Bought a Kosher Lamp Today...
My wife insisted so she can find what she needs in our room on dark Friday nights and dark winter Shabbos mornings. It's a really great invention, though it could stand some improvement. My favorite part? On the box it says in big bright words: "Approved by Major Poskim!" Yes. And?... Who cares? What do poskim have to do with this? It's quite obvious one may use it and "turn it 'off'" on Shabbos without committing a Chilul Shabbos, so why do I care if it's approved by "major poskim?" And the wording implies it's not approved by some. Why not? And who are "major poskim?" It's like a rebbi of mine in high school used to say: "The biggest poskim in the world are 'It Says,' and 'It's Written.' Who said it and where is it written?" my rebbi used to ask. When someone come at you with "It Says" and "It's Written" or anything similar, the first question to ask, said my rebbi, is WHO said and WHERE is it written and WHO wrote it? Same here: "Approved by Major Poskim." If it was really important that this really cool device be approved by "major" poskim, who are they? Who decided they were major? Major according to whom? According to MO? Chareidim? Chassidim? Litvish?
This concludes today's rant! :)
8 comments:
You're obviously a big talmid chocham, since it was "obvious" to you that there's no chillul Shabbos involved. While you're correct, to dismiss the potential question of muktzeh if the cover is considered part of a single kli (the lamp) isn't so simple.
You missed my point. WHO are the poskim? I don't accept "It Says..." etc. And since it obvious the cover is NOT considered part of the lamp, yes, it is quite obvious to me there is no problem. What really surprises me (since we're getting all snarky here anyway), is that the "Major Poskim" said it was OK, considering the overwhelming desire of the Chareidi community to be machmir in ALL things, regardless of the chumra's necessity...:)
Again, if it was obvious to you, you're either a brilliant talmid chocham or a ignorant fool. It's not a simple issue at all. I'm sure if you call them, they'd be happy to provide the names of the poskim involved. When I bought my lamp shortly after they went to market, it included the actual tshuvos in the box.
In fact, you can find the actual letter on their website here:
http://www.kosherimage.com/approval.html#approvals1
It appears that they have approvals from R' Shlomo Miller (Toronto), R' Yecheskel Roth (Brooklyn), Dayan Chanoch Ehrentreu (London), Rabbi Dovid Schochet (Ontario), and R' Michel Gugenheim (Paris).
Apparently, none of these poskim felt it was so obvious as to be beneath them to pen a letter of approval.
And I'll bet you if the lamp had come out today, the response would have been very different based on how people in that camp (your camp?) are super chumra-happy...
And according to Shemiras Shabbos K'Hilchasa, to move a lampshade even if it's connected. Further, one may move a lamp as well, b'shinui, if one needs the space, so I'm not sure what's so complicated may. Maybe the problem is that you are too much a fool or simply completely ignorant or simply consider yourself SOOOO brilliant you don't find all this rather obvious and mundane.
Oh, and not that I'm an expert on poskim, but I've never even heard of ONE of the ones you mention. If they were so major, one would think they'd be well-known enough for a lay-person (brilliant though I am) like myself would have heard of at least ONE of them...
R' Miller & R' Roth are the preeminent poskim in North America, one in the litvish world, the other in the chassidish world. R' Ehntreneu is the Av Beis Din of London, R' Shochet a preeminent Lubavitch posek, and R' Gugenheim the Av Beis Din of Paris.
Crawl out from under your rock.
The kosher lamp also first appeared on the scene less than five years ago - not much has changed since then.
I just find interesting the "truly major" poskim of the Litvishe world aren't included on the list. You know, like Rav Scheinberg, Rav Elyashiv, and Rabbi Feurst in Chicago, to name a few.
And no, MUCH has changed since then. VERY much.
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