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My fridge has a Sabbath mode

Tirdun

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Tirdun
Joined
Feb 7, 2006
Messages
637
Its described in the manual in some detail between "vacation mode" and "power failure (high temp) recovery mode".

Now far be it from me to question a sales pitch to the Jewish populace, but what did people do before? My understandings of Kosher are thin, I admit, but I don't remember anything about appliance lights or using a refrigerator during Sabbath.
 
Jews aren't supposed work - not their appliances! Where the hell did that sort of craziness spring from?
 
Hmm, I tried to reply but the forum crashed.

Anyway, I was saying that you can't use electricity during the Sabbath, including a refrigerator or the light.

It has nothing to do with kosher though.
 
Is this mostly an orthodox observation? My few Jewish friends never mentioned electrical use on Sabbath, but they (ok both of them) weren't orthodox.

The fridge doesn't shut off, it stays cold and apparently makes ice, but it disables all sounds and lights when you activate this mode. Did fridges get turned off or did observant Jews just not use them? If so, are they allowed to use the fridge since it's quiet and dark? So many questions!
 
Tirdun said:
Now far be it from me to question a sales pitch to the Jewish populace, but what did people do before? My understandings of Kosher are thin, I admit, but I don't remember anything about appliance lights or using a refrigerator during Sabbath.
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Jews are forbidden from lighting a fire on the Sabbath. Certain really, really orthodox groups have interpreted that to also forbid manipulating an electrical switch on the Sabbath, since that might make a spark, and a spark is a kind of fire, right?

As to what they did before this -- a lot of them would simply not use their fridge on that day, or put tape over the switch for the refrigerator light. or unscrew the bulb, or something, so it couldn't trigger.

See this page for an explanation.
 
IIRC, some Orthodox Jews refuse to use lights or refrigerators (or other household appliances) on Sabbath because it falls under the Jewish law of not working on the Sabbath day.

Most Americans see the word "work" and think of it in the English sense of the word: physical labor and effort, or employment. Under this definition, turning on a light would be permitted, because it does not require effort, but a rabbi would not be permitted to lead Shabbat services, because leading services is his employment. Jewish law prohibits the former and permits the latter. Many Americans therefore conclude that Jewish law doesn't make any sense.
The problem lies not in Jewish law, but in the definition that Americans are using. The Torah does not prohibit "work" in the 20th century English sense of the word. The Torah prohibits "melachah" (Mem-Lamed-Alef-Kaf-Heh), which is usually translated as "work," but does not mean precisely the same thing as the English word. Before you can begin to understand the Shabbat restrictions, you must understand the word "melachah."
Melachah generally refers to the kind of work that is creative, or that exercises control or dominion over your environment. The word may be related to "melekh" (king; Mem-Lamed-Kaf). The quintessential example of melachah is the work of creating the universe, which G-d ceased from on the seventh day. Note that G-d's work did not require a great physical effort: he spoke, and it was done.
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Excerpt from JewFAQ.org -- I suggest reading more of the article; it's really interesting and explains the idea very thoroughly.
 
The links helped, thanks. I'll explain it to the wife when I get home, since she was also curious.
 
Around Passover, the local news station had a report that Los Angeles had switched pedestrian crosswalk signals from "must push the button" to "automatically switches" in neighborhoods around synagogues. Same idea as the fridge.

Our fine Kenmore range/oven also has a Sabbath setting. Normally, the oven will turn off after a certain number of hours. The Sabbath setting stops that from happening, so that food can be kept warm all throughout the day.
 
Yeah, it's all about not kindling a flame, which some very orthodox Jews think is the same as a spark of electricity.

Let me give you the inside story people: ALL of the orthodox Jews I know...cheat. I have first hand experience of this.
 
My orthodox neighbor left the headlights of her car on one evening. I knocked on her door to ler her know, and she asked me to find the keys (in a dark room) and turn it off for them.

Does work via gentile count?
 
ImaginalDisc said:
My orthodox neighbor left the headlights of her car on one evening. I knocked on her door to ler her know, and she asked me to find the keys (in a dark room) and turn it off for them.

Does work via gentile count?
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No, it doesn't. That's why we keep slaves...
 
I read once that there are devices designed to be used on the Sabbath. The principle is that you can't push a button that makes something happen, but you can push a button to stop something happening. In a normal phone the circuit through each button is normally open and pushing the button closes it, which counts as doing work. But if you design the phone so that the current runs through the button circuit all the time, and pressing the button breaks it, that that is okay because technically you aren't actually causing something to happen but rather stopping something that was already happening. Apparently some Israeli companies specialise in producing such "Sabbath ready" devices.
 
ImaginalDisc said:
Then why don't the orthodox jews in my neighborhood avail themselves of the shuttlebus the town pays for? Some of those people, who walk as much as a mile, are quite old.
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Oy vey, it's all about the image. You gotta be seen to be observant.

What goes on behind closed doors, mind you...

Anyway, there must be some genuinely observant Jews, just none of the ones in my community.
 
OK, so I'm closer to zen. If I'm Jewish and observe the rules:

So long as the fridge stays on, I can use it since it didn't stop working (a la the long-running oven) and I didn't have to start/activate anything. The light and chimes are activated by my actions, so they're no-go.

I'm going to have to read up more on the whys and wherefores of the other observances and rules.

I'm also glad I stumbled over the mode description, since if I'd accidentally switched it on, I'd have been hard-pressed to figure out why the fridge had stopped working.
 
drkitten said:
Jews are forbidden from lighting a fire on the Sabbath. Certain really, really orthodox groups have interpreted that to also forbid manipulating an electrical switch on the Sabbath, since that might make a spark, and a spark is a kind of fire, right?
Click to expand...
This would work fine in Israel where the climate is quite warm. But when Jews emigrated to colder climes, not lighting being allowed to lite a fire in the winter would seem to be a disavantage. Perhaps this is what precipitated the development of Reform Judiasm. When you're freezing cold, keeping the Sabbath in the traditional manner would be a lot less appealing.
 
Tirdun said:
OK, so I'm closer to zen. If I'm Jewish and observe the rules:

So long as the fridge stays on, I can use it since it didn't stop working (a la the long-running oven) and I didn't have to start/activate anything. The light and chimes are activated by my actions, so they're no-go.

I'm going to have to read up more on the whys and wherefores of the other observances and rules.

I'm also glad I stumbled over the mode description, since if I'd accidentally switched it on, I'd have been hard-pressed to figure out why the fridge had stopped working.
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I think it's complicated because fridges have heating elements that turn on to defrost the coils, and compressors that turn on when you open the door, etc etc.

You can now by fridges that don't do this but they cost a lot.
 
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