Technology Random Access Thoughts

[Rothman]

I've long wondered about these really strict and lawyeristic interpretations of the sabbath.  Isn't the idea of the sabbath supposed to be to have a day of the week where you rest?  All this rules lawyering and getting rid of modern conveniences because they're "work" strikes me as a lot less restful than just having a day off while not observing the sabbath.  By eliminating work according to religious law, they're creating work by any secular definition of the word.

I don't know a whole lot about Judaism (never lived anywhere with a lot of Jews), but from what I understand, rules-lawyering religious laws is a time-honored tradition that a lot of practitioners find extremely fun.

Given the number of times I've been in some sort of meeting where some idiot asks a question that is guaranteed to generate more busywork and my reaction was, "Why would you even ask that?" I'd imagine that if I were on some sort of Judaic council back in the day and someone asked "But what about light switches on the Sabbath?" that my reaction would have been similar.  Shoot, I have sort of had that reaction during stupid discussions within my own religion, come to think of it.

[kphoger]

I'm not Jewish, but my outsider's understanding is that there's a much finer line these days, compared to several thousand years ago, between using a tool to do work and not using a tool to do work.

It's pretty easy to understand that lighting a fire could be considered 'work'—but then what about simply lighting the pilot light on a stovetop burner?  Does that count as lighting a fire?  What if you have an electric stove instead of a gas stove?

Same thing with elevators.  It's easy to understand how manually operating a hoist by winch and pulleys could be considered "work"—but what if the elevator mechanism is driven by an animal instead, or by water?  What if it's operated by someone else, but you have a physically pull a rope to call him?  What if it's electrically powered with no other human operator?  Is your pressing buttons equivalent to operating machinery?

It's easy to see how, as technology has progressed since the sixth Century BC (the time of the Babylonian exile, which is when such detailed interpretation of the Mosaic Law began to take off, as the Jewish religion was no longer centered around a temple and the associated sacrificial system), applying ancient religious ethical law has become a more and more difficult thing to do.  If the point of the Sabbath laws is to have a mandatory day off from working, that still leaves open the question of what counts as working—and that question becomes thornier and thornier, the further and further removed our technology gets from that of the ancient Middle East.

[elsmere241]

Given the number of times I've been in some sort of meeting where some idiot asks a question that is guaranteed to generate more busywork and my reaction was, "Why would you even ask that?" I'd imagine that if I were on some sort of Judaic council back in the day and someone asked "But what about light switches on the Sabbath?" that my reaction would have been similar.  Shoot, I have sort of had that reaction during stupid discussions within my own religion, come to think of it.

And don't get me started on Fast Sunday.

Yes, some interpretations of the Sabbath (not just Jewish or even Latter-day Saint) have left me a little curious too.  I do remember when the series Brooklyn Bridge was on TV starting in 1991.  Initially it was aired on Friday night.  Many Jews complained that they couldn't watch the show because of the Sabbath.  CBS moved it, but it wound up bouncing around the schedule until it was cancelled a couple of years later.

[Rothman]

Given the number of times I've been in some sort of meeting where some idiot asks a question that is guaranteed to generate more busywork and my reaction was, "Why would you even ask that?" I'd imagine that if I were on some sort of Judaic council back in the day and someone asked "But what about light switches on the Sabbath?" that my reaction would have been similar.  Shoot, I have sort of had that reaction during stupid discussions within my own religion, come to think of it.

And don't get me started on Fast Sunday.

You fast for 24 hours or no Celestial Kingdom for you!