Kosher light switch

[Anaxagoras]

Weird stuff:

What is KosherSwitch®?
KosherSwitch® is innovative patented technology permitting the on-demand control of electricity on Shabbat, while making Sabbath desecration (Chilul Shabbos) impossible! KosherSwitch® is endorsed by leading Poskim & Orthodox Rabbis for use l'chatchila (ab initio). The KosherSwitch® Classic wall switch pays for itself by curbing wasted electricity, and is easy to install/use without programming (just wait for a green Status Light and flick the switch).

Anyone who's observant experiences difficulties with electricity on Shabbat. Our founder, Menashe Kalati, leveraged his 25+ years in technology expertise to create techno-religious solutions that enhance the observance and enjoyment of Shabbat & holidays. After years of rabbinical consultations, R&D, and safety certifications, KosherSwitch® is finally here. And you can take part in making it a reality... Together, we can improve the world, one KosherSwitch® at a time!

Endorsed/Blessed by leading Poskim & Orthodox Rabbis

Validating the Halachic permissibility for KosherSwitch® has always been our primary objective. During years of development, we've been privileged to consult with many Torah giants, who have analyzed, endorsed, and/or blessed our technology and endeavors. Some have even provided crucial guidance on key design elements! More details are available on our website: Endorsements / Responsa / Lectures. As stated for years on the Endorsements page of our website: "Rabbinical text at the links provided may refer to varying degrees of permissibility, or contextual conditions ranging from l’chatchila (“a priori”) use at home to limited use within healthcare settings."

KosherSwitch® Technology: How Does it Work?

Like many inventions, KosherSwitch® technology employs simple concepts to provide indispensable benefits. Our technology is employs complete electro-mechanical isolation, and adds several layers of Halachic uncertainty, randomness, and delays, such that according to Jewish law, a user’s action is not considered to have caused a given reaction. Many Poskim & Orthodox rabbis have ruled that the KosherSwitch® is not even considered grama (indirect causation), involves no melakha (forbidden/creative act), and is therefore permitted for consumer use. When "flicking" a KosherSwitch®, all we're doing is moving a single, isolated, piece of plastic! More details are available on our website.

In case you are wondering, no, it's no joke.

Point is that while moving this piece of plastic results in the lights being turned on or off (although not necessarily immediately), it does not directly cause the lights to be turned on or off.

[sparks]

Gawddamn but people are full of Teh Dumbth.

[Doctor X]

Most just leave a light on.

--J.D.

[sparks]

I know: They have no regard for Al Gore's carbon footprint.


ManBearPig!!11

[Abdul Alhazred]

I first thee!

viewtopic.php?p=769676#p769676

[Rob Lister]

I think they're cheating god out of their required rest.

Why not just hire a gentile to do that and any other necessarily stooping, fetching and ... switching. I'm sure a deal could be worked out. Then they just gotta lay there.

Shabbos goy reference in 3...2...1...

[sparks]

What's all this bullshit about resting on the Sabbath? These wieners need to grow a pair and simply tell Gawd: "I didn't feel like resting, Oh Divine Fucktard!"

As though Gawd gives a fuck about when and if someone took a nap. He's far too busy making sure the miracles He does all have rational and reasonable explanations that no one of faith will ever buy into. And that's one helluva work load right there all by itself!

[Abdul Alhazred]

Why not just hire a gentile to do that ...

Despite the fact that is was once a common practice, employing a Shobbos Goy is in fact prohibited.

[Abdul Alhazred]

What's all this bullshit about resting on the Sabbath? ...

Among certain of the Orthodox, there is also the belief that if every Jew in the world simultaneously observes the Sabbath correctly twice, the Messiah will come.

Some say that's twice in a row, but others say that it happened once on the very first Sabbath after Moses said so. So it only has to happen once more.

Would you want to be personally responsible for keeping the Messiah away?

You probably would.

[Rob Lister]

Would you want to be personally responsible for keeping the Messiah away?

You probably would.

said the Jesus-killing jew.

There's no need to technically "employ" a Shobbos Goy. If there are daughters, non-monetary arrangement can still be made.

[ed]

I was a Shabbos Goy. Put myself thru college that way. Rewarding work.

[Abdul Alhazred]

I was a Shabbos Goy. Put myself thru college that way. Rewarding work.

[Witness]

More on those soul-endangering activities:

The method presented here is 'Gramma', i.e. indirect activation, permitted only for medical, security and similar situations, as explained in the Shulchan Aruch laws of Shabbat Siman של"ד section 22. No Orthodox rabbi, Ashkenazi or Sephardi, has permited this 'Gramma' method for pure convenience.

The Haskama presented by the company by Hagaon Rabbi Neuwirth zt"l (the number one expert in the laws of Shabbat, whose book 'Shmirat Shabbat Kehilchata' became a staple in this area) was misleadingly extracted from him, as he told me personally at the time. He added the following sentence to the company's document in his own hand writing: the "only for medical and security use". Furthermore, Rabbi Neuwirth troubled himself and wrote an official letter to the Company (28th of Tevet 5772) "Regarding what you have written on my behalf to allow a type of 'Kosher Gramma', to cause electric lights to be turn on, on Shabbat – is impossible. And never crossed my mind, except for the sick and for security. Please also advertise this publicly so that people will not be misled by me".

Rabbi Avigdor Nebenzahl, Rabbi of the old city in Jerusalem, who was mentioned as supporting the device, told me at a meeting on the 20th of Elul 5751 that he never approved such a thing, and certainly there is no permission to use this except for medical or security use.

Bottom line, as stated before - there is no 'Heter' for this equipment that was advertised as being authorized by the rabbis.

http://www.zomet.org.il/eng/?CategoryID ... icleID=489 (other weird equipment on this site)

A friend I told about this crap (and who sent me the above link) suggested "improving the design with quantum decoherence and invocation of 'Shreidinger's kats'"…

[Rob Lister]

A friend I told about this crap (and who sent me the above link) suggested "improving the design with quantum decoherence and invocation of 'Shreidinger's kats'"…

I like it. Even God can't know if you worked or not.

[Anaxagoras]

So I was reminded of the "Kosher light switch" this morning while listening to the latest episode of one of my favorite podcasts, Planet Money. This one is on "Islamic finance" and explains how it works. The one thing that isn't allowed in Islamic finance is to charge interest, or to receive it. Even if you put your money in a bank account that pays a modest interest rate, and you accept the payment, technically that is haram. So how do they get around this prohibition? When I heard the details, it turns out it's a lot like the Kosher light switch. Through some series of artifices involving legal trusts and the like, the bank ends up receiving the same payments at the same timings but technically we are calling it something else. Even the U.S. Government recognizes these payment arrangements as equivalent to interest, because you can still take the mortgage interest tax deduction on the ("non") interest you pay on an Islamic loan.

So, did they figure out a way to outsmart an omniscient God here, or what?

A Bank Without Interest

୧ಠ╭͜ʖ╮ಠ୨

ETA:
In case anyone is wondering exactly how it works, there are apparently different models involving different legal entities which may vary depending on state laws, but here's a basic prototype for this sort of mortgage: the bank sets up a legal trust which buys and owns the home and the person who is actually going to live there enters into a contract with the trust and the bank which is essentially like a long-term "lease-to-own" agreement. The monthly "rent" payments are equivalent to the monthly payments that a person taking out a normal mortgage would make.

[Abdul Alhazred]

What the US government regards as "interest" is not authoritative from a religious point of view. The idea is to encourage home ownership, regardless of creed.

Once a long time ago I was an insurance salesman. One of the things covered in the standard health policy was Christian Science healing. I asked about that. The answer was that Christian Scientists often go to real doctors too but would not buy the policy if Christian Science healing was not covered. And that it's fairly cheap compared to real medicine, so it was not an exposure to abuse from the insurance company's point of view.

I don't know how that would fly with today's regulations, but the insurance business was heavily regulated even back then.

[Anaxagoras]

It occurs to me that with things like the kosher light switch or the sharia-compliant mortgages that the underlying assumption is that God cares about the letter of the law but not the spirit of the law. So as long as you can figure out a way to get around the letter of the law, you are fine as far as God is concerned.

[Abdul Alhazred]

"Spirit" of the law.

What a Protestant concept.

[Witness]

Bunch of hypocrites, all of them.

They'll rot in hell, while honest atheists will get single malt & angels: