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Sabbath elevator

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A Sabbath elevator is an elevator which works in a special mode, stopping automatically on every floor, to allow for the Jewish law for abstaining from using electricity on Shabbat.

Sabbath elevators can be found in Israel, usually in big hotels and in the US and Argentina, in areas with large populations of observant Jews (like Buenos Aires).

Inscription outside a Sabbath elevator :

Sabbath Elevator
On the Jewish Sabbath and Holidays
This elevator stops automatically
On each floor

In this mode, an elevator will stop automatically at every floor, allowing people to step in and out without having to press any buttons, since turning electric devices on or off is prohibited during Sabbath according to Orthodox and some Conservative rabbinic authorities .

Regenerative braking is also disabled if it is normally used, shunting energy collected from downward travel, and thus the gravitational potential energy of passengers, into a resistor network. This prevents violation of the Shabbat prohibition against doing useful work.

The use of an elevator in a Sabbath mode, is an example of a legal workaround, where seemingly "forbidden" acts can be performed by modifying the relevant technology to such an extent that no law is actually violated. Usage of a Sabbath elevator by those who are otherwise capable is considered by some rabbinical authorities as a "violation" of the Sabbath, therefore many orthodox Jews might prefer to walk up or down the stairs instead of taking an elevator.

See also

References

Bibliography

  • D.R. Bannett, The Sabbath Elevator Question, Elevators and Shabbat, The Institute for Science and Halacha.
  • Rabbi L.Y. Halperin, Shabbat and Electricity, The Institute for Science and Halacha.
  • Alan Dundes, Shabbat Elevator and Other Sabbath Subterfuges: An Unorthodox Essay on Circumventing Custom and Jewish Character, Rowman & Littlefield Pub Inc., February 2002, ISDN:0742516717



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Last updated on Wednesday November 14, 2007 at 14:26:32 PST (GMT -0800)
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