No real rain has fallen so far this winter, nor does the rain that came this morning (Wednesday) really represent, so the chance of torrential rain actually falling on Saturday seems pretty nil, and yet, when it does, when the road to synagogue becomes a wet and grueling journey, the only thing to think On it is how it is that there is not yet an umbrella that can be used on Shabbat properly.
So after the great halakhic and engineering minds sat on the bench without success, could it be that the people at the Zalman Express website were the ones who found a halakhic solution to the problem of using an umbrella on Shabbat?
"Did you want an umbrella that opened on a weekday? You got it!"
The umbrella was launched last week and can already be purchased.
The new umbrella, Photo: Zalman Express website
If you ask Assaf Wall, who stands with Gil Slovic behind the (relatively) new sales site, which appeals to the national religious public with amusing inner humor, they solved the problem: a completely normal umbrella with the revolutionary and surprising caption: "Opens on a weekday."
Wall claims that this is not a "gimmick", but a caption that "is intended to solve the problem of appearance, and it solves."
He is also not afraid of other possible problems and claims that "if there are other problems we will solve them as well."
But the head of the Tzomet Halacha and Technology Institute, Rabbi Menachem Perl, is in no hurry to get excited about the umbrella of Zalman Express.
"The use of an umbrella involves some prohibitions on Shabbat," he explains, "making a tent, taking it out of the public domain and appearing. Although in the early days of the umbrella, many arbitrators tended to make it easier, "The above tries to overcome the ban on making a tent, but also raising the umbrella over the head can be considered making a tent and is therefore forbidden."
A suitable solution for Shabbat ?, Photo: "Zalman Express" website
If that's not enough, Rabbi Pearl insists that the caption designed to resolve the appearance does not help at all: "A regular print such as 'This umbrella was opened before Shabbat' is not enough to avoid an appearance, as it is a regular statement written even on a weekday. It is actually an umbrella Like any other umbrella except that it has an explanatory caption, "which is not helpful.
"The responsibility of ruling on halakhah requires considering the expected consequences of this permit in any situation. In most of the Jewish world, where the rain is particularly disturbing, there is no mixing, so there is a real fear that many will fail. Therefore, despite efforts to" solve " Use this umbrella on Shabbat. Creativity is like a kind of life. , And channel it into the midst of the paths of halakhah, for the service of Klal Israel. "
So as long as there is no umbrella suitable for Shabbat, you will have to deal with the hardships of rainy Shabbats (to come already!) With the traditional means: a waterproof coat, boots and steaming chowder.
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