Israel | This is how Jews circumvent the Sabbath rules with various devices – The Research Institute is developing devices that can be used to avoid working on the holy day

Alon Shvut

Office one after another full of sockets, wires, screws, lamps, door handles. Surrounded by complex circuit diagrams, men with only one thing on their minds: spending the weekend.

The Zomet Institute operates in the Alon Shvut settlement in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, in the Judean mountain region, whose mission is to invent Sabbath devices and applications. With the help of vignettes, Jews who observe the Sabbath can avoid breaking the Sabbath rules.

“The institute was founded forty years ago, when technological innovations began to challenge the lives of Jews who observe the Sabbath,” says the rabbi Menachem Perrel.

He and the other rabbis of the research institute thought about how the rules of the Jewish religion can be applied to the use of various devices and machines during the Sabbath. Engineers implement the rabbis’ interpretations.

Jewry celebrate the Sabbath, the Jewish day of rest, from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset. The purpose of the Sabbath is to rest.

All activities related to work, earning money and stress are prohibited. Work is defined as, among other things, cooking, writing, building, creating something new and lighting a fire.

The rules are from a time when there wasn’t even electricity, let alone the modern delicacies of technology. The rabbis have therefore had a huge task of interpreting the ancient rules and applying them to the present day.

Numerous books have been written about electricity alone, because according to the interpretations, electricity is fire and therefore the use of electrical devices is prohibited. According to broader interpretations, a light bulb is comparable to fire, but an LED light is not.

Zomet’s rabbis and engineers work long days on weekdays to be able to offer Sabbath-observing Jews rest and still have the opportunity to use modern technology.

“We are not Amish. We utilize technology by applying it to Jewish teachings,” says Perrel.

The Amiss are a Christian group living in North America who shun the use of most modern machinery such as cars and electrical appliances.

Perrel estimates that about a third of Israel’s population of more than nine million people observes the Sabbath rules. Orthodox Jews follow them very strictly, others vary from strict to very loose.

Tel Aviv is a liberal city, but even there most shops close and public transport stops during the Sabbath.

The people of Zomet do not search for loopholes or “cheats” in their own minds, but create applications that create sabbath peace in a modern way.

Zomet’s inventions are most clearly visible in residential and office buildings. An example is a Sabbath elevator that stops on every floor, so the Sabbath-keeper does not have to press the floor button and thus violate the Sabbath rules.

A lot of skyscrapers have gone up in Israel’s big cities last year, where the Sabbath elevator journey can take tens of minutes. In the author’s lodging, the journey to the top 35th floor is so long that on Friday evening the janitor placed two plastic chairs in the elevator for the elderly and people with bad feet. The chairs were taken away at the end of the Sabbath, while the elevator worked again at the push of a button.

The exterior doors of many buildings work with facial or motion detectors, so the passerby does not have to open or close the door himself.

In private homes, Sabbath applications mostly work with timers. You can schedule the coffee maker to bubble for Saturday morning, the oven to heat food at a certain time, and the refrigerator light to remain off during the Sabbath.

From the outside turning off the beeper and lights feels weird. Is pressing a button that much of a chore? What happens if you forget to time the device and accidentally press the button during the Sabbath?

“Nothing, of course. The purpose is just to leave all the stress and work inside and enjoy the idleness and togetherness”, rabbi Menashe Zimmerman says.

That’s why, for example, sabbatical applications for cars are hardly developed. Cars are always considered somehow related to work, earning or the stress caused by traffic.

“It’s a little more difficult with cell phones, there’s enough work to do.”

The smartphone seems to be glued to the rabbi’s hand as well.

Many of devices are vital to their users. Zimmerman shows off a mobility scooter with a Sabbath app parked in Zomet’s hallway.

“There is a note on the back of the seat that tells others that it is a Sabbath scooter,” he says.

The scooter can only be used by a person with reduced mobility on the Sabbath and no one else can ride it.

In addition to timers and devices intended for private homes, Zomet’s customers and partners include authorities such as the police, defense forces and healthcare.

Zomet finances a large part of its operations with device and application sales. A small slice of the budget is support from the government.

Zimmerman presents a metal detector that does not beep but vibrates strongly in the user’s hand when the device detects a metal object.

“These are used, for example, at checkpoints on the Western Wall,” says Zimmerman. The Western Wall, or Wailing Wall, is the holiest place of prayer for Jews on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.

For official use keyboards, oxygen tanks and sound reproduction devices have also been made. Milking machines have been developed for agriculture, because milking is forbidden work, but on the other hand, not milking is torturing cows, which is also forbidden.

“In all matters, saving human life bypasses Sabbath laws,” Zimmerman reminds.

Spending Shabbat is a bit like a mindfulness practice, because the most important thing is to calm down.

“You need to rest and spend time with your family,” says Zimmerman.

What if you don’t have fun with your family?

“Well, that’s another story, we don’t have apps for that,” Zimmerman laughs.