Electricity / Electronics / Electric Cars (4) – What is Melakhah [Work]? (Part 2)

In our previous post, we started to look at various narratives to explain the logic behind the list of Melakhot. Last week, we looked at two narratives that connected the concept of Melakhah with the Mishkan, or the Tabernacle in the desert. We saw that neither of them we really used by the Rabbis in their discussions of the laws of Shabbat. This week we will look at two further narratives that play a greater role in rabbinic literature.

Narrative Three: Basic Human Needs

A close examination of the list of 39 forbidden labours that are found in Mishnah Shabbat suggests that the forbidden labours are arranged in four ‘courses’ of basic human labours that are the backbone of society: Food, Clothing, Writing documents and Shelter. Each of these activities is broken down into their constituent parts. Interestingly, the source of these lists isn’t in the realm of Shabbat. These are found elsewhere in Rabbinic literature as descriptions of everyday life. Note the following source from the Babylonian Talmud:

Ben Zoma, when he saw the crowds on the Temple Mount said, “Blessed is the one who created these to serve me. How hard did Adam toil before he could taste a morsel: he sowed, ploughed, reaped, sheaved, threshed, winnowed, bound sheaves, ground, sifted, kneaded, and baked, and only then could he eat. But I arise in the morning and find all these before me. How hard did Adam toil before he could wear a cloak? He sheared wool, whitened it, combed it, dyed it, spun, and wove, and afterwards wore it. But I arise in the morning and find all these before me.

BT Berakhot 6:2

These are descriptions of the basic activities necessary to sustain society. If this is the definition of Melakhah, then the meaning of Melakhah is to cease on the seventh day from those labours that are used to advance, develop and create our society, instead, spending a day enjoying the fruits of our labours and dedicating ourselves to our social and spiritual lives. This explanation fits neatly into the model of Shabbat as described in Abraham Heschel’s ‘The Sabbath’ quoted previously.

This is a beautiful explanation, which plays a big role in modern discourse about Shabbat. But, unfortunately, it too wasn’t used in the Talmud in its discussions of Shabbat law.

This brings us to our fourth and final narrative.

Narrative Four: Physical Changes in Form or Substance on Shabbat

Consider the following Mishnah:

One who builds: how much must he build to be liable? He who builds any amount, and he who chisels, and he who strikes with a hammer (makeh be-fatish) or with an axe, and he who bores [a hole] of any size, is liable. This is the general principle: whoever does work and their work endures on Shabbat, they are liable. Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel says: even one who strikes with a hammer on the anvil at the completion of his work is liable, because he is as one who improves his work.

M. Shabbat 12:1

While this Mishnah deals specifically with determining the amount of work one needs to do to quality as a transgression, the definition of Melakhah found in it is much broader as it relates to several different Melakhot. As Rashi explains in his commentary on this Mishnah, “this refers to the individual who does work.” That is to say, any work which results in physical change and reaches its enduring form on Shabbat is considered a melakhah”.

This source appears in a Halakhic context and gives a broad definition of Melakhah. This is the definition of Melakhah which we adopt in our responsa and will use for understanding the status of electricity and the use of electric cars on Shabbat.

We will look at the status of electricity on Shabbat in our next post.

Based on: A New Responsum on the Sabbath. Rabbi Mordecai Schwartz and Rabbi Chaim Weiner.