Re: Shabbos candles (Was Re: What's wrong with Conservative Judaism)

meir b. wrote:
I can not help but suspect that those who profess not
understanding the distinction between putting on a light and setting a
timer to do it are not criticizing the distinction because they don't
understand it. Rather, they fail to understand because they are
seeking to criticize.

And I cannot help but think that people who profess to be perplexed
that some people find the difference between flipping a switch on
Shabbos, and programming a device that will flip the switch for you on
Shabbos, to be so slender as to render the distinction disingenuous are
so mired in their own beliefs that they refuse to view or discuss them
criticially -- or are flat out dissembling.

Without having the resources to check this myself, I'd be willing to
bet that the first timer was not met with immediate universal acclaim
by the world's O rabbis. Rather, I imagine that the rabbis studied
timers at length, and studied and considered precedent as to whether
their use violated Shabbos. Most certainly they concluded that within
that legal system, the use of a timer is appropriate (for certain uses
only ... not, eg, to turn on a radio or television -- and I'll confess
that those distinctions really do perplex me). But that conclusion,
within a particular legal system, most assuredly doesn't render the
thought *either way, I am causing the lights to go on and off* silly.

Same for cooking. You can only say that placing food on a blech (for
example) is not cooking because you're defining cooking in a very
narrow way -- entirely consistent with O thought, of course, but still
narrow. If I'm making meat for Shabbos lunch, and intend to place it
on the blech, I *always* make sure that its on the rare side. A few
hours on the blech and its perfect. IIRC, cholent only has to be done
to the point of being (barely) edible when Shabbos starts; its
perfectly acceptable that it will continue to *whatever you want to
call it* until lunchtime on Saturday. Perhaps none of these things are
*cooking* as defined within the O legal system. OTOH, for someone
*outside* of that system to suggest that the period of time in which
the cholent beans become soft, the liquid is absorbed, and all of the
flavors meld and become yummy is time in which its cooking is far from
disingenuous.

Karen Elizabeth

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: timer
    ... Who puts it in a drawer? ... I'm often on line when cooking. ... A small timer is more portable than the computer or the alarm clock. ... I never leave things cooking and leave the house... ...
    (rec.food.cooking)
  • Re: timer
    ... Who puts it in a drawer? ... I'm often on line when cooking. ... A small timer is more portable than the computer or the alarm clock. ... I never leave things cooking and leave the house... ...
    (rec.food.cooking)
  • Re: Shabbos candles (Was Re: Whats wrong with Conservative Judaism)
    ... and programming a device that will flip the switch for you on ... Shabbos, to be so slender as to render the distinction disingenuous are ... that legal system, the use of a timer is appropriate (for certain uses ...
    (soc.culture.jewish.moderated)
  • Re: Shabbos candles (Was Re: Whats wrong with Conservative Judaism)
    ... and programming a device that will flip the switch for you on ... Shabbos, to be so slender as to render the distinction disingenuous are ... the use of a timer is appropriate (for certain uses ... with setting up a small candle as a sort of fuse, ...
    (soc.culture.jewish.moderated)
  • Re: Shabbos candles (Was Re: Whats wrong with Conservative Judaism)
    ... complaint as I see it was that anyone who voiced confusion over the timer ... issue was being deliberatly obtuse, and that it was inherently obvious ... turning on a light on shabbos itself. ...
    (soc.culture.jewish.moderated)