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From: yiri@ucf-cs.UUCP (Yirmiyahu BenDavid)
Newsgroups: net.religion.jewish
Subject: Shabbat electricity and geder
Message-ID: <1520@ucf-cs.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 22-Sep-84 21:33:06 EDT
Article-I.D.: ucf-cs.1520
Posted: Sat Sep 22 21:33:06 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 26-Sep-84 06:57:37 EDT
Organization: UCF, Orlando, FL
Lines: 21

According to what I've read, the decision to forbid the use of electricity on 
Shabbat was because it was classified as fire rather than being simply a geder.
However, that raises another good question: how desirable is a geder? 

It seems to me that if a person desires to be observant, then s/he knows best 
how much safety fence s/he needs and even if the advice of the rabbis is sought
(a healthy thing), there would be no need to impose it as a law since the 
observant person who sought such advice would want to do it. (The sages 
recognized and preferred keeping the spirit/intent of the law rather than
simply the letter of the law as imposed externally.)

On the other hand, if a person does not desire to be observant, a geder is 
futile.  The non-observant person observes neither.

It appears to me that the net result is that the IMPOSITION of a geder AS LAW
is a futile effort wasted on the non-observant and an unnecessary burden when
IMPOSED on some of the observant. In the context of second temple Judaism, 
the Sadducees (and I think the Zadokites, Essenes and most others) saw the
imposition of the geder as contravening Torah (Dt. 4:1-2 & 13:1). (The 
Pharisees were the only sect I can recall which recognized the authority of 
a geder. Of course, most of the modern traditions stem from the Pharisees.)