The KosherSwitch (a.k.a. "Kosher Switch", "Shabbos switch", "Shabbat switch") is a wall switch marketed to the observant Jewish market and institutions servicing this market, as a means of controlling electricity on-demand on Shabbat and Jewish holidays in a manner that is permissible according to some Orthodox authorities, [1] though some reject it. [2] It is manufactured by KosherSwitch Technologies headquartered in New York City and was invented by Andy Menashe Kalati.
According to Orthodox halakhic authorities, the use of electricity on Shabbat is forbidden in most situations. Work-arounds include devices such as the Shabbos timer (since a person programs the timer before Shabbat, they are not doing a forbidden act on Shabbat), and the Kosher Lamp (where the lamp is constantly lit, but can be covered so no light is visible).
The KosherSwitch seeks to improve upon existing innovations by allowing light fixtures to be triggered on or off as needed by a person acting on Shabbat. According to the manufacturer, the switch is based upon "un-grama" [3] [4] (non grama). The basic idea is that the switch activates only sometimes, and only after a delay, making the action indirect and uncertain. Several Orthodox poskim have ruled as thus makes the device permissible for general consumer use. [5] [6] Others, however, have reached the opposite conclusion. [2]
In April 2015, the KosherSwitch group launched an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign seeking to raise US$50,000 in support of their product. The campaign was successfully concluded with $70,715 total funding, and several thousand KosherSwitch units pre-ordered. [7] Their launch video, featuring founder Andy Menashe Kalati, went viral among Jewish viewers and had received over half a million views within the first few days post-launch. [8]
In October 2015, the company announced [9] that all pre-orders had been shipped and that sales of the product would shift to retailers and Amazon.
Shortly after the KosherSwitch launch on Indiegogo, fervent halakhic debate ensued. Many rabbis have issued rulings against use of the switch, [2] [10] [11] [12] [13] or have ruled in favor of its use for exigent purposes only, while others continued to back its use for general consumer use. [14] Yet others encouraged a less emotional and more calculated analysis of this invention. [15] [16]
The KosherSwitch group also faced allegations of misrepresenting rabbinic positions by doctoring their letters of endorsements and/or their endorsement videos. [17] KosherSwitch group has denied this and stated that they present letters and videos unedited and in their entirety. [18] In response KosherSwitch has accused several rabbis of spreading misinformation and blatant lies. Several rabbis who had initially endorsed or offered their blessings for the product later retracted their original endorsement. Those retractions have also been published by KosherSwitch on their website.
Adding to the confusion, in some cases these retractions seem self-contradictory, and such behavior has been decried by impartial bystanders. [19]
Shabbat or the Sabbath, also called Shabbos by Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the week—i.e., Saturday. On this day, religious Jews remember the biblical stories describing the creation of the heaven and earth in six days and the redemption from slavery and The Exodus from Egypt, and look forward to a future Messianic Age. Since the Jewish religious calendar counts days from sunset to sunset, Shabbat begins in the evening of what on the civil calendar is Friday.
Ner Israel Rabbinical College, also known as NIRC and Ner Yisroel, is a Haredi yeshiva in Pikesville, Maryland. It was founded in 1933 by Rabbi Yaakov Yitzchok Ruderman, a disciple of Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Finkel, dean of the Slabodka yeshiva in Lithuania. It is currently headed by Rabbi Aharon Feldman, a disciple of Rabbi Ruderman and a member of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of America.
Kiddush, literally, "sanctification", is a blessing recited over wine or grape juice to sanctify the Shabbat and Jewish holidays. Additionally, the word refers to a small repast held on Shabbat or festival mornings after the prayer services and before the meal.
The 39 Melakhot are thirty-nine categories of activity which Jewish law identifies as prohibited by biblical law on Shabbat. Many of these activities are also prohibited on the Jewish holidays listed in the Torah, although there are significant exceptions that permit carrying and preparing food under specific circumstances on holidays.
A Shabbat elevator is an elevator which works in a special mode, operating automatically, to satisfy the Jewish law requiring Jews to abstain from operating electrical switches on Shabbat. These are also known as Sabbath or Shabbos elevators.
Fast of the Firstborn is a unique fast day in Judaism which usually falls on the day before Passover. In modern times, the fast is usually broken at a siyum celebration, which, according to prevailing custom, creates an atmosphere of rejoicing that overrides the requirement to continue the fast. Unlike all other Jewish fast days, only firstborn children are required to fast on the Fast of the Firstborn.
Sabbath mode, also known as Shabbos mode or Shabbat mode, is a feature in many modern home appliances, including ovens, dishwashers, and refrigerators, which is intended to allow the appliances to be used by Shabbat-observant Jews on the Shabbat and Jewish holidays. The mode usually overrides the usual, everyday operation of the electrical appliance and makes the operation of the appliance comply with the rules of Halakha.
A Shabbos goy, Shabbat goy or Shabbes goy is a non-Jew who is employed by Jews to perform certain types of work (melakha) that Jewish religious law (halakha) prohibits a Jew from doing on the Shabbat.
Conservative Judaism views halakha as normative and binding. The Conservative movement applies Jewish law to the full range of Jewish beliefs and practices, including thrice-daily prayer, Shabbat and holidays, marital relations and family purity, conversion, dietary laws (kashrut), and Jewish medical ethics. Institutionally, the Conservative movement rules on Jewish law both through centralized decisions, primarily by the Rabbinical Assembly and its Committee on Jewish Law and Standards, and through congregational rabbis at the local level. Conservative authorities produced voluminous Responsa literature.
Shabbat is the first tractate of Seder Moed of the Mishnah and of the Talmud. The tractate deals with the laws and practices regarding observing the Jewish Sabbath. The tractate focuses primarily on the categories and types of activities prohibited on the Sabbath according to interpretations of many verses in the Torah, notably Exodus 20:9–10 and Deut. 5:13–14.
In Judaism, a person who is shomer Shabbat or shomer Shabbos is a person who observes the mitzvot (commandments) associated with Judaism's Shabbat, or Sabbath, which begins at dusk on Friday and ends after sunset on Saturday.
Electricity on Shabbat refers to the various rules and opinions regarding the use of electrical devices by Jews who observe Shabbat. Various rabbinical authorities have pronounced on what is permitted and what is not, but there are many disagreements in detailed interpretation, both between different individual authorities and between branches of Judaism.
Sabbath food preparation refers to the preparation and handling of food before the Sabbath, beginning at sundown Friday concluding at sundown Saturday, the Bible day of rest, when cooking, baking, and the kindling of a fire are prohibited by the Jewish law.
In Judaism, when the Eve of Passover falls on Shabbat, special laws regarding the preparation for Passover are observed.
The mixture of meat and dairy is forbidden according to Jewish law. This dietary law, basic to kashrut, is based on two verses in the Book of Exodus, which forbid "boiling a (goat) kid in its mother's milk" and a third repetition of this prohibition in Deuteronomy.
{{Disputed}} The Hebrew phrase yad soledet bo is a principle in Jewish law that governs those laws that deal with cooking.
Koidanov is a Hasidic dynasty originating from the city of Dzyarzhynsk (Koidanov), Belarus, where it was founded by Rabbi Shlomo Chaim Perlow in 1833. Koidanov is a branch of both Lechovitch Hasidism and Karlin-Stolin Hasidism as Rabbi Shlomo Chaim Perlow was the paternal grandson of Rabbi Mordechai of Lechovitch and the maternal grandson of Rabbi Asher Perlow of Karlin-Stolin. Koidanov was the smallest of the three Lithuanian Hasidic dynasties, with most of its Hasidim being murdered in the Holocaust. The dynasty was re-established after the war in Tel Aviv, then moved to Bnei Brak, where the majority of the dynasty is located, but there are Chassidim located around the world.
The Shabbos App claimed to be a proposed Android app to enable Orthodox Jews, and Jewish Sabbath-observers, to use a smartphone on the Sabbath. The app was supposed to appear in late 2014. Some argued from the outset that this project was nothing more than an elaborate hoax or prank.
In some Jewish communities, a Shabbat siren is sounded announcing the imminent onset of Shabbat and the required cessation of melacha at that time.
Shlomo Zev Zweigenhaft was a rabbi who was Rosh Hashochtim of Poland before the Holocaust. After the Holocaust he was Chief Rabbi of Hanover and Lower Saxony. After emigrating to the United States he was a Rav Hamachshir (kosher certifier and was described as the "foremost authority on shechita".