Sermon: Shabbat Haazinu – Shabbat Technology?

Written by Writings & Sermons by others — 26 September 2015

There is a couple in our community whose son lives in Australia with their daughter in law and grandchildren.  They are here in North West London and their grandchildren are over 10,000 miles away – yet they spend every Shabbat together.   Only today’s technology makes that possible. When its 9 or 10 in the morning in London it’s time for Shabbat to come in in Queensland.   Their grandchildren light the Shabbat candles in Australia and their grandparents help with the blessings over Skype here in London – every Shabbat.

As our service takes place this morning a few people are with us whom we can’t see among us. The Webcam high up at the back of the Synagogue means that the a picture of what is happening on the Bimah together with the sound of our voices is available Friday night and Saturday morning everywhere in the world. It has meant that far off relatives who were not able to make it to the Bar or Bat Mitzvahs of children in our community have yet been able to be part of the experience and when, for example, Simon Baron Cohen gave his fascinating sermon the Shabbat before Rosh Hashanah, his family in Canada and the US were able to hear his words.

It has now been five years since Alyth member Marc Ozin began to dedicate his High Holy Days to ensuring that everyone who wished to, whatever their situation, could be with us for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.   He did this by setting up a webcam to stream the service over the internet which he monitors and ensures is working through the days. It meant for example that in his final weeks Marcus Sefton Green z’’l was able to be with his congregation from a laptop computer on his bed.

Pretty much throughout the High Holy Days this year at all times more than fifty people were with us through the webcam service – more than 450 people came in at some point.   This included family of our members in South Africa and Israel. Two members of the Shul who felt ill on Yom Kippur were able to stay with the services in this way – in years past they would just have missed the spiritual opportunity of the day.

We took the possibilities of technology another stage further on Yom Kippur this year in our family service. More than three hundred parents and children crowded this sanctuary. When we read Torah on Yom Kippur, or anytime in a family service, it is great to enable the children to see the Torah being read and normally I would bring them around the reading desk or table.  It keeps their attention on it. Much as Moses in his words right after the Haazinu poem says “set these words upon the hearts of your children” – no better way than seeing them being read as well as hearing them.

The trouble is when we are blessed with so many children around it’s not really possible for them all to see as they jostle each other around the table and the little ones, even if they are in the front to see, find not touching the scroll very difficult. So we thought we would try a different way which I had seen in use at the Union for Reform Judaism convention a couple of years ago in America – Yad Cam. We attached a small high definition camera to the top of the Yad which is the hand shaped pointer we use to read the Torah.   This was then connected to a large smart screen TV, incidentally donated to the Synagogue in memory of John and Hilde Davis z’’l. We commemorate John’s yarzheit today. A hugely magnified live picture of the Torah being read word by word was then visible on the screen for all the children at the service and the adults too could engage much more directly with the Torah. I was able to get them reading along with some key phrases and the Torah was truly heard as it was seen.

Now all of these technological possibilities are very effective at making Judaism accessible but are they right to do on Shabbat or a festival which is meant to be a day of rest? There is always a frission of disapproval when a phone goes off during a service, our Youth and Education Department has a policy of not updating its social media on Shabbat during a camp except for safety messages. I don’t answer e-mails on Shabbat. With this and many examples we as Reform Jews do continue to observe the prohibition on using electric devices on Shabbat and festivals.

The reasons for this prohibition are rooted in the basis of Shabbat observance in the Book of Exodus – Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you a holy day, a Shabbat of rest to the Eternal; whoever does work in it shall be put to death. You shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the Sabbath day. (Exodus 35:2)

Don’t worry – Jewish communities do not put anybody to death for Shabbat observance violations but we absolutely do try to find our way to enjoy a Shabbat of rest.   The definition of that rest is where different groups of Jews have different interpretations. From the prohibition of fire, Jews who follow rabbinic interpretation assume that once a fire is lit it can stay lit on the Shabbat – a light once on or an oven once lit can stay lit.

Two groups which do not follow rabbinic interpretative traditions, the Karaites (of whom there are still around 40,000 worldwide) and the Samaritans (of whom there are around 1000 in the world), both different interpretations of Israelite traditions – both assume that there should be no benefit from fire or its derivative, electricity throughout Shabbat. This meant that when Samaritan elder Beny Sedaka came to visit and speak at Alyth last November on Shabbat he had to stay in his bedroom from 5:00 in the afternoon till dawn so that he was not benefiting from the electricity used by his hosts.

For most Jews who observe the Shabbat by current Rabbinic law it is the completion of a new circuit that they avoid.   They work on the basis that this prohibition is derived from one of the pieces of work, know as Melachah, forbidden on Shabbat, of which making a fire is an example. They were first set out in the Mishnah Shabbat (7:2) in the second century. We Reform Jews do hold to this.

We aim to enjoy a Shabbat and Festival of rest – where coming together for worship and then togetherness untroubled by day to day concerns is key week after week. Where we differ from other more strict interpretations of the thrust of Jewish law is on the definition of the Melachot – the work that needs to be avoided in order for that rest to take place.   The original definitions of the thirty nine Melachot to be avoided on the Shabbat were based on the tasks that would be needed for equipping the tabernacle, the desert temple – the great symbol of Israelite God guided creativity in the Torah.   These works of construction, making, food production were subsequently extended as technology was introduced – so that car driving and making new electric circuits became part of the prohibitions.

What we do though in allowing and indeed encouraging the use of electric technology is not against the spirit of the melachot.   We still say that a Shabbat or festival of rest can only be achieved if we leave off these pieces of everyday work, my favoured definition of the word melachah. Not using the phone for business, letting your social media presence rest, doing activities which bring people together rather than putting them in front of technology.   But we also are comfortable with the use of technology to enable people to be part of a Shabbat or festival of rest – technology for inclusion – such as the webcam or Yad Cam feels to me right. They bring us together to celebrate Shabbat or to engage in a festival.   We will always be skirting at the limits and we have to continue the Talmudic process of working out just where these lie.   Reform Judaism leaves “maybe” open – we as a community have to decide where maybe becomes yes or becomes no.

We are about to enter the lowest tech festival – just natural materials make the Lulav and the Sukkah – they are a celebration of what we can enjoy from nature unadapated. As we celebrate we can also give thanks that technology used carefully can bring the same joy as gathering under the fruits and leaves that we will decorate the Sukkah with tomorrow morning.