Responsum: On Technology and Jewish Law

In the main portion of this work I spoke of the use of an electric light. Here I shall discuss the law of whether one is permitted to speak on Shabbat by means of a machine called a “telephone.” Indeed, in my humble opinion there is a prohibition regarding this, and whoever is prudent should avoid it. For aside from the fact that whoever speaks on such a machine must first sound the ringer when he wants to speak, and this is forbidden under the category of “producing a sound,” there is another reason to forbid it: by closing an electrical circuit, an electric current is generated, and this is forbidden on Shabbat. This is similar to the case (b. Beẓah 23) of overturning a cup [of perfume] on silk garments, of which they say that it is forbidden because it produces a scent. So, too, it is the rule that it is forbidden to make an electric connection on the Sabbath. And for the same reason it is forbidden, in my view, to make soda water on Shabbat, because it generates a chemical reaction. But one should not compare the telephone to that which is explained in the Shevut Ya‘akov, Part 3 § 31,¹ that the honorable Rabbi Meshulam Salat (may his light shine), of our community, brought to my attention, saying as follows: “And especially by instruments specialized for speech, which project a sound for many miles, so that one may speak with one’s fellow at a great distance. [One could suggest that] it is forbidden to speak with another thus on the Sabbath, but we have never heard anyone open his mouth to raise doubt on this matter.” This responsum in the Shevut Ya‘akov was written by the sage Rabbi David Oppenheim, of blessed memory, in the year 5482 (1722), when they did not yet know of the telephone, which was invented in our era. Surely, he had before him a different instrument where the features we have cited for concern were not present. But with the telephone, where we must be concerned about creating the power of the electricity [ḥashmal], we must certainly be cautious on the Sabbath, even if the ringer is sounded by a non-Jew, inasmuch as the voice of the speaker is heard only through the receiver (Empfangsapparat), and the receiver, through electrical waves (elektrische Schwenkungen) creates tonal waves (Tonschwenkungen) in the membrane (Membran), and in this way the voice is heard. This also counts as producing a sound through mechanical means.

And I was asked in our community of Lemberg (may the Lord guard it), at the time of the invention of the trolley that travels by electricity within the city (elektrische Bahn in the vernacular), whether it is permitted to travel on it on the Sabbath, and I answered that it is forbidden, because it is explained in the Shulḥan ‘arukh, oraḥ ḥayim § 305 that it is forbidden to sit on a coach that was being led by a non-Jew, because the non-Jew uses the labor of the animal, even if he does not cut off a branch to use as a whip. See the comment in the Magen Avraham² there, that even if there is no worry that he might cut off a branch, it is still forbidden. This applies in our case, for even though the non-Jewish driver is the one who turns the electricity on and off, it is still forbidden to sit on the car in this fashion. One should be concerned that by increasing the burden, the driver of the car will be forced to increase the electric power, in order to feed the electric power into the electric current of the motor that he has in his carriage. And when the Jew sits in the coach, he increases the power on his [the Jew’s] account, and this is forbidden, as explained in Shulḥan ‘arukh, oraḥ ḥayim § 325.11. And even without this consideration, there is a prohibition in this case on the grounds that it is a mundane activity, as explained in the Talmud (b. Beẓah 25b) and in the Shulḥan ‘arukh (oraḥ ḥayim § 522.2), that one should not go out [on the Sabbaths and the Festivals] carried on a chair. See the Ture zahav’s³ commentary [on the Shulḥan ‘arukh] there, paragraph 4, who writes that this is because it is a mundane activity, and shows disrespect for the Festival, and all the more so in the case of the Sabbath.

And on the question whether it is permitted to speak on the Sabbath into the machine called a “phonograph,” which is an instrument that preserves the speech for many days, this is certainly forbidden, because he makes impressions on the wax [cylinder] that is found in this machine, and the person who does so is likened to one who writes. It is explained in [Shulḥan ‘arukh, oraḥ ḥayim] § 340 that one who rubs wax on a ledger is liable, and the same applies to one who writes on wax. And it is similarly forbidden to sound a voice from the phonograph, under the category of “producing a sound.”

They are now building houses where there are electrical apparatuses in the door arranged in a way that when the door is opened the room is filled with light, and when the door is closed the electric light is extinguished. In Vienna they use this in the toilets. It is certainly forbidden for a Jew to enter on the Sabbath into such a room or to leave it, for on his entrance he kindles the light and on his exit he extinguishes it. I wrote in the main portion of the present work, § 8, and in my book on Yoreh de‘ah, Part One § 180.4, that in the incandescent light (Glühlicht), when the electric current is connected with a platinum filament, it extinguishes a coal of metal, and there is a doubt whether it is forbidden according to the Torah. It has now been made known to me with certainty that in the incandescent light there is a filament of metal only on two sides, but in the place that lights up they make filaments from bamboo (a kind of plant) or from filaments of cotton wool immersed in sulfuric acid (Schwefelsäure). And if so, the incandescent light involves extinguishing according to the law of the Torah [and is therefore forbidden on the Sabbath].