knows there is another loyal soldier 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 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 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 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. 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 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 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. 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 00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:53.000 prohibited because of Marit Ayin will be prohibited even in the innermost chamber. 00:04:53.000 --> 00:05:02.000 Therefore, electrical systems--such as a radio, stereo system or TV--that are not usually plugged 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. 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, 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 00:05:26.000 --> 00:05:32.000 that cannot be connected to a Shabbat timer--for an additional reason we will discuss shortly-- 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, 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? 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 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 00:05:59.000 --> 00:06:03.000 turned something on during Shabbat. This is an instance of Marit Ayin. And everything that is 00:06:03.000 --> 00:06:09.000 prohibited because of Marit Ayin is prohibited even in the innermost chamber. Furthermore, it's also 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 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 00:06:23.000 --> 00:06:28.000 from the perspective of Jewish Law, an additional problem arises on Shabbat. 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 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 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 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, 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 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. 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 00:07:14.000 --> 00:07:22.000 plugged the device into a Shabbat timer before Shabbat. Whenever we discuss instruments 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. 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 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. 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, 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. 00:07:54.000 --> 00:08:00.000 But the truth is, that although a person viewing a recording in such a manner is 00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:06.000 not transgressing as severely as a person who actively desecrates Shabbat, and 00:08:06.000 --> 00:08:11.000 turns something on with his bare hands, the issue of Marit Ayin nevertheless still exists, 00:08:11.000 --> 00:08:16.000 and everything prohibited because of Marit Ayin is prohibited even in the innermost chamber. 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 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, 00:08:30.000 --> 00:08:35.000 surrounded by our loved ones. I thank you all and wish you great success. 00:08:35.030 --> 00:08:53.000 Translated by Onkelus Translations www.onkelus.com onkelus@gmail.com