... and not given to the Hiloni to "violate" - in instances like this, if there is any doubt then the authorizing rabbi should be the one to turn off the alarm. He is most qualified to know the best way to minimize the violation, and halacha has precedent for requiring the most prominent member of the community to commit a violation when warrented to show that it is a valid action. A great rabbi famously left the synagogue on Yom Kippur to chop wood, make a fire, boil water and assist a woman in childbirth. When asked why he didn't send someone else he confessed that he knew of no one greater than himself in the community and thus the obligation fell upon him. Not the most humble confession, but in very strict keeping with Jewish law. I hope this is implemented to maintain tradition, Jewish law and true adherence to the principle Rabbi Sherlo is addressing.

This is clearly one of the most important existential issues facing the citizens of Israel

Including, but not limited to, Rav Melamed.

No such thing in the Torah. The command is to let EVERYONE rest. Including goyim and animals.

The Rabbi doesn't say to turn it off yourself - like your headline supposes - it says someone else can do it for you if they want to.

proficient enough as a “rabbi” to create Jewish laws and make rulings?

Judaism would look like Reform Judaism at best in a few years time.

That's pretty much how it works. It doesn't have to be about the meaning of life or life and death to be discussed, analyzed, and ruled on. What *I* find silly is that it warranted an article from Ynet, as if this was a "shocking revelation".

Halevay

Turned off the car alarm is d'rabbanan according to all except Moshe Feinstein. Preventing others from sleeping is theft.

which is why things are taking so long to get straightened out. Shabbat goy is profaning the Name. A human is a human is a human and therefore must keep Torah to have life. Omit any part of Torah willfully and you forfeit life. Say no to racism!

So "Judaism would look like Reform Judaism at best in a few years time." Why is every p'sak that does not forbid something or is le'kulah seen as making us Reform? Sometimes a p'sak halacha can actually allow something!

Why do you say so? Because R'Cherlow is more concerned about people than he is about appearing machmir (punctilious in Halacha)? R'Cherlow should be commended by all, including the Orthodox community. He is a breath of fresh air!

that the minds of these people are preoccupied with nonsense to such a degee that it not only borders on insanity, it has already crossed the line.

of course shabbat is for everyone and goyim also rest, but they are not restricted from using electricity like Jews and you are allowed to ask them to do things for you. A "Shabbat goyim" doesn't mean that you have the right to demand of any goy what you will. To the contrary, it means if there is a goy then you may ASK him to do something and he must freely be willing to do that which you are prohibited from doing so the Shabbat goyim is actually very important to us because they help us out so much in cases such as these. They are more like our Shabbat partners, I hope that clears it up a bit.

in his house or in his synagogue. People can listen to him in private and do what is right in accordance with the law of the State. If they violate the law, whether the rabbi advised them or not, they should be prosecuted. In short, separate religion from the State and practice your religion in private. Rabbi is talking, or rabbi is silent, it matters not because he is a citizen like any other citizen of the State. There is a process to affect change and rabbi can use it just like anyone else.

Of course the Rabbi can say anything he wants to. So can I. The Rabbi is an idiot and YNET is no less idiotic for publishing his idiocies.

It is because you accept an errant view of Torah. If you consider two foundational principles, 1. That the Torah was offered to all the nations placing all mankind at the same level, and, 2. That tshuva is the cornerstone that allows one back in the presence of HaSheim, then you will see the fallacy. Simply put, all mankind regardless of racial genetic makeup were/are offered Torah. All humans that reject (even born Jews) have the right/responsibility to "answer," to return. This is the only logical consistent way to view a perfect HaSheim. It is logically flawed to say Jews have the right to do tshuva and the nations do not. The current popular rabbinic fallacy must be rejected to see the Aleinu fulfilled.

And what is the basis for the comparing turning on electricity to starting a fire? There is no work involved. Power plants are running continually, so when someone turns on the light, he is not chopping wood on swirling a stick to start a fire. An ignorant Rabbi decided on this issue, and the flock follows blindly.

may look insane. In a football match, 22 people running like mad after the ball,and as soon they reached it, they shot it straightaway. While the winners are joyously hyperexcited ,the losers are near to suicide. Which sane person understands the theory of relativity,if he has not studied it? etc,etc.

We understand the game and we understand that electricity isn't fire. Perhaps it was confusing at some point in time but now if you know physics and chemistry you know that fire is combustion and electricity has nothing to do with combustion. This rabbi hasn't made the logical conclusion that the alarm may be turned off because it is not fire. He has used a loophole because of the obvious ridiculousness of the situation. He has put out a small fire when the forest is burning down. It is he that doesn't understand because for him to come to the scientific fact of fire and electricity being different and rule that it is so (like that makes a difference?) would set him apart as basing his decision on science. He would be ostracized by the other rabbanim who are losing Jews that are educated in the physical sciences. Those Jews need real world answers. Not make believe.

It is interesting to see how the religious brain works. It starts from an assumption about the existence of a deity, it gives it power, believes in it unconditionally, appoints representatives to it, creates a world around it. None of it makes sense if you remember it is all an assumption that can be dropped in an instant. If I don't accept this assumption (or other like it,) then "I don't understand," I am defective somehow, uneducated. But the truth is that it is impossible for me to accept this assumption because there is no proof behind it. If I am a reasonable man/woman, I cannot accept the concept of deity, which means there is absolutely no chance we can reconcile, live together as one. I can give you a thousand ways to prove the assumption is false, while those who believe in deity cannot give me one proof why it makes sense. Ironically, the need for a rabbinical decision on car alarms is another very small proof that I am correct in laughing off the concept of deity, correct in rejecting religion.

Do you think that, as electricity is not fire ,we are allowed,from your point of vue, to use electricity on Shabat?

Forgetting yourself.

Was man made for Shabat or Shabat made for man??? If your daughter runs into the street, will you stop her? Or will you smugly rest in Shabat while she perishes... It seems to me it took more work to open the door for the police responding to their harrassed neighbors in the night than it did to press a button and stop the disturbance they were causing of the Shabat peace! Just a thought...

The case given states that the alarm was not heard. What if it was? Do you call the police? Let the neighbors suffer for however long it takes the police to arrive? Wait for a suffering neighbor to complain? Or just be a decent human being and go out and turn the darned thing off? Reform, Orthodox or Conservative; Jewsih, Muslim, Christian, Buddhist ofr Hindu. No religion allows one to hurt one's neighbors or avoid commonsense. Idiot clergy in all of them might be so silly or cruel, but not the religion. It is hard to imagine what is dumber, asking this question or answering it.

The Torah is beautifully logical and is for the real world. No one is required to follow an error. In fact the Torah requires us not to follow the multitude if they are wrong. Shemote 23:2 Of course you could not use electricity to do melakhah on Shabbat.

You fail logic because there is nothing in this reality that doesn't have a cause. Mass and order are very real and can only be explained by cause and effect. Name the scientist that does not hypothesize either a "big bang," or even string type theory for the explanation of why there is an existence. Before the "big bang?" It just happened? Wow, that sounds like other make believe religions. It is not that you can't extrapolate a Creator from the existence of mass, energy, and light, even Einstein did that. You refuse to extrapolate.

The only real Judaism is Reform or Chabad. These two groups are really sincere. Everything in between has lost its way.