The Shabbos Clock Alternative?
Canadian Rabbi Shmuel Veffer has invented a so-called “Kosher Lamp”—a lamp which can be turned “on” and “off” on Shabbos according to halakha (whereas you swivel a shade to hide the light rather than switch it off), and which has, apparently, been approved by major poskim—well, major Canadian poskim anyway.
It’s better than a Shabbos Clock, that’s for sure. But, is it in the Shabbos spirit?
I checked the site and they have approval from Rav Eliashiv shlita from Yerushalayim, the posek hador, and Rav Dovid Cohen shilta, from Brooklyn.
The spirit of Shabbos doesn’t mean you have to suffer.
We’ve been doing this for years with closet doors. And some people, at the risk of fire, have been putting towels over lamps.
If studying Torah late into the night is in the spirit of Shabbos, so is technology that makes this possible
While it might me “better” from a strict halakhic sense wouldn’t it be wise to consider the extra energy it uses… what a waste, which these days should be taken into consideration when deciding halakha… not to mention all that styrofoam it comes in.