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Sabbath mode, also known as Shabbos mode (Ashkenazi pronunciation) or Shabbat mode, is a feature in many modern
home appliances A home appliance, also referred to as a domestic appliance, an electric appliance or a household appliance, is a machine which assists in household functions such as cooking, cleaning and food preservation. The domestic application attached to ...
, including
oven upA double oven A ceramic oven An oven is a tool that is used to expose materials to a hot environment. Ovens contain a hollow chamber and provide a means of heating the chamber in a controlled way. In use since antiquity, they have been use ...
s,
dishwasher A dishwasher is a machine that is used to clean dishware, cookware, and cutlery automatically. Unlike dishwashing, manual dishwashing, which relies on physical scrubbing to remove soiling, the mechanical dishwasher cleans by spraying hot wat ...
s, and
refrigerator A refrigerator, commonly shortened to fridge, is a commercial and home appliance consisting of a thermal insulation, thermally insulated compartment and a heat pump (mechanical, electronic or chemical) that transfers heat from its inside to ...
s, which is intended to allow the appliances to be used (subject to various constraints) by Shabbat-observant
Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...
s on the
Shabbat Shabbat (, , or ; , , ) or the Sabbath (), also called Shabbos (, ) by Ashkenazi Hebrew, Ashkenazim, is Judaism's day of rest on the seventh day of the seven-day week, week—i.e., Friday prayer, Friday–Saturday. On this day, religious Jews ...
and
Jewish holiday Jewish holidays, also known as Jewish festivals or ''Yamim Tovim'' (, or singular , in transliterated Hebrew []), are holidays observed by Jews throughout the Hebrew calendar.This article focuses on practices of mainstream Rabbinic Judaism. ...
s. The mode usually overrides the usual, everyday operation of the electrical appliance and makes the operation of the appliance comply with the rules of
Halakha ''Halakha'' ( ; , ), also Romanization of Hebrew, transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Judaism, Jewish religious laws that are derived from the Torah, Written and Oral Torah. ''Halakha'' is ...
(Jewish law).


Background

Halakha forbids Jews from doing "work that creates" on Shabbat. Some observant Jews interpret this to include various activities including making a fire, preparing food, or even closing a switch or pressing an electronic button. A range of solutions has been created for those who need to use electronic (or electronic-controlled) devices on the Shabbat, including a special "Sabbath mode" for otherwise standard appliances.


Appliances


Oven

While according to Halakha, raw food may not be cooked on the Shabbat, food that was already cooked beforehand may be kept warm until mealtime. In the past, the Sabbath-observant would leave their food heating on the stove where it had been covered with a blech (metal sheet), or in the oven in which it had been cooked before the onset of Sabbath. Contemporary consumers seek to use their kitchen's oven to keep food hot for Sabbath consumption but must be assured that in opening the door to retrieve food, no Sabbath laws will be inadvertently contravened. An example of this would be ovens which are programmed to remove power from their
heating element A heating element is a device used for conversion of electric energy into heat, consisting of a heating resistor and accessories. Heat is generated by the passage of electric current through a resistor through a process known as Joule heating. He ...
when the door is opened – use of this oven would not be possible on the Sabbath without making modifications. On weekday holidays (Yom Tov), food may be cooked, but turning the heat on is prohibited. On these festive days, the domestic needs of the Sabbath observant consumer may require that their oven be heated over as much as 72 hours to allow for cooking during the festival. In the past, one would simply light a stove or oven before the festival began, and its heat was used over the coming days. In recent decades, however, appliance manufacturers have instituted safety features that present a challenge to festival use. One typical challenge is the auto-shut-off which automatically shuts off the heat after a predetermined number of hours. For an appliance to be compliant with religious requirements when Shabbat mode is operating, the standard six- or twelve-hour automatic shutoff should be overridden, and all lights and displays (for example, a light that might go on when the door is opened) should be disabled. However, several manufacturers have not dealt with the issues caused by the heating elements and the thermostats, which in some Sabbath modes continue to operate as normal, which is in contradiction to normative halachic opinion. Some models do not even take care of the issue of the lights. In more recently designed ovens, Shabbat mode will often feature the ability to adjust the temperature of the oven without any feedback to the operator of the oven. With some Shabbat mode ovens that are controlled using a keypad to set the temperature, there is a random delay triggered after a button is pressed before the temperature change takes place. In June 2008, nine
Haredi Haredi Judaism (, ) is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that is characterized by its strict interpretation of religious sources and its accepted (Jewish law) and traditions, in opposition to more accommodating values and practices. Its members are ...
poskim In Jewish law, a ''posek'' ( , pl. ''poskim'', ) is a legal scholar who determines the application of ''halakha'', the Jewish religious laws derived from the written and Oral Torah, in cases of Jewish law where previous authorities are inconc ...
signed a public pronouncement (Kol Kore) stating that it was forbidden to raise or lower the temperature by reprogramming on Yom Tov using the Star-K Kosher Certification approved Shabbat Mode feature. The pronouncement referred to the differing opinion of Rabbi Moshe Heinemann (although without explicitly mentioning Rabbi Heinemann by name) as a minority opinion ( Da'as Yachid) that should not be relied upon. However, Rabbi Heinemann said that he continued to stand by his opinion that it is permissible.


Refrigerator

A Shabbat mode refrigerator includes, at a minimum, the ability to disable all lights or other electrical activity from occurring when the refrigerator door is opened. Some Shabbat mode refrigerators include a timer for the compressor so that opening the door, which would normally indirectly cause the compressor to turn on as soon as the temperature rises, will have no immediate effect on the electrical operation of the appliance."Holiday Mode for Sabbath Observance"
Wine cellar


Lamp

A
Shabbat lamp A Shabbat lamp is a special lamp that has movable parts to expose or block out its light so it can be turned "on" or "off" while its power physically remains on. This enables the lamp's light to be controlled by those Shabbat observant Jews who ...
is a special lamp that has movable parts to expose or block out its light so it can be turned "on" or "off" while its power physically remains on.


See also

* 39 categories of activity prohibited on Shabbat * Blech – a metal sheet used to cover a stovetop on Shabbat. * Cholent – a long-simmered stew often eaten for lunch on Shabbat. *
Grama (halacha) A ''grama'' (Talmudic Aramaic: גרמא) in ''Halacha'' (Jewish law) is something that was indirectly caused by something else but which outcome is not guaranteed. A classic example given to this is of vases that are filled with water and put aro ...
– something that was caused by something else but whose outcome is not guaranteed. * Shabbat elevator – an
elevator An elevator (American English) or lift (Commonwealth English) is a machine that vertically transports people or freight between levels. They are typically powered by electric motors that drive traction cables and counterweight systems suc ...
with an automatic mode to allow observers to abstain from operating electric switches on Shabbat.


References


External links


Reference in 1994 KitchenAid marketing literature



Using an approved ‘Sabbath Mode’ on Shabbos – The Federation of Synagogues
* An early Sabbath mode patent: {{Shabbat Cooking appliances Shabbat innovations