General Electric's CEO brings halachic experts into his innovation lab — so you can bring his fridge into your Shabbos kitchen

Photos: Equisport Photos

When my plane touched down at the Louisville airport, it was the beginning of Kentucky Derby Week, when the attention of millions of Americans turns to that state and the storied horse race it has hosted at Churchill Downs for well over a century. Only I wasn’t there to see the horses run, nor for that matter, to drink bourbon, another of Kentucky’s major claims to fame.

Instead, I’d come to spend a day at the Louisville headquarters of an iconic American company, General Electric Appliances (GEA), touring its plants and visiting its executive offices together with two Orthodox Jewish pioneers: Rav Tzvi Ortner, a leading expert in issues at the intersection of halachah and technology and head of the Orthodox Union’s department devoted to that area, and Eli Antebi of the Clifton, New Jersey-based ZMAN Technologies. Working closely with Rav Ortner and ZMAN, GEA has embarked on an initiative unprecedented in corporate America, incorporating the halachic aspects of home appliances into the very fabric of its design and manufacturing processes. Dozens of its engineers have spent thousands of hours working to ensure that the entire GEA product line — from oven ranges to refrigerators and, perhaps soon, hot-water heaters — can be used in full, l’chatchilah compliance with halachah, no corners cut or leniencies taken.

GEA’s unusually strong working relationship with ZMAN Technologies, an Orthodox-run technology enterprise, led to the invention of the “Shabbos Keeper” technology that’s making it possible for busy balabustas to comfortably operate their kitchens throughout a three-day Yom Tov. And on an eye-opening visit to GEA’s sprawling 900-acre industrial complex called Appliance Park in Louisville — so large it has its own zip code — we saw it firsthand.