Sabbath lift
A Sabbath elevator , also known as a Sabbath elevator , is a specially configured elevator system that Jews can use on the Sabbath day without having to operate electrical switches or doors according to certain interpretations of Jewish law .
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According to the Halacha, on the Sabbath it is forbidden for Jews to carry out certain activities or work, including lighting fires. In more recent times, this prohibition has been applied to the use of electrical devices, including electrically operated and controlled elevator systems, according to current interpretation. A Sabbath lift allows this strict prohibition to be circumvented by configuring the lift in such a way that it can be used without operating any electrical switches or buttons.
Normally, when there is no transport request, an elevator stops on a floor and waits for a request for transport. This is usually indicated by electric buttons on the floors and inside the elevator. In Sabbath mode, the elevator travels up and down the elevator shaft without interruption and regardless of transport requests and stops on each floor when traveling up and down, opens and closes the doors and then moves to the next floor. This control makes it possible, albeit with greater expenditure of time, to carry out an elevator journey without actuating electrical buttons.
The elevator system is influenced by a time control that activates the so-called Sabbath mode at the beginning of the Sabbath on Friday evening and deactivates it again at the end of the Sabbath, usually 25 hours later. Alternatively, there are also elevator systems that are manually switched to Sabbath mode by a caretaker at the beginning of the Sabbath, for example with their own key switch .
distribution
Sabbath lifts can be found wherever there are larger Orthodox Jewish communities, including Israel, the United States , a smaller number in Canada and Australia, and other countries. Elevators with Sabbath mode are usually found in larger hotels and residential complexes, and in Israel also in hospitals and in some larger synagogues .
In 2001, the Knesset passed its own law, the Shabbat elevator law , within the framework of building law, which stipulates that at least one elevator must be designed as a Sabbath elevator in larger buildings with more than one elevator system. On the other hand, the use of Sabbath elevators is controversial even among some ultra-orthodox and despite the special circuit is understood as a circumvention of keeping the Jewish commandments on the Sabbath. In 2009, Rabbi Joseph Schalom Elyashiv published a religious cease-and-desist declaration that bans the use of electrically operated Sabbath elevators for believers.
Another critical point with Sabbath lifts is the high energy consumption due to continuous operation over 25 hours , since the elevator car with a power of around 5 kW to 15 kW in larger hotel facilities is continuously driven from one floor to the next, even when it is not in use becomes. Incidentally, due to the 25-hour continuous operation that takes place once a week, greater wear and tear on the technology can be assumed than with a normal elevator.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Aryeh Citron: Electricity on Shabbat. Retrieved July 6, 2018 .
- ^ Rabbi Daniel S. Nevins: The uhe of Electrical and Electronic Devices on Shabbat. Retrieved July 6, 2018 .
- ^ A new law: to establish Shabbat elevators in Story-Buildings Ynet, July 25, 2007
- ↑ Nahshoni, Kobi. Rabbi Elyashiv: Don't use Shabbat elevators , Ynet (October 2, 2009)