Shabbos-enhancing inventions can be a game changer especially for the elderly.

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ever in history has there been a better time to be old. Today’s technology revolution has produced a growing array of devices designed to both lengthen and improve the quality of life.

The possibilities are exciting but for the Torah-observant community these devices also raise a host of halachic issues as the question of Shabbos comes into play.

The Zomet Institute for halacha and technology in Alon Shvut is one of several research institutes around the world developing technology that integrates halachic considerations. For example who would have imagined a stair lift that is usable on Shabbos? 

Smooth Ride

This is not your Bubby’s stair lift.

Okay so maybe it is but today’s stair lifts are vastly different from the clunky wide device that first came out 25 years ago. Today’s unobtrusive mechanism sits on a small portion of your staircase and glides the handicapped person up and down with a built-in computer including speed and obstacle monitors and safety sensors making for a smoother and safer ride. There are countless designs including lifts designed for outside staircases wheelchair lifts and other specialized varieties.

One significant non-technological improvement is the cost: a device that was once prohibitively expensive now runs at only about $3000 for a basic straight staircase model.

But how would any of those improvements make a difference on Shabbos? Gavriel Gozland an engineer by training andUSdistributor of halachic technology solutions for the elderly explains that the ShabbosLift incorporates Zomet Institute technology.

Designed through the initiative and under the guidance of Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach ztz”l and Rav Yehoshua Neuwirth ztz”l it is based on the halachic principle of grama in which an action is triggered only indirectly. The user clicks on a switch in a spot where there is no regular flow of electricity. Every five seconds an electrical impulse is sent out to check the status of the switch; if it happens to be clicked on then a random timer will start which activates the motion of the lift. Other eldercare aides such as Shabbos elevators for private homes are also fit with the same grama-based technology.