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Shabbos App

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Developer(s)YidTec, Inc. The team includes Yitz Appel as President and staff of programmers including Yehuda Levi and Yossi Goldstein[1]
Websitewww.shabbosapp.com

The Shabbos App is a proposed Android app claimed by its creators, YidTec, Inc. to enable Orthodox Jews, and all Jewish Sabbath-observers, to use a smartphone on the Jewish Sabbath.[2][3][4][5][4]

The app was created by YidTec, Inc. with a team that includes Yitz Appel, Yehuda Levi, Yossi Goldstein as well as other programmers.[1][6][7]

Controversy

The app is highly controversial[3][8] in Orthodox Jewish circles. Orthodox Judaism does not permit the use of a smartphone on the Sabbath. Jewish law prohibits activating or deactivating electrical devices on Shabbat.[9][10][11][12]

According to its creators, the Shabbos App resolves many of the problems related to using a smartphone on the Sabbath.[4] However, no rabbinic authority has supported these claims.[13] The Orthodox Union ran two opinion pieces against the app, on October 7, 2014,[14] as well as another piece by Rabbi Ari Kahn.[15] Another commentator focused on the benefit of just disconnecting for a few hours, rather than using the app.[16]

Possible hoax

Rabbi Yaakov Menken, an expert in Jewish law with a background in technology,[17] has claimed that the app is a hoax, intended to "mock attempts by serious, committed Jews to face the new challenges presented by modern technology".[18]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Shabbos App for Sabbath Texting Roils Rabbis". Popular Mechanics. October 3, 2014. Retrieved October 13, 2014.
  2. ^ "New Shabbos App Creates Uproar Among Orthodox Circles". The Jewish Week. October 2, 2014. Retrieved October 12, 2014.
  3. ^ a b "App lets Jewish kids text on Sabbath – and stay in the fold". The Times of Israel. October 2, 2014. Retrieved October 3, 2014.
  4. ^ a b c "Finally, Now You Can Text on Saturdays Thanks to New 'Shabbos App'". Shalom Life. October 2, 2014. Retrieved October 12, 2014.
  5. ^ "Will the Shabbos App Change Jewish Life, Raise Rabbinic Ire, or Both?". Jewish Business News. October 2, 2014. Retrieved October 12, 2014.
  6. ^ "Observe the Shabbat with your iPhone". i24news. October 13, 2014. Retrieved October 13, 2014.
  7. ^ "Kurzmeldungen: Auf die Schnelle". Jüdische Allgemeine. October 15, 2014. Retrieved October 15, 2014.
  8. ^ "Sacred texts: App aims to solve SMS-during-Sabbath problem". Haaretz. October 1, 2014. Retrieved October 3, 2014.
  9. ^ ""Electricity and Shabbat", Rabbi Josh Flug 2008". Retrieved October 20, 2014.
  10. ^ "Electricity on Shabbat", The Tzomet Institute
  11. ^ "The Use of Electricity on Shabbat and Yom Tov", Rabbi Michael Broyde & Rabbi Howard Jachter, Journal of Halacha & Contemporary Society, No. XXI - Spring 91 - Pesach 5751
  12. ^ "Electricity on Shabbat", Rabbi Aryeh Citron, chabad.org
  13. ^ "New York Shabbos Texting App Stirs Controversy". vosizneias.com. September 30, 2014. Retrieved October 12, 2014.
  14. ^ "Throwing Our Esrogim at the Shabbos App". OU Life. Retrieved October 14, 2014.
  15. ^ "The Shabbat App". OU Torah. Retrieved October 20, 2014.
  16. ^ "The Shabbos App – A Psychological Threat". 5 Towns Jewish Times. Retrieved October 14, 2014.
  17. ^ "About the Author". Retrieved October 19, 2014.
  18. ^ Yaakov Menken (October 6, 2014). "The "Shabbos App" is a Farce". Retrieved October 19, 2014.
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