When turning on the hot water you are automatically letting new water flow into the water boiler, where they are cooked. Cooking is one of the thirty-nine creative acts that are forbidden on Shabbat.
You could use the water from a percolator that was on since before Shabbat, or a samovar that's on the fire since Friday, to rinse hands or dishes.
Rabbi Silberberg resides in Brooklyn, NY, with his wife Chaya Mushka and their three children.
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Reader Comments Latest Comments:
Posted: Aug 8, 2009
According to the torah, i suppose, cooking doesn't have the same definition.
Posted By Anonymous, Guatemala City, Guatemala
Posted: June 19, 2009
However, most people in Israel need to turn the water boiler on in order to heat the water up, and then turn it off when they are done...it says electricity. In the summer, I never need to turn the boiler on because the sun heats up the water.......am I right to assume that it is OK to use the hot water faucet in this case? After all, I had nothing to do with making it hot. A related question, can you freeze something on Shabbat?
Posted By Anonymous, Jerusalem, Israel
Posted: July 24, 2007
Response to Anonymous from Chesterfield
With regards to the laws of Shabbat, what is relevant is the Hebrew definition of the word, and more importantly, since the 39 creative activities are derived from these very tasks which were performed in the course of the construction of the Tabernacle, we must see how "cooking" was part of the aforementioned construction effort.
Water was heated in order to extract dyes from various plants and roots. Thus heating water is the essence of the prohibition. [These dyes were then used for the different curtains and tapestries which were part of the Tabernacle structure.]
Our Sages have determined that it is forbidden to heat water to the extent that the hand naturally draws back when coming in contact with them.
Posted By Naftali Silberberg (Author)
Posted: July 19, 2007
Disagree
At our synogogue, we will turn on the hot water on Shabbat. I believe that it is impossible to cook water. Cooking means chemically changing it. The water heater only heats it up, not to a point of changing its state. Even when it boils, it is only changing physically, not chemically, and I do not consider that cooking.
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