I recently came across an article that many Jews are now reevaluating whether electricity really is tantamount to lighting a fire, a forbidden act on the Jewish Sabbath, due to advances in our understanding of electricity through modern science. Is anyone aware of changing opinions on the use of electricity on the Jewish Sabbath? Are some Orthodox groups really changing their position?
Using electricity on Shabbos (the Sabbath) is not forbidden. It is turning it on or off on Shabbos that is. As someone correctly said, we may leave on light bulbs, air conditioners, etc. or have them turn on and off with a timer. Contrary to popular belief, it is not forbidden because of mav'ir or mekhabeh, the prohibitions of igniting and extinguishing fire on Shabbos. As you said, we understand now that it is not very similar at all. However, the source of this prohibition is actually boneh, a different type of work forbidden on Shabbos, and this does not change the fact that it is forbidden. Boneh literally means building, but in Biblical terms, it is used as completing/forming a structure. The basic concept is the same, but it includes other things that are not necessarily included in the word building. Soter is also part of it, meaning destroying, or the opposite of boneh. The structure we are forming here by turning on a light is the electric circuit. When the light is off, electricity still courses through the wires, however, only the connection to the light bulb is missing. If we flip that switch and turn on the light bulb, we are supplying the missing link to allow the electric current to reach the light bulb, and thus completing a circuit, violating the prohibition of boneh. Turning off a light is the same thing, in reverse. The electric circuit exists and is complete, and if we turn off the switch, we would be disconnecting the circuit, which is the prohibition of soter. So no. Orthodox Jews are not changing their position. Nothing has changed about the prohibition, and nothing has changed about electricity as we know it.
There's a difference between changing your opinion and changing your position. Not all electrical devices create a spark when they are turned on, but some do (incandescent light bulbs, for one obvious example). But because it has become accepted practice that observant Jews don't turn any electric devices on or off on the Sabbath, I am pretty sure that barring a new technology replacing electricity, it will continue to be prohibited. A parallel example is that of kitniyot on Passover. There is absolutely no Torah basis to conclude that corn, rice, etc., are chametz. The reason that they were classed along with chametz as forbidden grains had to do with the way mills worked at the time of the Talmud - that since they could all be ground into flour, and mills often ground every type of flour, they could become corrupted with chametz. Nowadays, it is rare to find a mill that grinds all types of grains into flour indiscriminately, and beyond that, FDA regulations require flours to be properly labelled - especially in this era of severe allergies. So there is no longer any logical reason to forbid eating kitniyot on Passover. And Sephardic Jews (depending on the community) do eat many of them. But even though this is accepted wisdom and has been for years, nevertheless, the laws are not being negated. After a certain period of time, the practice becomes the law. And once it's the law, it stays that way.
Please read the verses up to and past Jeremiah 8:8. Read all the versions. KJV is s poor translation. What do you think a lying pen of the scribe that works falsehoods is? The people did not know the true law of God because of them. Think about this for awhile and read the first few chapters of Levitcus to a child and see what they think. Follow God, not the lying pen of the scribes that changed scripture! Edit: I said KJV was bad translation did I not? I am not a Jew either. I just try to use common sense and follow what Father and Yeshua (Jesus) said. Can you not tell the things they did not say? BTW: Why not be concerned about Father's Law over Jewish law? I also believe in and keep the seventhday sabbath and do not and will not attend any church. Do you follow man or do you follow Father in Heaven? That is the question we must ask. I dare you to study Jere. 8:8 with an open mind and heart. If not, you just don't care to follow the true Father in Heaven. That is up to you. Look at Annt: This is the perfect example of man made law. You have got to be kidding. It is total non-sense. Wake up and listen to what Father places in all of our hearts, not to man made non-sense.
If you use that logic, you cannot use it at all. Someone would have to work on the sabbath to produce it, right. Someone worked on the sabbath to grow the food you eat on the sabbath. Someone worked on the sabbath to make just about everything you use. Better move to a desert island and not think or touch anything. Why not listen to God instead like your Buddy suggested? Sounds like he has more knowledge of your own religion than you do! BTW, Blood sacrifice is from the devil, not God. Ask the TRUE prophets who wrote about it Edit: Are you deaf and dumb man? He said he did not think the KJV was a good translation. I read Jere 8:8. All the other translations say what he quoted. You are one of those people who know what was said is right, so you turn it around to say he said the opposite of what he really said. You are a very sad person indeed. Go and worship your man made religion. Fill up on the non-sense. Go on now
