Orthodox engineers at the Institute for Science and Torah in Gush Etzion Claim to have invented devices that will allow observant Jews to drive vehicles in emergencies on the Sabbath without violating halachic injunctions. Rabbi Yisrael Rosen, one of the inventors, said in an Army Radio interview that the new devices have rabbinical approval.
Religious law permits riding on the Sabbath in cases of dire emergency by physicians or security men. But it does not permit them to turn their motors and headlight on or off because those actions are not included under the dispensation: This posed a severe problem for the strictly observant who had to leave their motors running and lights on until the Sabbath ended, The new devices, according to the rabbi, allow the religious driver to press a button which is not linked to any electric circuit but causes the automatic switch-off of engine and lights. A similar device allows a pious driver to start his vehicle on the Sabbath without touching the ignition. If furned on before the Sabbath, it feeds a small amount of fuel to the engine. The driver only has to steer and does not have to use the clutch pedal in vehicles with conventional transmissions. Another electronic device operates windshield wipers without the intervention of the driver.
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