Shabbat Elevator
A Shabbat elevator is a passenger elevator that ascends and descends automatically, without human contact.
Its defined purpose: to allow religious Jews to avoid pressing the button that calls the elevator to the floor they are on. If they were to press it, God forbid, they would be performing an action that goes against Jewish law, which forbids the operation of an electrical device on Shabbat.
Every Israeli encounters a Shabbat elevator—in a residential building, in a hospital, in a hotel or in an assisted living facility or other public buildings. Israelis who stand by it on Shabbat, look at the sign next to the elevator door or its buttons, and know what it's all about. Only a few of them will use it. All the others will use the adjacent elevator, or will go up and down the stairs.
The elevator also exists in concentrations of Jewish populations in various places around the world, but only in Israel is it present on a widespread public scale, and is anchored in official laws and regulations.
Why? Because Israel is the state of the Jews, and Shabbat has a special status in it.
Shabbat is the official day of rest in Israel
It's not just a day of rest, but one that touches on the Jewish heritage and fits in, taking into account the rules of religion and tradition that have been passed down for thousands of years.
In 1948, when the state was established, millions of Jews from all over the world flocked to it, and each of them knew that Shabbat is sacred. Even the leaders who established the state, most of whom were secular, did not want to give up its special status and made an effort to keep it as one of the symbols of the Jewish state.
So it has been since time immemorial—Shabbat is considered sacred for Jews in all their communities, and one of the most prominent symbols of the religion. They are commanded to "observe Shabbat"—to rest on this day and to refrain from any work done on the other days of the week (which are also distinguished by their name and are called: "weekday," as opposed to Shabbat, which is a "holy day").
The rules for conduct on this day have almost not changed since ancient times until the modern era, but the rabbis and religious sages update them from time to time to suit the current era.
Operating an electrical device of any kind is one of those "weekday" labors that must be avoided on Shabbat.
When the elevator was invented, in the era of the industrial revolution, and people started using it, it also came to the attention of the Jewish law decisors, and they dealt with the question: what will Shabbat-observing Jews who live on a high floor of a residential building do?
Israeli engineers were enlisted to help, and in the 1960s, they developed the idea of the automatic elevator. It was then considered innovative in its operation. Today it is another simple and self-evident useful device, like: escalators, like sensors, like security cameras, like traffic lights, like cellular antennas. And like these, the Shabbat elevator here in Israel is also present in the private and public spheres, and it has both religious and official validity.
How does the elevator work?
It has a computerized command mechanism called a "Shabbat control."
The mechanism allows it to ascend and descend automatically, without a button being pressed.
The "Shabbat control" is activated only one day a week—from Friday evening, the moment Shabbat comes into effect. From that moment on and for 24 hours, the elevator operates non-stop—it goes up and down, stopping at every floor, the door opens for a fixed period of time, waits for passengers, closes, and continues to ascend or descend.
At the hour Shabbat ends, the mechanism finishes its task, and the elevator returns to its normal operation for six days, without the "Shabbat control," but by pressing the regular buttons.
A Shabbat elevator in a hotel in Haifa
with a sign in Hebrew and English for local Israelis and tourists.
The Shabbat elevator also exists in other places in the world where there is a concentration of religious and ultra-Orthodox Jews.
But only in Israel, the state of the Jews, is it present in private and public spaces.
In every place where it is found, there is at least one additional, regular elevator for the benefit of those who do not strictly observe Shabbat according to Jewish law.
For an outsider, who is not Jewish or even for Jews who are not familiar with the details of Jewish laws—the idea of the automatic elevator can seem incomprehensible and even a bit strange.
And the truth is that even among the Israeli public, the idea is not accepted and raises questions and doubts—"the religious elevator" creates congestion, is overtly inconvenient to use, wastes a lot of electricity, its parts wear out quickly, and sometimes it makes unnecessary noise with its continuous operation—all of which can annoy secular people who do not observe tradition and do not use it, and in extreme cases, they will refer to it as a form of religious coercion.
But in the end, most secular Israelis have already gotten used to its existence. Just as they have gotten used to the fact that they cannot travel on a bus on Shabbat or fly on Shabbat in an El Al airplane, the national airline.
The Shabbat elevator arouses interest not only between secular and religious people but also within the religious sectors, among themselves.
In the mainstream of the sector, the national religious stream or among modern and moderate Orthodox Jews—the Shabbat elevator is accepted and used.
In sub-sectors—mainly among the ultra-Orthodox—there are many who refrain from using it. They oppose anything that changes the character of Shabbat as they relate to it—a Shabbat of rest without using any electrical device of any kind. No winks and no clever schemes.
In the eyes of the opponents, the elevator's operation is a "kombina"—a distortion and trivialization of Jewish law that forbids any use, even indirect, of an electrical action that causes "Shabbat desecration."
Two elevators—one for immediate call. The second ascends and descends in Shabbat mode.
The Shabbat elevator reflects an Israeli reality in which there is an unavoidable clash between religious conservatism and technological progress. The meeting between them creates social tension but can also produce creative solutions, like the automatic elevator.
This reality also affects Israel's urban spaces and the character of the population that lives in them.
It encourages families belonging to the ultra-Orthodox sector to live in buildings that have at most three or four floors, and in which there is no need to use an elevator. Especially strict families that have a negative view of the "Shabbat elevator" and obey rabbinic rulings that forbid its use. And if there is still an ultra-Orthodox family in such a building—they will always prefer to live on a lower floor so that they do not have to go up and down many stairs on Shabbat.
In the large cities, there are high-rise residential buildings where most of the families are secular, and they do not have an active Shabbat elevator. In such buildings, it is very rare to find religious or traditional Shabbat-observing residents, and if such families do exist—they will never live on a high floor but rather on one of the lower floors.
The issue of the elevator on Shabbat is reflected in the planning of neighborhoods where residential buildings are built especially for the religious public.
There, in every building that has more than three floors, the Shabbat elevator will be an essential part of the architects' construction plans.
The Israeli law also deals with the automatic elevator.
According to the law, every contractor who builds a residential building is required to add a "Shabbat control" to the building's elevator.
The mechanism is not required to operate the elevator, but it must be there, available in case there is a consensus among the residents to turn the elevator or one of the elevators into a Shabbat elevator.
And if it's an old building with a regular elevator, and there is an agreement of the majority of the residents to convert it to operate as a "Shabbat elevator"—the law allows the conversion, so that it will also bind the opposing minority.
A short clip (in Hebrew):
What happens in a Shabbat elevator?
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