Why Is Pressing a Button Considered Work on Shabbat?

Question:

Rabbi, do you honestly believe that pressing a button to cross the road is considered doing work on the Sabbath? It doesn't seem so strenuous to me...

Answer:

It is not strenuous work that is forbidden on Shabbos, but rather creative work.

During the working week we strive to make the world a better, safer and more comfortable place. We use our human ingenuity to invent, build, develop and improve the world around us. But on the seventh day we step back into ourselves. We take a break from trying to change the world and we appreciate the innate beauty of the world that G-d created. Instead of altering our surroundings we enjoy them. Rather than utilize the amenities that technology has given us we enjoy the blessings that G-d has given us - love, family, friendship, meditation, and just being human.

Shabbos is a like a dream-world, and we enter this dream-world by leaving the mundane world behind. Even the smallest disturbance -- like pressing a button -- would bring us crashing back down to earth. And there's nothing worse than waking up from a dream before it's over.