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Rabbi Landau: Faucet May Be Prohibited on Shabbos

Ynet

Rabbi Moshe Yehuda Leib Landau, Chief Rabbi of Bnei Brak, Israel. Photo: Shturem.

Bnei Brak’s Rabbi Moshe Yehuda Leib Landau has warned that turning on faucets in some multi-story apartment buildings leads to the desecration of Shabbat.

The rabbi issued a halachic ruling explaining that the using the tap directly turns on an electrical water pumping system – an offense which, according to the Torah, can be punished by stoning.

Rabbi Landau was asked to address the issue by his city’s residents. After realizing that it concerned many Jews all over the world who live in multi-story buildings, he decided to delve into it.

For several weeks he consulted professionals in order to understand the mechanism leading the water from the pool to the apartments, and looked into different alternatives presented to him.

After concluding his inquiry, Landau ruled that “any person with technical knowledge can easily understand that a pump operated upon the opening or closing of the faucet means is basically being turned on on Shabbat.”

According to the rabbi, the long-term solution is to install a high water reservoir enabling natural rather than electrical pumping. In the meantime, however, “there is no other choice but to ensure that the pump is turned throughout Shabbat and Jewish holidays.”

This would require the installment of a special faucet which moves unused water back to the underground pool.

At the end of his letter, Rabbi Landau calls on the residents to accept the financial expenses involved in the solution and the noise expected to disrupt the day of rest until a permanent solution is found.

“On the contrary, hearing the sound of the pump will bring you some Shabbat entertainment and the joy of a mitzvah,” he wrote.

Following the halachic complication, the rabbi’s aides are calling on building contractors to consult rabbinical authorities before installing such pumps in the city’s apartment buildings in order to prevent Shabbat desecration in advance.

They explained that the wider public was unaware of the issue and that contractors were therefore causing residents to commit acts banned by the Torah.

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25 Comments

  • Article distorts the truth

    Calling it ‘an offense which can be punished by stoning’ was only a means by the writer to slander the Rabbi & all religious Jews. As we all know we are not in the times of the Anshei Kneset Hagedolah & such things do not apply now. Throwing stones is clearly not the point of this Rabbi’s speech. Yet another article that distorts the facts in its efforts to slander a Rabbi & denigrate the entire Torah observant population. This writer should be ignored until he or she gets help.

  • Milhouse

    What distortion? The rov wrote that he’s not just talking about a chumra, he’s talking about an issur skilah, so people should take it seriously.

  • AA

    Milhouse, why do you care? Didn’t the guy whom you (and Boteach) claim we should all be learning from say, “Man was not made for the Sabbath; the Sabbath was made for man”? So obviously, according to that approach, any part of Shabbos that inconveniences man – be it a chumra or an outright issur – should go by the wayside.

  • Milhouse

    AA, if you read that story carefully you will see clear signs that it was a case of pikuach nefesh. And yes, Shabbos was made for man, not the other way around; that’s in the gemoro.

  • shmuel

    Water enters the building from the New York City main at the street main pressure which varies from as little as 30 pounds per square inch (PSI) to as much as 90 PSI, depending upon the location of the building and the time of day.

    The street main pressure can be sufficient to feed water up to apartments as high as the sixth floor.

    sorce
    http://cooperator.com/artic…

  • A plumbing professional

    The Rav was talking mainly about buildings in Eretz Yisroel.Most building in major cities at least in The Us do not have pumps water comes from the main in the streets & is directly distributed thru pipes to the apts.Hot water remains a problem in buildings that the water is supplied thru Hw heaters.Buildings that take water from the boiler using a mixing valve might be different.One should consult a real & competent orthodox Rav on this

  • Go-ds right hand man

    First and foremost re shabbos mikor habracha. Ie malchus and life are from the mitzvah zachor es yon hashabbos likadsho. If a naturalshabbos is the holiest. Hachanah should make the difference. Yet if the hachanah wont be enough and the person will be required to accept assistance from mortals Maybe start keeping shabbos during 5777.

  • Moshe Eliyahu

    2 # 7 yes u have a lot of nerve 2 speak abt Rav Landau like that. Who do u think u r ? R u the Av Bais Din of Bnei Brak ? If ur not u shouldnt make comments like that !!! In learnin u don’t even come 2 the point of the fingernail of Rav Landau !!! He is a major posek & a Lubavitcher as well. So its time 2 learn some Kavod HaTorah & when u get 2 Rav Landau’s level of learnin & bein a posek then we will talk how is that ? Do we have a deal ?

  • AA

    Milhouse, you really don’t know what you’re talking about. The context there is that he and his disciples were going through a field on Shabbos and plucking ears of grain (meaning, incidentally, that they were not only violating Shabbos, but also stealing from the owner). When called on it, he didn’t say anything about pikuach nefesh, just about “being hungry” – i.e., an inconvenience rather than a danger to life – and that “the [s]on of man is also lord of the Sabbath,” which is as much as to say, “it’s up to each person to decide what parts of Shabbos do and don’t matter to him.”

  • Milhouse

    AA, look deeper. Where did the proofs he quoted come from? In what context does the gemara use them?

  • carrying from public domain to private?

    Is one permitted to carry water from the outside public domain to ones indoor private domain via a pipe?

  • Avraham Mordechai

    2 # 14 what r u sayin that its up 2 each person 2 decide which parts of shabbos matter 2 him & which 1z don’t Shabbos & everythin abt it applies 2 every1 equally, there is no pickin & choosing so what r u sayin dude ? Even Rav Landau wouldn’t b spkin like this this is weird. Shabbos applies 2 every1 equally. U gotta do everythin no picking & bein selective what interests me & what doesnt !! 2 ch info y would u put up such a comment ?

  • AA

    #18, please try to read more carefully (and to write a little more sensibly too). I am saying that a certain so-called “rabbi” – Yoshke – said this, not that I agree with it.

    Milhouse: then “ikar chaser min hasefer.” What kind of nonsense is he spouting about the “[s]on of man,” himself, being “lord over the sabbath”? If it was a matter of pikuach nefesh, then that is equally true of any Jew. So no, I would say that he was simply taking the story with David and the lechem hapanim at face value – the pesukim don’t say anything about David’s life being in danger, after all – and using that as an excuse to violate other halachos.

  • Where is the written psak??????

    Is this another chumra-go-lucky being quoted in the name of the rov? Where is the documented psak. If it is not documented, why should I assume the rumor is correct any more than the psak concerning oak casks and brandy (already muttar in Igros Moshe 20 years prior) or others that have come down the pike (shaitels from India which many rabbonim were matir AFTER shaitels had been burned in the street, worms in water, worms in fish as per “vaad hamachmirim”) In the comments we read that there is a posek who is mattir. In the comments we say that in the US there is no issue, yet the article says that it relates to many places in the world, and the article claims that the Rov spoke with experts in the field. Do I understand that they don’t have water mains in Israel? I respect this rov, but I’m not obligated to adhere to a ruling that is hearesay. Of all people, Rabbi Landau is not afraid to speak his mind in writing. So I say, no written psak, ignore it, because you don’t know that you have a psak.

  • Public Domain, What is it exactly

    A public domain is from the ground surface of that domain, upwards to the height of 10 tefachim (80 cm). Above that is called Makom Petur. Pipes below ground are not a public domain. By-the-way, why won’t you print his psak in writing if it exists? If it does not, why should I believe that he paskened that way?

  • motti

    #7 way out of line. This is a respected rov both within anash and outside, one of most trusted hasgochos in E”Y. You really should speak more respectfully. BTW this is exactly what a rov SHOULD do – if there is an issue with something, speak up even if people will ridicule you. Would you rather break shabbos b/c it’s more convenient or know that something is osur?

  • Milhouse

    #19, that is precisely the point. That the case with Dovid was pikuach nefesh is also not in the pesukim, which is why the goyim who wrote this story > 100 years later had no idea what the proof meant. And yet that is how the gemoro learns it. Now can it be coincidence that Jesus quotes the same proof as the gemoro? He was a talmid chochom, remember, and knew the material that was eventually recorded in the gemoro.

    And yes, the same applies to any man, not just him.