My fridge has a Sabbath mode

[Tirdun]

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.

[cyborg]

Jews aren't supposed work - not their appliances! Where the hell did that sort of craziness spring from?

[tkingdoll]

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.

[Tirdun]

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!

[drkitten]

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 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 (http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.11/kosher_pr.html) for an explanation.

[Nex]

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 (http://www.jewfaq.org/defs/rabbi.htm) 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 (http://www.jewfaq.org/defs/alephbet.htm)), 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 (http://www.jewfaq.org/defs/alephbet.htm)). 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.


Excerpt from JewFAQ.org (http://www.jewfaq.org/shabbat.htm) -- I suggest reading more of the article; it's really interesting and explains the idea very thoroughly.

[Tirdun]

The links helped, thanks. I'll explain it to the wife when I get home, since she was also curious.

[Lisa Simpson]

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.

[tkingdoll]

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.

[ImaginalDisc]

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?

[tkingdoll]

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?

No, it doesn't. That's why we keep slaves...

[ImaginalDisc]

No, it doesn't. That's why we keep slaves...

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.

[Seismosaurus]

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.

[Lisa Simpson]

My husband heard of those phones. I told him Amish-ready cell phones would be next.

[tkingdoll]

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.

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.

[TragicMonkey]

The really devout deactivate their pacemakers.

[ImaginalDisc]

The really devout deactivate their pacemakers.

Then they pluck satalites from orbit, before sundown, of course.

[Tirdun]

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.

[supercorgi]

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?

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.

[tkingdoll]

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.

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.

[RSLancastr]

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.I have been told that on the Sabbath, elevators in Jewish hospitals (such as Cedars Sinai) are set in a "Sabbath mode" wherein they automatically stop and open the doors at every floor, so that nobody has to do the "work" involved in pushing a button.

I believe that doctors and nurses are allowed to work on the Sabbath, so I guess this is for the benefit of hospital visitors.

[Roboramma]

I have been told that on the Sabbath, elevators in Jewish hospitals (such as Cedars Sinai) are set in a "Sabbath mode" wherein they automatically stop and open the doors at every floor, so that nobody has to do the "work" involved in pushing a button.

I believe that doctors and nurses are allowed to work on the Sabbath, so I guess this is for the benefit of hospital visitors.

I remember a funny anecdote in one of Feynman's books about some Jews he knew asking him to push the button in the elevator for him, as they couldn't do it themselves. Anyone remember which book this was in?

[David Swidler]

The whole idea is rooted in the Torah's juxtaposition of the construction of the Tabernacle and the admonition not to ignite a flame on the Sabbath (somewhere in the last few chapters of Exodus). The Talmud uses that juxtaposition to derive 39 categories of creative activity performed in the construction and mantenance of the Tabernacle that are consequently forbidden on the Sabbath. Those activities are called "melakha," and that area of Jewish law is quite complex, involving a tangled web of supplementary Rabbinic prohibitions and strong customs.

Igniting a flame is one of those 39 biblical categories, and has traditionally been the rationale for prohibiting direct completion of electric circuits on the Sabbath. In recent years some scholars have suggested that the reason lies not in electricity's status as fire, but in the very act of completing the circuit, which violates a different melakha, namely completing a structure (for the same reason, building model airplanes and jigsaw puzzles are not Sabbath activities).

But that doesn't mean a Jew may not benefit from electricity by using timers for lights and whatnot.

The loophole of asking a non-Jew to perform melakha is pretty complex; it's generally prohibited, but under certain circumstances it's OK, such as when the non-Jew directly benefits from the action anyway.

Riding a bus does involve fire, since each passenger's weight causes the vehicle's engine to burn that much more fuel.

The "Sabbath Elevator" occurs not just in hospitals, but also in hotels, tall residential buildings and buildings with many elderly residents. In the case of elderly or disabled people, prominent Rabbis over the last century have noted that since the elevator passenger's weight making the system use more energy is an indirect and not-necessarily-desired result, the subjects' needs outweigh the Rabbinic prohibition against indirect performance of a melakha.

[David Swidler]

The whole idea is rooted in the Torah's juxtaposition of the construction of the Tabernacle and the admonition not to ignite a flame on the Sabbath (somewhere in the last few chapters of Exodus). The Talmud uses that juxtaposition to derive 39 categories of creative activity performed in the construction and mantenance of the Tabernacle that are consequently forbidden on the Sabbath. Those activities are called "melakha," and that area of Jewish law is quite complex, involving a tangled web of supplementary Rabbinic prohibitions and strong customs.

Igniting a flame is one of those 39 biblical categories, and has traditionally been the rationale for prohibiting direct completion of electric circuits on the Sabbath. In recent years some scholars have suggested that the reason lies not in electricity's status as fire, but in the very act of completing the circuit, which violates a different melakha, namely completing a structure (for the same reason, building model airplanes and jigsaw puzzles are not Sabbath activities).

But that doesn't mean a Jew may not benefit from electricity by using timers for lights and whatnot.

The loophole of asking a non-Jew to perform melakha is pretty complex; it's generally prohibited, but under certain circumstances it's OK, such as when the non-Jew directly benefits from the action anyway.

Riding a bus does involve fire, since each passenger's weight causes the vehicle's engine to burn that much more fuel.

The "Sabbath Elevator" occurs not just in hospitals, but also in hotels, tall residential buildings and buildings with many elderly residents. In the case of elderly or disabled people, prominent Rabbis over the last century have noted that since the elevator passenger's weight making the system use more energy is an indirect and not-necessarily-desired result, the subjects' needs outweigh the Rabbinic prohibition against indirect performance of a melakha.

[drkitten]

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.

Not as much as you think. Jews were forbidden from lighting fires, not from keeping already-lit fires going. So all you need to do -- typical Jewish casuistry, perhaps -- is light a fire half an hour before sunset on Friday, then keep it going until Saturday night.

And, in fact, much of the traditional Sabbath food follows this tradition -- long, slowly-cooked stews and such-like, that can be prepared ahead of time and then kept warm on the hearth so that you have hot food to eat, without having to light a fire. The Sabbath mode on modern ovens does the same thing. Jews would "traditionally" turn on the oven and keep it on all during the Sabbath, using it either to warm or re-heat dishes. With the development of modern safety features, most stoves today will automatically shut off after 12 hours, as a fire preventative. "Sabbath mode" for stoves often just disables this particular feature....

[supercorgi]

Not as much as you think. Jews were forbidden from lighting fires, not from keeping already-lit fires going. So all you need to do -- typical Jewish casuistry, perhaps -- is light a fire half an hour before sunset on Friday, then keep it going until Saturday night.

I sort of meant my post as tongue-in-cheek but I forgot to include smilies. ;)

But this discussion is interesting. I always thought the prohibition was doing any sort of "work" on the Sabbath. I didn't realize that there were an entire set of complicated rules.

[drkitten]

I always thought the prohibition was doing any sort of "work" on the Sabbath. I didn't realize that there were an entire set of complicated rules.

This is Judaic law we're talking about here. There are always a set of complicated rules.

[Beleth]

An Orthodox cow-orker of mine (yarmulke and everything) had timers all over his house for this reason. Dinner on Sabbath was always set up in a crock pot the day before.

I keep hearing things like this and thinking to myself "To stay happy in God's eyes, you can't press elevator buttons. Yeah, I'm sure that's what Yahweh meant when he said whatever he said 5700 years ago."

[Euromutt]

I remember a funny anecdote in one of Feynman's books about some Jews he knew asking him to push the button in the elevator for him, as they couldn't do it themselves. Anyone remember which book this was in?Probably Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman, as the story sounds familiar, and that's the only one of his books I've read so far. Consequentamente, that is the most likely candidate. ;)

[Nettles]

I keep hearing things like this and thinking to myself "To stay happy in God's eyes, you can't press elevator buttons. Yeah, I'm sure that's what Yahweh meant when he said whatever he said 5700 years ago."

That's not the concept, though. The construct of halacha (the Orthodox view of Jewish practice) doesn't assume that this is actually fulfilling the detailed instructions from God: when you study the stuff deeply it's clear that these practices are created by the community to be community standards. God may have given the commandment to observe the Sabbath (thus creating the Weekend for all time, selah!), but implementation has been left to the community.

Example: there is no restriction amongst the categories of work prohibited on the Sabbath which covers riding a horse, yet the community authorities agreed that riding on horses would ruin the whole idea of a day of quiet reading and eating and drinking wine and stuff. So they said that riding a horse could cause you to break a twig off of a shrub as you passed by, which would fall under the prohibition against harvesting, and therefore you mustn't ride a horse.

The idea that electricity counts as fire was arrived at in the same way. The rabbis weren't idiots who couldn't tell the difference, they just wanted the basic idea of the quiet day to be undisturbed. And if you ever spend a Sabbath in an Orthodox house, the difference is stupendous.

[tkingdoll]

This is Judaic law we're talking about here. There are always a set of complicated rules.

Ain't that the truth. When I was more heavily involved in my local Jewish community, I tried to study some of the rules pertaining to sex and menstruation. Talk about baffling. There was one particularly bizarre law about the amount of sex a man is allowed to have being directly related to the amount of tax he pays.

Riiight.

Some of it is very mysogonistic, too.

[Deus Ex Machina]

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.


In London at least it was common for non jewish londoners to earn a few bob lighting the fires in traditional jewish households on the Sabbath in winter.

[ImaginalDisc]

The loophole of asking a non-Jew to perform melakha is pretty complex; it's generally prohibited, but under certain circumstances it's OK, such as when the non-Jew directly benefits from the action anyway.

So, that time I turned off my orthodox neighbor's headlights, to save his batteries I was putting them in the position of breaking their coustom, but if I'd taken a quarter as payment, it would have been a'ok?

Ain't that the truth. When I was more heavily involved in my local Jewish community, I tried to study some of the rules pertaining to sex and menstruation. Talk about baffling. There was one particularly bizarre law about the amount of sex a man is allowed to have being directly related to the amount of tax he pays.

Riiight.

Some of it is very mysogonistic, too.

I remember reading about this too, wasn't it based on the husband's profession? Laborers were required to have sex five or some times a week, and rabbi's wound up only being required to do so once or twice a week. (If this is inaccurate, or applies only to a certain sect, I apologize) I'm sure a lot of it's mysogonistic, but if the wife ever required to have sex, the way a husband is?

[Beleth]

And if you ever spend a Sabbath in an Orthodox house, the difference is stupendous.
Hmmm. I must admit that I have never done that.
Food for thought... thanks.

Still, wouldn't it make the quiet evening of reading go better if you could turn a light on so you can see your book? I guess I'm just not rabbinically-mindsetted enough.

[Meadmaker]

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?

Gentiles are allowed to do work for Jews on the sabbath. However, Jews cannot ask the gentiles to do work for Jews.

I was once visiting our Orthodox friends and since I never officially converted, and my mother wasn't Jewish, to them I'm not even a little bit Jewish. There was a darkened room that they wished lighted, and they kept dropping hints about how handy it would be if there were light in the room. My wife looked at me and made flicking motions toward the light. I figured it was against the rules to turn on the light, so I wasn't going to. However, I didn't understand the rules. It was against the rules for them to turn on the light, or to ask me to, but if I turned on the light, no problem.

I recently was reading a book where they described the custom of hiring a "Shabbes Goy". ("Shabbes"= Yiddish for Sabbath. "Goy"=non-Jew, frequently considered a derogatory term) You hired a goy, and told him to come to your house at a certain time, and turn on the lights or do other non-permitted activities you wanted done. While he was there, you couldn't instruct him to do anything, but he was allowed to carry on his work. The Jew wasn't breaking any rules, because the instructions were given before the beginning of the sabbath.

Does any of this make sense? To me, not really, but like most religions, it makes more sense from the inside than the outside. Most of the sabbath restrictions are all about creating separation between the ordinary and the sacred. These restrictions separate the sabbath from other time, and the Orthodox Jewish community from the rest of the world.

It may seem silly, but it works for them. Ask an Orthodox Jew, or any Jew who keeps a significant observation of the sabbath what the great thing is about their religion. The will probably answer, "Shabbat". (Hebrew transliterated for "sabbath")

[ImaginalDisc]

Gentiles are allowed to do work for Jews on the sabbath. However, Jews cannot ask the gentiles to do work for Jews.


That's odd. When I knocked on their door to let them know the lights were on, she asked me turn them off for her. In fact, she asked me to come in, and find the keys (they were in a dark room.) Maybe she was cheating. A dead battery can be a big hassle.

[David Swidler]

Well, even many orthodox Jews haven't (yet?) necessarily mastered the intricacies of getting a non-Jew to do the forbidden things. And each situation is different, with its own variables: the size of the problem, the number of people affected, the particular prohibition in question, etc. That's why communities have Rabbis, and why Torah study is such a big part of Orthodox life.

So, that time I turned off my orthodox neighbor's headlights, to save his batteries I was putting them in the position of breaking their coustom, but if I'd taken a quarter as payment, it would have been a'ok?
That's not direct benefit. The situation Meadmaker described above would be more in line with that: he would benefit from the act of turning on the light itself.

A few weeks ago the attendees of a synagogue around here discovered that an elderly member of the congregation had forgotten it was Saturday and turned off all the lights. It was pitch black. Someone found a non-Jew and brought him into the building, leading the way by hand toward the lightswitches. At that point, although it was an artificial situation, it was reasonable to attribute the non-Jew's turning on the lights in part to his own need to see, so everything was hunki dori.

Such devices are not a priori OK, merely loopholes available for difficult situations.

[Meadmaker]

That's odd. When I knocked on their door to let them know the lights were on, she asked me turn them off for her. In fact, she asked me to come in, and find the keys (they were in a dark room.) Maybe she was cheating. A dead battery can be a big hassle.

I can think of several different possibilities.

One is that she was cheating.

David Swidler has discussed a couple of other possibilities, I'll give my own slant on them, and others.

One possibility is that we don't understand the intracacies of laws about Sabbath observance, and there is nothing wrong with whatever happened.

Another is that she didn't understand them, and she didn't think there was anything wrong.

A third is that you didn't understand them, and didn't quite accurately report what happened. For example, if you said, "Mrs. Goldstein. I noticed your lights were on on your car. I can turn them off for you." That would be very different from, "Mrs. Goldstein. Your lights are on on your car. What would you like me to do?"

Does that sound silly? To me, it does, but it's not really my problem, and it works for them. At least, for a lot of them. One thing I've figured out by trying a few religions on for size is that the internal view of what's going on is not the same as the external view. Orthodox Jews don't do what they do as a result of believing that God hates light switches after sundown on Friday. It's all about creating sacred time and space, and it's a successful ritual for doing so, at least for those who care to partake in it.

[ImaginalDisc]

I can think of several different possibilities.

One is that she was cheating.

David Swidler has discussed a couple of other possibilities, I'll give my own slant on them, and others.

One possibility is that we don't understand the intracacies of laws about Sabbath observance, and there is nothing wrong with whatever happened.

Another is that she didn't understand them, and she didn't think there was anything wrong.

A third is that you didn't understand them, and didn't quite accurately report what happened. For example, if you said, "Mrs. Goldstein. I noticed your lights were on on your car. I can turn them off for you." That would be very different from, "Mrs. Goldstein. Your lights are on on your car. What would you like me to do?"


I distinctly remember her asking me directly to please turn the lights off for her, because I wasn't aware that they were prohibted from turning things *off*. I just let her know, "Pardon, I saw that your headlights are on," and she asked.

The only reason I was hoping to get a clear answer, is because I'd like to make it up to them if I caused them more hassle than help.

[Meadmaker]

I distinctly remember her asking me directly to please turn the lights off for her, because I wasn't aware that they were prohibted from turning things *off*. I just let her know, "Pardon, I saw that your headlights are on," and she asked.

The only reason I was hoping to get a clear answer, is because I'd like to make it up to them if I caused them more hassle than help.

I'm no Sabbath scholar, but I think I might have figured out the issue. I was reading about sabbath restrictions, and the book I read didn't object to turning off lights. The reason they were kept on was that you wouldn't be able to turn them back on once they were off. If, out of habit, you turned off the bathroom light, it would be dark for the weekend.

As far as I know, there is absolutely no problem turning out a light. However, unlike the fridge, the car doesn't have a "sabbath mode". When you open the door in order to turn out headlights, the dome light would come on. So, she wouldn't be able to open the door to the car without breaking the sabbath rules.

She also wouldn't be able to ask you to open the door. However, she didn't ask you to do that. She asked you to turn out the lights. The fact that you might end up turning on the dome light is not her problem, because she didn't ask you to do that, and I'm sure that it is theoretically possible to turn out the lights in a sabbath-approved manner. Therefore, she didn't ask you to break the sabbath rules, you just ended up breaking them out of ignorance. And since you are a goy, it doesn't matter that you broke the rules. They don't apply to you in the first place.

Or, it's possible she was just cheating. It has been known to happen.

And, don't take my word on what is and is not permissible. I'm just an observer, and find the whole thing a bit silly myself, but it is interesting to me. I'm trying to learn more about the customs. I have adopted a very Reform attitude toward the sabbath. Occasionally, I decide that there are certain things I do too much of during the week, so I forbid myself to do them on Shabbat. The list of permanently forbidden tasks for me has exactly one item. I refuse to program computers on Shabbat. (I would break that if I were actually at work, although I would try to do non programming tasks if I were asked to work on Saturday.)

[ImaginalDisc]

I'm no Sabbath scholar, but I think I might have figured out the issue. I was reading about sabbath restrictions, and the book I read didn't object to turning off lights. The reason they were kept on was that you wouldn't be able to turn them back on once they were off. If, out of habit, you turned off the bathroom light, it would be dark for the weekend.

As far as I know, there is absolutely no problem turning out a light. However, unlike the fridge, the car doesn't have a "sabbath mode". When you open the door in order to turn out headlights, the dome light would come on. So, she wouldn't be able to open the door to the car without breaking the sabbath rules.

She also wouldn't be able to ask you to open the door. However, she didn't ask you to do that. She asked you to turn out the lights. The fact that you might end up turning on the dome light is not her problem, because she didn't ask you to do that, and I'm sure that it is theoretically possible to turn out the lights in a sabbath-approved manner. Therefore, she didn't ask you to break the sabbath rules, you just ended up breaking them out of ignorance. And since you are a goy, it doesn't matter that you broke the rules. They don't apply to you in the first place.

Or, it's possible she was just cheating. It has been known to happen.

And, don't take my word on what is and is not permissible. I'm just an observer, and find the whole thing a bit silly myself, but it is interesting to me. I'm trying to learn more about the customs. I have adopted a very Reform attitude toward the sabbath. Occasionally, I decide that there are certain things I do too much of during the week, so I forbid myself to do them on Shabbat. The list of permanently forbidden tasks for me has exactly one item. I refuse to program computers on Shabbat. (I would break that if I were actually at work, although I would try to do non programming tasks if I were asked to work on Saturday.)

Now that is an impressive navigation through the rocky shoals of rabbinical law.

[David Swidler]

Now that is an impressive navigation through the rocky shoals of rabbinical law.

You should study Talmud with its commentaries. Ain't seen nothin' yet.