[PRCo] Travel to synagogue

[Fred Schneider]

Here is the best official answer I can get on whether or now an orthodox
jew can use a trolley to get to the synagogue on Friday night.  Dave
Klepper is a long time member of the Electric Railroaders Association,
and past president to boot.  He retired to Jerusalem.

Subject:
        Re: Question from FWS
   Date:
        Wed, 24 Sep 2003 23:12:19 -0700 (PDT)
   From:
        Klepper David-Lloyd
     To:
        Fred Schneider <fschnei at supernet.com>
    CC:
        Office at shearithisrael.org




Not at the present time.   There is precedent, however.  There are two
prohibitions:  1.  Not using money or having any commercial transaction
on the Sabbath.   2.
Not using an animal or any mechanical contrivance whatsoever on the
Sabbath .  A third prohibition concerns how far one can travel, but that
might not apply in
most cases, and there are ways (the Erub, the extension of the Erub with
food carried just before Sabbath) of extending the distance.  The
precedent is that the
Chief Rabbi of India gave permission for Bombay Jews and the Tram
company to have special Sabbath tickets or passes sold which allowed
Jews to ride just to
and from the Synagogue on the Sabbath, because the heat was so great
that walking even a short distance would be a health hazard.  A noted
Orthodox Rabbi once
said to me: "David, Sephardic Jews are allowed to carry money on the
Sabbath if it is worn as clothing, so it wouldn't be crime if you
carried a subway token in your
back pants pocket so you can avoid getting ill if the heavens open up
while walking from your aparment (E 16th St) to and from Synagogue (W
70th St.).   Kosher
hotels in Israel have Sabbath elevators.  These go up and down and stop
at every floor.   They are heavy enough so an elderly or infirm person
boarding and leaving
makes no measurable difference in the amount of electricity used.  This
thinking might be applied to an automatic transit line.   The best
candidate would be the
completely automatic operation of a 207th Street Washington Heights -
Chamber Street local service, with entrance to the subway by ordinary
house keys opening
gates and sold as a service through synagogues, to unite the Yeshiva
University community with the rest of Manhattan's Jews.  (The Washington
Heights express
service should really cross the George Washington Bridge to the right
place for a bus-rail interchange, and interchange at the same time with
the revived West Shore
service.)   Possibly when Jerusalem light rail starts operation, I can
raise the issue here, with light rail cars equipped with all possible
safety devices and operating
automatically for pedestrian in path detection, etc., and Shabbat speed
would be 7Kph, four miles an hour, walking speed, so it would be a
service for the elderly
and infirm.    However, the Conservative movement has long allowed
driving to and from Synagogue and many times I have pointed out to them
that any use of
transit using monthly passes that does not involve actually using cash
is certain to be far better in the Eternal's eyes that taking more
treasure from the Earth and
polluting the sky with it.  I have not gotten the right response yet,
and I'm, still on their case, and I think I have good one.  Obviously an
outing in a deluxe huge family
car can be a pleasure, but I don't think it is one in the Eternal's eyes
on the Jewish Sabbath .     Dave

Fred Schneider <fschnei at supernet.com> wrote:

       Is it permissible for an Orthodox Jew to ride a trolley to the
synagogue
       on the Sabbath

xx