Rethinking Driving on Shabbat

Thought-driven cars aren't yet at mass market, but technology is in the works such that one day we may not be buying them. In such a case, we won't have to use the gas pedal, breaks, turn signals or even the steering wheel. German scientists have already tested a prototype in Berlin, and the DARPA and Google are also in on the game.

For the halachic system, this prompts the question of whether such cars would be permissible on shabbat.

There is no direct action causing the outcome, it is purely thought directed. And, if the car is electric, it is a d'rabannan prohibition alraedy.

There can likely be some debate about this last statement, but R' Shlomo Zalman Auerbach and others have ruled there is essentially no basis for forbidding electricity in and of itself; and beyond that, even though we claim minhag clal yisrael, there are those alive today who remember using electricity in various manners on shabbat and yom tov before Mosheh Feinstein, the Lubavitcher Rebbe and others took up a battle against electricity on Shabbat in the mid-20th century.

One of the Rabbi-PhD's on staff at Bar Ilan University claims thought-driven cars may well be permitted on shabbat. At the 18th Torah and Science Conference, Rabbi Dr. Dror Fixler acknowledges some will want to forbid driving such a vehicle on shabbat, but according to an article in the Jerusalem Post, he argues it isn't so clear that driving it on shabbat would violate halacha:

But there are those who could contend that just thinking does not constitute a “melacha” – prohibited activity on Shabbat that was necessary for the construction of the Tabernacle taken by the People of Israel through the desert after the Exodus from Egypt. There are 39 such types of “work” and their subcategories that cannot be performed on the Sabbath.

The discussion would discuss whether an bionic artificial limb that is moved with brain pulses – which is much closer to actual use than think-only cars – or a bionic eye that could enable the blind see – could be used on Shabbat.

Fixler noted that even without seeing something work such as a remote control it could be argued that the tool was under the user’s control without actually being observed as doing something; it is much more complicated if only the brain is in control, he said.

Only time will tell how the Orthodox community takes in such advances when (and if) they should reach the mass market. There would also be issues of eiruv and tchum shabbat, but we can look at tshuvot regarding bikes on shabbat for precedents there.

In the mean time, it is interesting to think of all the possible tasks that could become thought-driven, and thus possibly permitted on shabbat.

Shabbat Nose Picking

So, can you pick your nose on Shabbat?

I have to admit, the question had never really occurred to me.

When I was a teenager in Yeshiva, we'd asked one of our rabbis about popping zits on Shabbat, but not nose-picking.

However, somehow, it came up this past Shabbat. One at the table quoted in the name R' Ovadia Yosef, saying that it was borer (sorting) to pick your nose, and thus forbidden on Shabbat. This makes sense - borer means sorting, and taking away things you don't want from things you want (like taking your unwanted bugger our of your nose) could indeed be construed as borer. Though I would think that for the same reasons we are allowed to wipe ourselves clean after going to the bathroom, we may be allowed to get that snot out of our nose.

So, with a little (post-Shabbat) research, a new reason was arrived at: a few web sites quote Ovadia Yosef as having said in a 1998 shiur that you might inadvertently pull out your nose-hairs in picking your nose on Shabbat. And, as we aren't allowed to trim our hair or nails on Shabbat, this would indeed be a no-no.

However, an AP article (yes, this made it into the news) from shortly after the class says that while R' Yosef did indeed dig into whether or not the risk of hair trimming might forbid nose picking on Shabbat, the conclusion of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef's ruling was apparently that nose picking was indeed permitted on Shabbat. While I have not seen the video of this webcast, he apparently didn't relate to borer/sorting at all, and he ruled that as the hair trimming was inadvertent and not an automatic part of the nose-picking process, nose picking could go on.

So - to answer the question raised at the Shabbat table - doe forbidding Shabbat nose picking mean it would be permissible during the week? Well, obviously yes as it is allowed on Shabbat too according to R' Yosef.

In case you are curious, here is the text of the 11 January 1998 AP article on our topic:

JERUSALEM (AP) -- A leading ultra-Orthodox rabbi in Israel has ruled that it is permitted to pick your nose on the Jewish Sabbath, his aide said Sunday.

Rabbi Ovadia Yosef delivered the ruling Saturday night in a sermon relayed by satellite to his followers in Israel and abroad.

The Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot had reported that Yosef had said nose-picking is forbidden because tiny hairs inside the nostrils might also be pulled out. But a viewing of a videotape of the event confirmed that Yosef had in fact ruled it was permitted.

Yosef is among a select group of rabbis who respond to questions from Jews -- serious or otherwise -- on the minutiae of applying Jewish law to daily life.

The Iraqi-born Yosef, a former chief rabbi in Egypt and Israel and a leading authority on Jewish law, is spiritual leader of the religious political party Shas, which has 10 seats in Israel's Parliament.

So - pick away, but please - show some discretion. Even if it is permitted by R' Ovadia Yosef, that doesn't mean anyone else wants to watch you go at it! Perhaps you could get a tissue and excuse yourself to another room first?