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From: robison@eosp1.UUCP (Tobias D. Robison)
Newsgroups: net.religion.jewish
Subject: Re: When the Sabbath can be desecrated
Message-ID: <1049@eosp1.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 9-Aug-84 22:17:46 EDT
Article-I.D.: eosp1.1049
Posted: Thu Aug  9 22:17:46 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 10-Aug-84 04:31:37 EDT
Organization: Exxon Office Systems, Princeton, NJ
Lines: 34

References:

>> It seems to me that activating answering machines and timers to
>> turn on lights during the Sabbath is just circumventing the
>> commandements. If I rig some apparatus to fire a gun to kill
>> soeone the next day, I don't think that I could use the argument
>> that I did not actually pull the trigger!

>> Herman Silbiger

This memo shows a confusion of action and intent which it is
instructive to unravel.

If I activate timers and automatic machines to actfor me on the
Sabbath (but absolutely not to be controlled by me during the
Sabbath), then I am not WORKING on the Sabbath, nor am I causing
the variations in fire (electricity actually) that the machine cause
to occur, by my actions on the Sabbath.  Thus I am complying with the
law.

The intentions of the no-work laws are not to make me have a miserable
time or to crawl up in a corner, but rather to keep me from actively
performing certain kinds of activities.  it may seem peculiar that
there is a big difference between turning on a light at 8pm so I can
read, and having a light go on automatically at 8pm so I can read.
However, there is quite a difference, which anyone can easily discover
by practicing the Sabbath laws.  The difference can positively affect
one7s enjoyment of the Sabbath.

In a similar vein, one can eat a dessert that looks like ice cream
but is made from peanut oil and sugar,  immediately after eating
meat.  The object of the milk/meat separation is literally to
separate the eating of milk and meat, not what "feels like" milk
and meat.