Ben Buckman.net

The ruling by a 99 year old rabbi that shabbos elevators are no longer kosher - causing enough of a stir to make the news - is an example to me of the most absurd elements of religion. The elevators - which stop on every floor to allow the occupants to ride on the Sabbath without actively pressing buttons - are silly enough by their nature. But it was decided for whatever reason (which I learned in elementary school, and don't see enough sense in to recount) that passive riding was OK. So Yosef Ball, profiled in the AP story with his 7th floor apartment and 5 young kids, or millions of older people, could return from synagogue on Saturday without risking a heart attack. And that was the accepted decree that made orthodox Jews feel like they were cool with God... until it was decided otherwise.

Traditions inevitably change over time but are characterized by the willful illusion of timelessness. So sudden shifts like this, where customs that were fine by God yesterday and aren't anymore today, are absurd to observe as an outsider. (It makes sense when the customs adjust positively to the times, like when women can suddenly travel in Afghanistan without bhurkas, but not when they become more backwards and stringent.) The shifts are probably absurd from the inside too, to many, which is why many orthodox rabbis and their adherents are sticking to the old rule.

I'm going to wade into someone else's territory here and make this observation: the idea that electricity (symbolic of fire, which the Bible says was used to build the portable temple in the desert, and is therefore forbidden to orthodox Jews on the Sabbath) can be avoided by not pressing buttons, for a second of the week let alone a whole day, is ridiculous in this day and age. Shabbos elevators, like running water, and the lights left on all weekend, and money earning interest in the bank, and a million other foundational elements of modern life, run 24/7, monitored by people (some of them Jewish), whether we press the buttons ourselves or not. The water runs when we turn on the tap and the Shabbos elevator stops on every floor; we're passive in both, but this old Rabbi isn't decreeing thirst on the Sabbath. (Not yet, anyway.)