- Q. Dearest Rov. Is it truly correct and permitted to use in our days of constantly changing AI a Shabbat elevator?
A. On question 476 we wrote:
“The fact that an elevator has been programmed to stop in all floors during Shabbos does not necessarily imply that you can use it. You also have to be concerned with the light, motion and weight sensors that could be triggered when one enters or even approaches the elevator. All these would have to be disconnected before Shabbos.
Hydraulic elevators are seldom used today in buildings that have more that one or two floors, Horav Shlomo Miller’s Shlit”a opinion is that the Halacha issues in them are similar to the common cable elevators.
Even when a elevator has been approved for Shabbos use, many Poskim maintain that, as you mentioned it is only for the sick and infirm (Igrois Moishe O.H. 4: 84 and 2: 95, Minchas Yitzchok 3: 60, Shmiras Shabbos Kehilchoso 23: 49-50: n. 138: 139, and in length; Maaliyot B’Shabbat From Rav Levy Yitzchok Halperin Shlit”a, et.al, see also the psak, signed by Horabbonim Nissim Karelitz, Chaim Kanievsky, and Shmuel Halevy Wosner, Shlit’a published in Yated on Elul 2009)
Horav Miller mentioned as an example of the misconceptions and complexity of today’s machinery, that frequently there is more of a Halachik problem descending on an elevator than going up. In many elevators the counter-weight is equal to the weight of the cab plus almost half of its rated cab weight (the maximum number of passengers).
In such an elevator, when a single person enters an empty elevator and wishes to ascend, no assistance from the motor is needed. Assistance is needed, however, to descend.
Not all elevators are created equal and technology changes rapidly these days, therefore Horav Miller Shlit’a advises to have a competent neighboring Rov inspect the intended elevator and rule on it.”
Although the above answer was one of the first written on AI controlled elevators, it is still is applicable.
Rabbi A. Bartfeld as revised by, Horav Yaakov Hirschman, Horav Dovid Pam, Horav Aharon Miller, Horav Chanoch Ehrentreu and Horav Kalman Ochs Shlit’a.
Important Numbers
