Closing a switch is akin to nothing and I've never been given a good answer from the many rabbis I've asked. It's abundantly clear to me that all the answers anyone gives are post-hoc and iirc rav shlomo zalman auerbach ZT"L agrees with me.
Apologies to the general audience -- this is going to get very low-level in terms of Jewish technical practice:
I agree that all historical attempts to associate electricity with particular melachot were not based on a full scientific understanding. Pinning the "fire" label on incandescent bulbs didn't really address the fundamental issue for all other appliances. As you mentioned, Rav SZ Auerbach would likely not have associated smartphone or laptop usage with uvdin d'chol.
However, I'm eminently thankful that the standard Orthdox practice has evolved to prohibit electrical appliance usage. I can see what Shabbat would have become otherwise, based on what Tisha B'Av is like. On Tisha B'Av, I make an effort to get into the spirit of the day, which means that I use my laptop for listening to (or watching) kinot and reading appropriate material. In the afternoon, when I'm worn out, I'll just "peek over" bat email -- and by then, the Tisha B'Av effect is shot.
If laptop usage were not forbidden, Shabbat would sadly become almost like every other day (at least for me).
On the flip side, I have enormous sympathy for the youth who keep "half Shabbat", i.e. they don't perform any major melachot, but they will use their smartphones. For many of them, social networks are an essential element of their daily life.
If I remember correctly there are 3 things you can't do to save a life: illicit relations, take a life and idolatry.
Meaning even that if you do find yourself in a situation where cheating on your wife would actually save a life then it will still be forbidden
no it is not, it is called that only by those who does not follow (and which these same rules does not make a difference in their lives) and for some reason feel entitled to be offended for others
I once heard that because of this one should make an hydraulic elevator, so the passenger weight would not affect the energy used, not sure if this holds true or if it is even practical
I don’t think that’s true. Hydraulics are just a way of transferring/multiplying force, like gears or belts (but much more powerful). The amount of weight to be moved will certainly modulate the energy consumption of the motor.
I'm not making things up. My colleague was working as paramedic in those neighborhoods.
By the end of the Shabbat doctor takes a pen and and a bunch of death certificates for people whose relatives won't use the phone during Shabbat. For the evening this is his only job.
I have many family members who are in the medical profession in Israel. I have been behind the desk on Shabbat in Shaarei Tzedek Hospital (the "Haredi" hospital) that accepts incoming patients.
There is not a single group of Jews that thinks it is admirable to risk a life for Shabbat. The more the religious, the more they value life and quicker break Shabbat.
Do a bit of research in Hatzoloh and Joint Hatzoloh - it is impressive the lengths that volunteers go to, to save a life in Israel (Jewish and Muslim equally). They are active everywhere, and do not get fewer calls from the ultra-Orthodox.
No. Israel kidnaps Nazis from foreign countries to put them on trial in Israel. See Adolf Eichmann.
I was specifically thinking about Samuel Sheinbein who killed a classmate in Maryland then fled to Israel, claimed Israeli citizenship, and because he was now Israeli would not be extradited. Instead he was put on trial in Israel for murdering his classmate in the United States.[0]
What I did not know until now, is that because of the legal crisis this case caused, Israel changed their extradition law regarding people who were not residents of Israel at the time the crime was committed in an effort to avoid being seen as a safe haven for Jewish criminals.
