电梯与楼梯之争

Host: For the most observant Jews, the Sabbath is truly a day of rest. Cars sit 1)idle; non-emergency phone calls are not made; no action should be taken that falls under the Torah’s definition of“work.” Over the years, rabbis have approved various methods of automation, such as lights that run on timers, as permissible on the Sabbath. But now, some prominent rabbis have declared that one such convenience, the Shabbat elevator, must not be used.

Reporter: On my first Friday evening in Jerusalem, back in 2001, I left my fourth-floor apartment, got into the elevator, pushed the button—and nothing happened.

Eventually the doors did close, and the car began to descend with a mind of its own, stopping and waiting on each floor. I jumped out and took the stairs. Later, my 2)secular neighbor Yacov explained, with some irritation, that this was a Shabbat elevator, one that runs by itself with no action by the passenger. Shabbat elevators are now in use all over Israel, and in a good deal of the Jewish world. But now, a group of well-known rabbis has declared that Shabbat elevators are a severely prohibited 3)desecration of the Sabbath. And the eternal debate about what an observant Jew may and may not do on the Sabbath has taken another turn.

At the Crowne Plaza Hotel, which claims to be the tallest building in Jerusalem, each Sabbath, two of the four elevators rise from the lobby all the way to the 21st floor without stopping. Then they descend automatically, one stopping at the oddnumbered floors and the other at the even floors. It feels like it takes forever. Hotel worker Benni Aharon says it’s actually 12 to 13 minutes; he timed it. He says he’d be surprised if very many people really stopped using elevators on the Sabbath.

Benni Aharon: I don’t think they will do it. It is very difficult. If you live on the 17th floor, you can’t go 17 and go down 17 floors. Last week, it was a family that—the father don’t [doesn’t] use the Shabbat elevator. So we give them a room in—18 or whatever. He didn’t want; he want[s] to be at the fourth floor.

主持人：对于大多数严守教规的犹太人来说，安息日是真正的休息日。不开车，不打非紧急电话，所有在犹太教律法规定的工作范围以内的活动都要停止。这些年来，拉比陆陆续续允许安息日里的一些形式各异的自动化操作，如让灯定时亮、灭。但现在，一些知名的拉比宣布，另一个予人便利的工具——安息日电梯——不应该被使用。

记者：2001年，我在耶路撒冷的第一个星期五晚上，我离开在四楼的公寓，进了电梯，摁了里面的按钮，没有动静。

最终，电梯的门关上了，电梯开始按自己的想法下行，在每一层楼都会停。我跑出了电梯，走楼梯。后来，我的非犹太教邻居亚可夫略带不快地对我解释道：这是一台安息日电梯，它自动运行，不需要乘坐电梯者进行任何操作。如今，以色列的所有地方和世界上许多犹太人聚居的地方都使用安息日电梯。可是，现在一些有名的拉比却宣布，使用安息日电梯是严重亵渎有关安息日神圣教律的行为。于是，关于一个循规蹈矩的犹太人在安息日应该做什么，不应该做什么的无休止的争论有了新的发展。

皇冠广场酒店据说是耶路撒冷最高的建筑。在每个安息日，酒店里四部电梯中的两部从大厅直达21层，然后，它们自动下行，一部在单数层停下，另一部在双数层停下。它给人的感觉是永远也走不完。酒店员工本尼·阿哈龙说，他测算过了，电梯走完全程实际上要花十二到十三分钟。他说，如果有许多人因为安息日就停止使用电梯，他会感到意外。

本尼·阿哈龙：我不认为人们会这么做。因为这很难。如果你住在17楼，你不可能上下17层楼。上星期，有一家人来入住，父亲不用安息日电梯。所以我们给他们安排了18楼或其他楼层时，他不干，他要4楼。

Reporter: One man who’s devoted his life to studying questions of Halacha, Jewish law and tradition, is Rabbi Yitzhak Levy Halperin, founder of the Institute for Science and Halacha. Contrary to what his critics say, Rabbi Halperin insists he’s not in the business of finding ways for Jews to 4)duck their Sabbath obligations. But he firmly believes that the Torah’s rules, as well as its lessons, can be applied in any age, provided that the Talmudic scholar takes the trouble, as Halperin has, to 5)delve deeply into the technological workings of each and every machine or gadget in question. For instance, to many of its supporters, the Shabbat elevator is a matter of simple logic. Not so, says the institute’s educational director, Shmuel Strauss.

Shmuel Strauss: Because of the automation of the elevator, everybody assumed that I’m not doing anything. I walk into the elevator, I stand there, I’m passive, and not realizing that just being there is actually being active. But because we understood, and if one understands, then one sees questions that others don’t see, and that gave us the ability to find the solutions.

Reporter: For those interested in what those solutions are—and they are 6)numbingly complex—the institute has published an entire book on the subject, 7)replete with engineering explanations and diagrams. As ever with religious questions, however, there is ample, even vast, room for disagreement. This latest ruling, also relying on expert testimony, finds the Shabbat elevator does violate the Sabbath. As one observant Israeli told me with a smile, let the arguments begin.

记者：伊扎克·利维·哈尔珀林拉比把毕生精力都放在对犹太律法与传统的研究上，他是科学与哈拉卡学院创办人。与他的批评者所说的不同，哈尔珀林拉比坚称他并不是在试图寻找让犹太人可以规避安息日义务的途径。而他坚定地认为，犹太教的律法和教义在任何时代都适用，但前提是犹太教律法的学者都要像他那样，深入钻研有争议的所有机器和小科技设备，了解它们的运作原理。比如说，对许多人来说，能否使用安息日电梯只不过是简单的逻辑罢了。而科学与哈拉卡学院的教学主任斯穆尔·斯特劳斯却不这样认为。

斯穆尔·斯特劳斯：因为电梯是自动的，于是所有人都认为自己什么也没做，我只不过是走进电梯，站在那儿而已，我是被动的，但他们没有意识到，光是走进电梯里就说明你是主动参与其中的。但因为我们明白这个道理，所以我们看出了问题，这就让我们有了解决问题的能力；如果其他人也明白，那他们也会看出其他人看不到的问题，并找到解决问题的方法。记者：而对于那些有兴趣知道这些解决方法——这些方法异常复杂——的人来说，这所学院出版了一本书，整本书都是对这个问题的讨论，书中有许多技术上的解释和图表。然而，与以往一样，每当碰到宗教上的问题，分歧的空间很大。而这本书根据专家意见得出的结论，表明安息日电梯确实违犯了关于安息日的教规。正如一位严守教规的的以色列人面带笑容对我说的话一样：那就让争论继续吧。