Question:
Dear Rabbi,
This is a great site, I once asked you a question, but here’s another one.
Is it permissible to move the pin on a Shabbos clock on Shabbos , which is connected to an a/c to an earlier time.
IOW…. from say, 3:00 pm to earlier, to .8:00 am , allowing for moving it with a shui for the possibility of it being miktzah.
Thanks so much,
Answer:
Thank you for your compliment.
Regarding your question, the pins of a shabbos clock may not be moved to make the shabbos clock go on or off earlier than it was set before shabbos or yom tov. The reason for this is because by making it go on or off earlier than for when it was set is like turning the lights on, but with a delayed reaction, which is also prohibited on shabbos, (a grama is assur m’drabonon). Even to do it with a shinui is not permitted.
Sources:
In your case everyone agrees that it is prohibited, see Shimiras Shabbos Khilchoso 13-28, Levush Mordechai O:CH 3-25, Chelkas Yackov 1-55, Igros Moshe O:CH 4-91(5), and Y:D 3-47 (4). Also see Tzitz Eliezer 1-20 chapter 9-7, also 5- 8( 4), and 6-5, Yehudah 2-6 in the name of R’ Eliyashiv zt”l, and Minchas Yitzchok 1-58, that the trippers are muktza. Also see Be’er Moshe 6 Kuntres Electric 36, Oz Nidberu 3-25, Yaskil Avdei 4-17 and B’tzel Hachoma 2-32, Yisodei Yishurun Mechabe pg. 157.
Even in the opposite case, to prolong the existing state of the shabbos clock, meaning to move the trippers that will keep the shabbos clock on or off for longer, even then, most poskim ( all of the above with the exception or R’ S. Z. Auerbach zt”l) prohibit it. This is for a number of reasons, such as muktza, undin d’chol, and also because very often in the process of moving the trippers the dial gets moved forward and this makes the lights go on and off sooner, and also because many times people confuse the concepts of making the clock go on quicker or keeping the current situation, therefore even that should not be done according to most poskim. (As a side point, I was once talking to a person who was meikel with this, if he ever mixed things up of mistakenly turned the dial which caused the lights to go on quicker, and he confessed that it happened a few times…)
