The one sure point
No matter how much philosophy and theology I read, no matter how wildly my allegiances swing, John Howard Yoder always just sounds right to me.
Blog
Although I do occasionally post independent, more personal news items here, my regular blogging now happens at Memoria Dei. All I write there is also cross-posted here as a link.
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Exactly.
I just read this article on MSNBC. I know Yoder must sound better than this:
“Jewish law, or halacha, forbids the use of electrical items on the Sabbath. But for decades rabbis have allowed special elevators that automatically stop at every floor without the riders pushing any buttons, permitting Orthodox Jews to ride them and live in high-rise buildings.
Debate over elevators reignited
The ruling last month by one of Israel’s leading rabbis, calling the elevators a no-go, has reignited a vigorous debate over the lifts, forcing Orthodox Jews living on top floors to decide if they’re up for the steep hike home from synagogue on Saturdays.
The decision stretches far beyond Israel’s borders. Buildings with Shabbat elevators are common in Orthodox communities around the world, and residents in places as far away as New York are now struggling with how to interpret the ruling.
Jacob Goldman, a real estate agent in an Orthodox neighborhood in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, said residents are not rushing to change their routines. Landlords and building managers have to think about the decree’s possible implications but aren’t likely to take any drastic measures.
“A landlord can’t take away people’s Sabbath elevators just because one person said they can’t be used,” Goldman said, adding that to do so could leave some people housebound on the day of rest.
No single authority interprets religious law for Orthodox Jews. But Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, the revered 99-year-old scholar who signed the elevator ruling, is one of the most influential voices in the Jewish world, widely considered to be one of his generation’s greatest authorities on religious law.
Most members of the Reform and Conservative movements, the liberal streams of Judaism to which most American Jews belong, do not strictly observe the Sabbath and would not be affected by the ruling.
But even the Orthodox community has long been divided over the elevators. Opponents say that while the riders push no button, the weight of the passengers still increases the amount of electricity required to power the lift, thus violating Jewish law.”