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.
Don't know if anyone will see this, but... driving home from work on a 4-lane heavily traveled road. There is a large Jewish community in this area, and I often see (what this shiksa presumes) orthodox families walking on Friday evenings. Tonight I saw a family standing at the edge of the road in front of a chabbad house presumably waiting to cross the road. It's dark out, and I did not see them standing there until I drove by. Now, there was a major intersection about 75 feet away from where they were standing with a traffic light and crosswalk. Is pushing a button to safely cross a road forbidden? It seems that putting one's life at risk to cross a busy road and risk injury to a driver in a car is a bit short-sighted. Where do the town ordinances end and Jewish laws begin?
Of course, one may not endanger lives in the way you describe. Yet, one does not need to violate Shabbat to be able to cross a street on Shabbat. Many local governments have listened to their Shabbat observant citizens and installed different means to use public thoroughfares safely on Shabbat while keeping to one's principles. I have just returned from a small town in Florida, where the local government laid sidewalk along a busy lane leading to the local Chabad House so those walking to and from Chabad on Shabbat, especially on Friday night, are safely out of the way of traffic. In L.A. there is a busy intersection on a block where there are a few Synagogues. The city has set an override for Shabbat for the Walk/Don't Walk lights - so it goes on automatically on Shabbat, without the need to press a button to be able to cross. You may want to make your voice heard as well so your local government will make it safe in your area as well.
But in the meantime it is still dangerous. What if the government refuses?
If there is a traffic light with a button to push, people need only wait a moment and the green light (or the WALK light) will come on, at least everywhere I have ever seen it in Houston.
Does the light you mention stay red all the time until someone pushes the button?
You are correct, there is usually no difference between pressing these buttons or not. Recently I read an article that the vast majority of crosswalk buttons do not do anything - they fall under the category of "placebo buttons" - you can search online about these buttons concerning crosswalks.