Using a Shabbat Elevator

Peninei Halakhah sets out the dispute among the poskim about an automatic Shabbat elevator. Some forbid riding it at all (Minchat Yitzchak, Chelkat Yaakov, Rav Wosner). Some allow going up but not down (Rav Halperin). Others permit it entirely, since the rider does nothing to operate it (Rav Henkin, Rav Unterman, Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach). It concludes that the main view is the lenient one, and that “in a case of need, even those who are normally stringent may be lenient.” Elderly, sick and pregnant people are the classic case of need.

Rabbi Jachter’s Gray Matter likewise surveys the long-running debate. It contrasts the strict rulings of the Minchat Yitzchak and Chelkat Yaakov with the lenient rulings of Rav Henkin and Rav Unterman.

• Peninei Halakhah, Shabbat 17:4 — the poskim dispute the use of a Shabbat elevator; the lenient view is primary, and in a case of need even the stringent may be lenient
• Gray Matter IV, The Use of Elevators on Shabbat — records the machloket between those who forbid Shabbat elevators (Minchat Yitzchak, Chelkat Yaakov) and those who permit them (Rav Henkin, Rav Unterman)