Religious Rabbis trained: Shabbos 'bypass' trick for heating water

New gimmick for use of hot water on Shabbos, was launched recently, and won the approval of some of the most prominent rabbis in the national religious community.

As we know, according to the law one cannot hot water coming out of the tap on Shabbos, because whether it is water heated by the solar heater, and certainly when heated by the boiler (even if activated from before Shabbos) - water is banned for use, due to some problems, principally - because any use of water will cause the flow of additional cold water for heating, so the user activates the heating element.

The new invention is based on a small container in which a heating element powered by a thermostat, in which water is transferred to a heater by natural motion and not by the pump. Method of transportation of water is this: the cold water enters from the pipe connected to the bottom of the big boiler and from it to through another at the bottom of the boiler runs cold water to a small container which heats it through a thermostat.

Rabbi Dov Lior of Kiryat Arba was asked, if the big solar is considered s second vessel, (because after heating the water in the small tank it runs to the big tank and only then they get to the faucet), and may one use this system on Shabbos when it is operated for washing dishes or hands?

In his reply, writes Rabbi Lior, that he checked by a specialist the form of the operating of the system, and found that there was no connection between the removal of hot water from the big tank and operating of the heater in the small tank, because with the flow of the hot water from the boiler, they do not operate the heating element in the small container. The cold water goes into the small container only if the water temperature in the boiler drops, and only when the temperature in the small tank is less than eighty degrees Celsius, then the heater starts to work.

"It's been found," writes Rabbi Lior, "a man who takes water from a tap in his house (coming from a big tank) does not enabled the heater in the small tank, and therefore seems to be allowed to use on Shabbos. The large tank is considered a second vessel - since there is no heating element in it, and the only problem can be in relation to the small vessel in which the heater works, but because it is powered by a thermostat and cold water does not go directly there, one should be lenient", Rabbi Lior ends his ruling.

Two additional rabbis, asked about this revolutionary proposal, are Rabbi Yaakov Yosef and Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, the rabbi of Safed. Rabbi Yosef disagrees and asserts that the little container and big tank should be a distance of four cubits (1.92 meters) to turn the action from an 'act' to 'auspicious'.

"If the performance will be done like that," writes Rabbi Yosef (who quotes his father Hgr"o Yosef and other poskim who relate to similar things) "there is room to be lenient".

Rabbi Eliyahu expressed his delight at the installation "which prevents public desecration of Shabbos", but does not allow originally to use this boiler when the heating element works on Shabbos. "However, there is great benefit to those who have forgotten and left on and use these hot water accidentally on Shabbos, to save from desecration of the Torah." Here adds Rabbi Eliyahu and states that when a heater is turned off, you can consider the boiler as a second vessel and allow it its use on Shabbos, something which cannot be allowed with the boilers available today, since heating elements are installed in the water tank and turns the boiler into a first vessel."

'בחדרי' גם ברשתות החברתיות - הצטרפו!