The Shrine

http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2009/06/10/ ... 244643461/

JERUSALEM, June 10 (UPI) -- A religious ruling permits ultra-orthodox Jews to operate their mobile phones on the Sabbath and religious holidays with their teeth.

Many of the ultra orthodox volunteers and workers at Israel's Magen David Adom emergency services work on the Sabbath and were confronted with the dilemma of how to activate their mobile phones without violating religious rules, Ynetnews.com reported.

Recently, the agency began replacing workers' paging systems with modern mobile phones equipped with GPS technology that locates workers and volunteers closest to the scene of an accident, shortening the response time, the report said.

MDA asked the Scientific Technology Halacha Institute to come up with a solution. Rabbi Levy Yitzhak Halperin issued a new set of rules involving the use of a specially designed case that prevents phones from being shut down accidentally. To confirm response to dispatch, workers are permitted to hold a small metal pin between their teeth and press the necessary buttons on the phones, the Web site said.

According to Judaism, the Sabbath, which is observed from sunset Friday to Saturday night, is considered a day of rest. Religious Jews do not travel, cook, work or use telephones. They also are prohibited from turning on electricity or driving but allowed to violate the Sabbath to save lives.

Seriously? Is it me or are Jewish people just so crafty because they're trying to get around their religion so much

This was on Religuious. I really don't understand why you would want to follow a set of rules just to try to find ways around them.

SineSwiper wrote:This was on Religuious. I really don't understand why you would want to follow a set of rules just to try to find ways around them.

Yea.... it just doesn't make any sense.

My old roommate (who was also raised Jewish) sent this to me. He lives in an area where he sees orthodox Jews walking to synagogue on the sabbath. I've recommended he starts a "I'll flick lights for you on sabbath" service.

Kupek wrote:My old roommate (who was also raised Jewish) sent this to me. He lives in an area where he sees orthodox Jews walking to synagogue on the sabbath. I've recommended he starts a "I'll flick lights for you on sabbath" service.

Yeah I took a Jewish cultural and historical heritage class my first year here in Virginia Tech and even the professor (who literally, by himself, was the Jewish department) found the light switch thing pretty silly.

Doesn't the very use of the technology on the Sabbath, even for emergency purposes, go against their religion?

Religion seems to have a hard time with such contradictions which is why they're always trying to find a way around things.

Jewish laws are 5,000 years old. As such, they talk about things such as not making fire on Sabbath, or reading anything but the Torah. These people didn't anticipate things such as light switches and road signs. As revolutionary technologies appear, rabbis have been arguing back and forth for centuries about what constitutes "work" on the Sabbath.

Rabbinical scholars, I think, also tend to have a legal view of Jewish law. That is, if you're obeying the letter of the law, you're in the clear. So you have ridiculous pronouncements such as this.

Contrast this to the Amish, who at first, appear crazier than Orthodox Jews. But the Amish don't see technology as evil. (Nor do Orthodox Jews, but they do think it's wrong to do certain things on Sabbath.) They don't think there's anything inherently wrong with a cell phone. Instead, they are concerned with how a particular technology will change their way of life. A cell phone itself is not evil, but allowing all Amish to have one would significantly change their way of life. So cell phones are banned.

In this way, the Amish are actually more practical than Orthodox Jews. The Amish are concerned with the end result; it's a utilitarian view. Whereas Orthodox Jews care more about being legal; caring more about the action than the end result.

Reform Jews, by the way, don't care. Most Jews you'll meet are Reform.