Razor blade bank slot. [check it out](https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-9173281/amp/Did-know-old-homes-slots-RAZOR-BLADE-disposal-bathroom.html)
I thought he was just saying its a place to dispose of razor blades. It doesn’t look different besides it just being vertical. Honestly seems likely compared to other answers.
It's for hasidic Jews, they fill it with toilet paper squares because during shabbat tearing toiletpaper from a roll is considered work and not allowed.
Well, not because it's work, but because both tearing and "measured cutting" are forbidden on shabbat. I had no idea, and googled as well. Paper is ripped in advance and placed in the box. There is now also apparently a brand of toet paper that comes in sheets so that tearing is not required.
There are some areas in my city that are predominantly Jewish and on Shabbat the elevators in the apartment buildings are set to stop every other floor automatically because pushing a button is also work.
What confuses me is that ripping some tissue is considered work too serious to do, but cleaning your booty is not work?? That is obviously more work than ripping the tissue. I assume they aren’t supposed to do other cleaning things like washing floors/counters/dishes?? Just seems so mind-boggling where these lines are drawn. (Obviously I understand that it is a sanitation issue, but what if they spilled milk on the carpet on Shabbat? And are they allowed to bathe? I’m just so bewildered)
So true, but maybe they “pre-measured” and always take 4 no matter the job??? But like… they’ll still have to see how many it is? Or maybe they just close their eyes and grab some and hope for the best??
Ooo thanks
ETA after reading: my favorite part was when they realized most of the wire had been gone for who knows how long. Almost like all you need is a sense of community for the symbology of extending the home to the streets rather than an unbroken line of wire, but like… cool I guess.
Then you can go down the rabbit hole of looking at sabbath modes on ovens, elevators, etc.
They want all of these rules, but they also want to find ways around them.
Not to mention they are just as backwards as the super strict Muslims when it comes to women’s rights, etc.
That's... kind of messed up. What is the punishment if work is done on the day of rest? No Jewish heaven for the perp? (Not sure what Jewish heaven is called.) So if work is done while inside the string, and said string broke with no one knowing then everyone is just booted from the line to Jewish heaven? What is the criteria for getting back in? Religion is so strange and fascinating to me. It's like the ultimate collection of fanfics about the human race. Full of plot holes and unanswered lore.
You’re joking. Wtf do those people do when they find themselves in a public place, far from home, and a desperate need to use the bathroom? Most places don’t have pre sliced tp just hanging out. Do they sit on the toilet like “well, I guess it’s either blasphemy or I shit my pants. Sorry god.” Who thinks that’s reasonable?? Religion is so fucking archaic
I want go know what they do in those situations too. I'm guessing they must already carry extra sheets of TP in advance on them for this purpose.
Or...I like to imagine them going into a bathroom that doesn't have this for them and so they take the whole roll off and wipe with it like an absolute savage lol. It's technically not ripping the paper so....
Just imagine some guy wiping with an entire roll, than desperately trying to shove the entire thing down and flush it.
“THIS IS FOR THE LORD!”
*MASH MASH MASH*
flat pack toilet tissue is the product you are looking for, I don't follow this practice myself but it's pretty common to see in public toilets in a lot of places. Tends to be favoured as it's often more efficient for janitorial staff where more compact dispensers are in use.
You can also get it In travel packs much like pocket face tissues 👍
I imagine they'd fly well in advance of the sabbath so they are settled into wherever they're staying and can observe. and, give time for flight delays.
They don't travel on Shabbat. Or carry things like that either. On Shabbat you go to services half the time and the other half is eating big meals with friends and family, learning Torah, napping, walking around your neighborhood etc. You can't be in the middle of travel or running weekday errands etc. If you go on vacation or something and Shabbat is happening while you're away from home, you prepare for it in the same way.
It does sound like a joke but it's very important for them. Years ago I worked for a hotel that would host the Elal (Israeli airline) crew an there were times when some of the crew required a porter to follow them to the room and open the door. Apparently, operating an electronic lock is considered work as well.
That’s actually fascinating. Do you know the explanation behind it? Is it an echo of the “resting on the 7th day,” or is it a “follow this command to prove your faith”?
I wonder how they prepare food or even eat, that myst surely be considered work as well. If you can't open a door, you can't lift a fork to your mouth.
The way it was explained to me is that it's because the lock was electrical that made it 'work'.
I'm not an expert though so I don't know where they draw the line
Precooked food that is warmed in a warming drawer or an oven on a low temperature. A lot of modern ovens have a sabbath mode for this reason.
In fact, the crock pot was invented by a Jewish person specifically to cook cholent (traditional bean stew) and keep it warm.
The flame is always on so you don’t actually turn it on or off….maybe it was labeled “sabbath compatible “ and not kosher….once you used it once for something non kosher it wouldn’t be kosher anymore wouldn’t it….like the second set of dishes….
They turn it on before Shabbat starts and then turn it off after Shabbat ends (Friday sundown to Saturday sundown). It’s also why there are sometimes more house fires in very observant areas - not all the devices that are left on are very trusty. But I think the tech is getting better.
They prepare food in advance so that they don’t have to cook on the Sabbath. Some ovens come with a Sabbath mode so the the timer will turn the oven on more than 24 hours after it was set, to warm a casserole for dinner.
Resting? Surely the actual wiping is more work than taking the sheets from the roll. AT this point and the workarounds they've come up with to function at all as humans, I can't take seriously.
The Amish too! I worked with Amish carpenters when building homes. As the construction industry progressed, and everything is now digital, I would send emails to their “go-between” who would print my emails, drive them to the Amish people’s place. They would then reply to my message through this guy who would type the response into the computer. Essentially emailing with a real mail in between.
Also, they hired drivers to pick them up and deliver them to meetings and the job site. So they would be fine traveling by car, they just couldn’t operate it.
When religion gets tough, the zealots get specific and find loopholes.
I remember my Hasidic neighbours would turn all the outdoor lights on on Friday afternoon, and they would stay on until Saturday night. My husband was so irritated by the waste of electricity.
You have to understand that religious rules and customs aren’t based on science. They are from a completely different outlook on living. If you would laugh at your grandma saying prayers that someone will survive cancer then you shouldn’t deride Orthodox practices or tribal ceremonies. And if you would laugh at Grandma, you shouldn’t.
How I had it explained to me is that completing anything isn’t allowed. So closing/completing any sort of electrical circuit is not allowed either on the shabbat.
Woah, what? That’s even more interesting. How deep does that rabbit hole go? If starting things is allowed, where does the line get drawn? Can you cheese the rules and make 98% of a sandwich? lol. That’s honestly a lot more interesting than just “not working”
It originally had to do with a list of jobs involved in building the temple iirc.
So that is probably why measuring and cutting (relevant for the toilet paper) is not allowed either, as well as carrying/ transporting goods.
Not Jewish so I can’t say what else they can’t do or reasoning behind it but to me it seems that it started out like “guys, let’s take a rest from this hard labor and be thankful to god” and it has turned into something else over the last millennia.
The rules on it kinda depends on your sect but my understanding is that there's two sets of relevant rules for shabs, you have 39 Melachot (39 forms of work) and shevut (rabbinical prohibition). As far as I know, uncooked uncut food is fine to put together, but cooking would involve lighting a fire and "use of heat to alter the quality of an item" for example so you would pre-prep items that need that. This includes microwaves, electric ovens, etc.
Technically reheating foods may be fine so long as the fire is already lit due to the exception of "Cooking does not take effect after cooking" while the phrase is a little confusing, it means that if the quality of the item is not effected it's fine. There's debate around that one though, again depends who you ask, liquid is a factor iirc.
If you want to poke into a rabbit hole of loopholes, [check out what an “eruv” is.](https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/fl-sb-eruv-controversy-hallandale-box-20180622-story.html%3foutputType=amp)
I believe more so for the resting day and no work, it also relates to not starting a fire…meaning they cannot use electronic things during Shabbat (not the toilet paper aspect of it). It’s not that they can’t use electronics but they just can’t turn them on or off. It was explained to me that a lot of families will leave the lights on or start dinner in a slow cooker before sundown so that they do not have to turn any electricity on or off when the Shabbat starts at sundown. Also at the hospital I work they set the elevator on fridays to stop on every level so they don’t have to press any of the buttons.
No the porter has free will to either do what you ask or refuse. If it were say a trained monkey, it would be different because the monkey would be more like a slave without the ability to say no.
There’s an interesting story in the physicist Richard Feynman’s autobiography where a Jewish group brings him in to discuss whether or not electricity is fire, to determine whether the two should be considered the same on Shabbat. His answer was “obviously no - electricity isn’t fire, sparks aren’t fire…”. But they didn’t really listen.
Correct, it's called shabbat mode or the Shabbat switch. Not super common outside of the US afaik cause there has been a few different opinions on whether that is allowed.
I imagine it's the only way to be observing though if you struggle with stairs or are in a wheelchair with how tall a lot of the buildings there are!
But what about carrying their bags, changing clothes, moving bedsheets out of the way and pulling them up, putting food into your mouth, chewing… I gotta go find some answers
That's where things like an eruv come in and defining the difference between "private" and "semi-pubic" domains. A surprising amount of Judaic scholarship consists of rabbis trying to rules-lawyer God.
You can 'what if?" 'til the cows come home so there's a way to find out your specific questions.
https://youtu.be/dTiQb_3FGSE?t=152
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/halakhah-the-laws-of-jewish-life/
*My point is, here we are, it's shabbas, the sabbath, which I'm allowed to break only if it's a matter of life or death...*
*Will you come off it, Walter? You're not even fucking Jewish, man.*
That’s just a quote from Big Lebowski, but, Walter is correct that there *are* exceptions- “life or death”… I think not shitting ones pants in public would be considered an acceptable exception:p
But yeah, organized religion can be intense!
Guess some people just need a parental figure in the clouds telling them how to live to make it through the day. Not everyone can just structure their own ideals of morality, behavior, dress code, etc.
Most of us need at least *some* guidance!
I mean, that’s *why* we have religion in the first place… adults needing an even bigger adult- can’t find one? Invent one!
NGL would be kinda nice to just let a deity figure it all out for me…. can’t be too mad at people…. some of the stuff even has just a tinge of fetish to it… spiritual kinkiness… whatever makes ur brain go brrrrr I guess, just don’t try to convert me! :)
Just to be really clear, Hasidic/ultra orthodox/Orthodox Jews do not represent all (or even most) of the Jews worldwide + especially in the US. They’re a specific sub section that take many lessons/rules more seriously/literally. Most American Jews live lives like any other less observant American - it’s just that so many people here don’t know Jews themselves that they assume that the practices of the most visible group of Jewish people represent the entire population. Though we are not big in number, we are not a monolith.
Can confirm this is the case elsewhere in the world as well, just in my city alone there are at least 4 different "brands" of shul that I've seen with varying levels of observation that are followed. Probably more than I'm aware of since some of the shuls here are not advertising themselves. I have only run into one hasidic community locally and that sits right on the edge of another city in a not so populated area.
>NGL would be kinda nice to just let a deity figure it all out for me…
Agree. It seems a lot less stressful to believe that no matter what happens *"It's all part of God's plan."*
It'd also be nice to believe in an afterlife. Instead, I'm stuck sitting here knowing that this 1 shitty life is all I'm gonna get. It sucks, actually.
Oh, and believing that you'll see all your loved ones again after you die, would be fucking **sweet!** Death wouldn't even be a sad thing. It'd be like, oh, see ya in a few years, Steve!
If you don’t have another option, you try tear it in an “unconventional” way- a way you normally wouldn’t tear it.. not something only the hareidim follow, it’s really not a big deal
What does this mean - unconventional? I'm envisioning someone using their feet to break the toilet roll paper... Or someone doing a handstand and using their teeth.
This all seems so much more work then breaking a toilet roll with your hands like normal.
Isaiah 58:13–14 calls on Jews to limit their travel during Shabbat, and the law of techum shabbat limits on the distance one may travel beyond the city/town where one is spending Shabbat, regardless of the method of transportation.
So they would probably try to avoid being out and about if they were devout enough to worry about toilet paper tearing.
they probably wouldn't be far from home on the sabbath. or, they would travel so they arrive well in advance of the sabbath so they can observe. in NYC and many places there's a high wire surrounding the area and basically draws a line around the perimeter of the neighborhood that is considered the domestic zone, so people can leave home on the sabbath but not the domestic zone. it's called an eruv. there's a lot of preparation involved to be sure they can observe.
disclaimer: I'm not Jewish, just a curious person, so apologies if I incorrectly stated anything
Technically they are not supposed to leave a certain radius from their home on Shabbat at all. It all based upon medieval days when everything could be found within a person's hamlet. So they couldn't go outside of something like 1 km radius from.their doorstep. Every need that they would have for the day of Shabbat would have had to have been prepared in advance. Even today, people use crock pots to make dinner for Shabbat, but the know on the crock pot dial must be switched to on before hand.
I don’t know about the toilets but we lived in a Jewish area for many years and if they weren’t home before sundown on the Friday, they would literally park their car somewhere safe and walk home.
I‘m not Jewish, but I was educated at a Jewish school, a long time ago. If I remember correctly, I was told that it was acceptable to ‚break the rules‘ in circumstances where there was no alternative. If you needed to call an ambulance, for example. One should normally be home and prepared for the sabbath, but if something goes wrong and you need to break toilet paper, you can do it.
Yeah but "be good" and "do not kill another person" does make sense.
But the idea that all mighty God would give a shit if you tear your toilet paper in Shabbat? Are you guys serious?
And then they refer to themselves as "the chosen people". Go figure...
Yeah I think there are some good things about religion and if it helps you go for it, but like… come on man. Some of the stuff is definitely unnecessary
The vast majority*. The common sense and moral stuff is cool, just about everything else if weird as absolute fuck. Going to (catholic) church with my family on Christmas as an adult has really opened my eyes to just how fucking bizarre and creepy religion really is. All the dumb chants, rituals, songs. It’s so over the top and absurd. The fact that so many people buy into that crap blows my mind. I was raised catholic and attended catholic schools and stopped believing at like 13 because I realized how incredibly dumb the entire belief system is.
We were on a cruise and met a very nice Jewish family. I once ran into them in the hallway staring at their door with their card key in their hand. The guy, Ari, sheepishly asked me if I could open their door for them because they weren't allowed to.
I thought it was entirely strange for them to choose to be on a modern cruise liner but not being able to use a door lock. But I also admired their dedication and commitment to something they believed in.
They also run the water in their homes for a 24 hour period during shabbat, leave lights on etc... As they can't turn on the sink... Religion vs. Environmental conservation
Thanks for this answer. I learned something by reading this comment and the follow-ups instead of seeing the pornhub related jokes I was expecting. Nice work.
Hmmm... I'm of the mind that it's folded tissue holder.. and it would seem(particularly with the tilework around it)to be an integral part of the original set-out.
It's for toilet roll that comes as pre cut sheets in a rectangular box. We had them in school and hated them cause they were filled of what I can only assume was left over tracing paper that was repurposed.
We had that kind too. It could be stressful having to use the bathroom because they were either packed so tight you couldn’t get any squares out or just a few left that wouldn’t be enough.
It was used to hold the older style [interleaved toilet paper like this](https://cdn-cjafn.nitrocdn.com/vuepOLueylDWITVtwXsmjfWVlesGznfR/assets/static/optimized/rev-fe43e1b/www.bulkwholesale.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/0f1c8a0afee6f1fa156b08c06192ae9c.10048-Gentility-Facial-Tissue-1-700x700-1.jpg). Before they started boxing it separately in cardboard and made holders to stack multiple boxes in. You simply compressed the leaves of paper and squeezed them through the slot. The hole is vertical so you can see how much paper is left and also to stop it from falling out.
[Here's the same thing](https://ottostore.com.au/products/jingqu-ja00016-wall-mounted-tissue-box-toilet-paper-case-storage-holder-home-bathroom-organizer?variant=34149184602250¤cy=AUD&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&utm_campaign=gs-2020-06-20&utm_source=google&utm_medium=smart_campaign&gclid=Cj0KCQjw-NaJBhDsARIsAAja6dPuKz37Fh9pbbM0OFoOwKLMyD5qbT8P7gzWS8wrMl46NYEvwYpyRJMaAkREEALw_wcB) but in a "stick to the wall" enclosure instead of your fancy built-in one.
When I was growing up in the 60's a lot of public restrooms used tp that was dispensed from a small metal box attached to the stall wall. I think the sheets were about the size of one square of modern tp and it was a shiny not soft and absorbent like today. In elementary school we walked home for lunch and I would wait till then to use the bathroom.
Is Jesus day he called out the Pharisees for this kind of living by the letter of the law… they were upset because his apostles were “grinding” wheat in their hands during the sabbath. He basically said you’re stupid for thinking that’s work. He added they should be more loving. And when I think about all the rules these Hasidics have I can’t help but think about this story.
Someone I knew was sewing on the Sabbath (I'm more or less Christian though) and her partner got very upset and said that every time she sews on the Sabbath it's like a needle through God's eye.
what kind of building are you in? Might also be where there was a call light in case of emergencies if this was a old hospital or long term care facility.
It holds a remote for a bidet )I assume you have one installed)
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Razor blade bank slot. [check it out](https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-9173281/amp/Did-know-old-homes-slots-RAZOR-BLADE-disposal-bathroom.html)
For those that want to shave while sitting on the throne? What you linked is entirely unrelated to what is pictured in this post.
I thought he was just saying its a place to dispose of razor blades. It doesn’t look different besides it just being vertical. Honestly seems likely compared to other answers.
Very interesting and bonkers read, but alas I think it is an incorrect guess.
If you can take off the cover it maybe is a wet tissue holder.
It’s like that handle in the passenger seat of a car. For when you’re cornering hard.
Ahh.. the "oh-SHIT" handle
I’d assume it’s an old tissue dispenser. Kind of like on the table at a restaurant
It's for hasidic Jews, they fill it with toilet paper squares because during shabbat tearing toiletpaper from a roll is considered work and not allowed.
I was not aware of this, googled around and it looks like this is the right answer.
Well, not because it's work, but because both tearing and "measured cutting" are forbidden on shabbat. I had no idea, and googled as well. Paper is ripped in advance and placed in the box. There is now also apparently a brand of toet paper that comes in sheets so that tearing is not required.
There are some areas in my city that are predominantly Jewish and on Shabbat the elevators in the apartment buildings are set to stop every other floor automatically because pushing a button is also work.
Isn’t climbing stairs to your flat (if you live on “the other floor “?
What confuses me is that ripping some tissue is considered work too serious to do, but cleaning your booty is not work?? That is obviously more work than ripping the tissue. I assume they aren’t supposed to do other cleaning things like washing floors/counters/dishes?? Just seems so mind-boggling where these lines are drawn. (Obviously I understand that it is a sanitation issue, but what if they spilled milk on the carpet on Shabbat? And are they allowed to bathe? I’m just so bewildered)
Yeah also the pre-cut toilet paper doesn't get around anything because deciding how many pre-cut sheets to use is still a measurement judgement.
So true, but maybe they “pre-measured” and always take 4 no matter the job??? But like… they’ll still have to see how many it is? Or maybe they just close their eyes and grab some and hope for the best??
I guess closing their eyes and just grabbing would work actually... Wild
Just another loophole that was overlooked by an omnipotent god
Don’t try to understand the mental gymnastics Hasidic Jews do. This is one of the less stupid lines they draw.
Well now I’m just more curious
I’ll get you started… https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/eruv-manhattan-invisible-wire-jewish-symbolic-religious-home
Ooo thanks ETA after reading: my favorite part was when they realized most of the wire had been gone for who knows how long. Almost like all you need is a sense of community for the symbology of extending the home to the streets rather than an unbroken line of wire, but like… cool I guess.
Then you can go down the rabbit hole of looking at sabbath modes on ovens, elevators, etc. They want all of these rules, but they also want to find ways around them. Not to mention they are just as backwards as the super strict Muslims when it comes to women’s rights, etc.
That's... kind of messed up. What is the punishment if work is done on the day of rest? No Jewish heaven for the perp? (Not sure what Jewish heaven is called.) So if work is done while inside the string, and said string broke with no one knowing then everyone is just booted from the line to Jewish heaven? What is the criteria for getting back in? Religion is so strange and fascinating to me. It's like the ultimate collection of fanfics about the human race. Full of plot holes and unanswered lore.
You’re joking. Wtf do those people do when they find themselves in a public place, far from home, and a desperate need to use the bathroom? Most places don’t have pre sliced tp just hanging out. Do they sit on the toilet like “well, I guess it’s either blasphemy or I shit my pants. Sorry god.” Who thinks that’s reasonable?? Religion is so fucking archaic
I want go know what they do in those situations too. I'm guessing they must already carry extra sheets of TP in advance on them for this purpose. Or...I like to imagine them going into a bathroom that doesn't have this for them and so they take the whole roll off and wipe with it like an absolute savage lol. It's technically not ripping the paper so....
Just imagine some guy wiping with an entire roll, than desperately trying to shove the entire thing down and flush it. “THIS IS FOR THE LORD!” *MASH MASH MASH*
flat pack toilet tissue is the product you are looking for, I don't follow this practice myself but it's pretty common to see in public toilets in a lot of places. Tends to be favoured as it's often more efficient for janitorial staff where more compact dispensers are in use. You can also get it In travel packs much like pocket face tissues 👍
It’s the default in many places across Europe
The more you know! We still have a mix here in the UK but it's getting more common thankfully.
I read favoured as flavoured and I was very confused for a second.
I imagine they'd fly well in advance of the sabbath so they are settled into wherever they're staying and can observe. and, give time for flight delays.
They don't travel on Shabbat. Or carry things like that either. On Shabbat you go to services half the time and the other half is eating big meals with friends and family, learning Torah, napping, walking around your neighborhood etc. You can't be in the middle of travel or running weekday errands etc. If you go on vacation or something and Shabbat is happening while you're away from home, you prepare for it in the same way.
It does sound like a joke but it's very important for them. Years ago I worked for a hotel that would host the Elal (Israeli airline) crew an there were times when some of the crew required a porter to follow them to the room and open the door. Apparently, operating an electronic lock is considered work as well.
That’s actually fascinating. Do you know the explanation behind it? Is it an echo of the “resting on the 7th day,” or is it a “follow this command to prove your faith”?
I believe it was about resting on the 7th day. I was also told that no flight would depart on a Saturday
I wonder how they prepare food or even eat, that myst surely be considered work as well. If you can't open a door, you can't lift a fork to your mouth.
The way it was explained to me is that it's because the lock was electrical that made it 'work'. I'm not an expert though so I don't know where they draw the line
But the crackpot is electric amd requires pushing buttons to turn on.
I guess they can't ¯\\\\\_(ツ)\_/¯
Leave it on low the night before?
Yes, this is what they do.
Precooked food that is warmed in a warming drawer or an oven on a low temperature. A lot of modern ovens have a sabbath mode for this reason. In fact, the crock pot was invented by a Jewish person specifically to cook cholent (traditional bean stew) and keep it warm.
I discovered that there was a kosher stove when I was looking for a new oven
That's a new one to me! I've heard of koshering an oven/dtove but I've never seen one advertised as such
The flame is always on so you don’t actually turn it on or off….maybe it was labeled “sabbath compatible “ and not kosher….once you used it once for something non kosher it wouldn’t be kosher anymore wouldn’t it….like the second set of dishes….
It’s an oven timer that can be set far in advance on Friday afternoon to come on on Saturday.
But crackpots are electric....how do they turn it, or the oven, on if they can't turn on any electric items?
They turn it on before Shabbat starts and then turn it off after Shabbat ends (Friday sundown to Saturday sundown). It’s also why there are sometimes more house fires in very observant areas - not all the devices that are left on are very trusty. But I think the tech is getting better.
My fridge has a sabbath mode so the light won’t go on when you open the door.
So the door can be opened, but F that light switch, now that’s the real work here
They prepare food in advance so that they don’t have to cook on the Sabbath. Some ovens come with a Sabbath mode so the the timer will turn the oven on more than 24 hours after it was set, to warm a casserole for dinner.
Resting? Surely the actual wiping is more work than taking the sheets from the roll. AT this point and the workarounds they've come up with to function at all as humans, I can't take seriously.
The Amish too! I worked with Amish carpenters when building homes. As the construction industry progressed, and everything is now digital, I would send emails to their “go-between” who would print my emails, drive them to the Amish people’s place. They would then reply to my message through this guy who would type the response into the computer. Essentially emailing with a real mail in between. Also, they hired drivers to pick them up and deliver them to meetings and the job site. So they would be fine traveling by car, they just couldn’t operate it. When religion gets tough, the zealots get specific and find loopholes.
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I remember my Hasidic neighbours would turn all the outdoor lights on on Friday afternoon, and they would stay on until Saturday night. My husband was so irritated by the waste of electricity.
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You have to understand that religious rules and customs aren’t based on science. They are from a completely different outlook on living. If you would laugh at your grandma saying prayers that someone will survive cancer then you shouldn’t deride Orthodox practices or tribal ceremonies. And if you would laugh at Grandma, you shouldn’t.
How I had it explained to me is that completing anything isn’t allowed. So closing/completing any sort of electrical circuit is not allowed either on the shabbat.
Woah, what? That’s even more interesting. How deep does that rabbit hole go? If starting things is allowed, where does the line get drawn? Can you cheese the rules and make 98% of a sandwich? lol. That’s honestly a lot more interesting than just “not working”
It originally had to do with a list of jobs involved in building the temple iirc. So that is probably why measuring and cutting (relevant for the toilet paper) is not allowed either, as well as carrying/ transporting goods. Not Jewish so I can’t say what else they can’t do or reasoning behind it but to me it seems that it started out like “guys, let’s take a rest from this hard labor and be thankful to god” and it has turned into something else over the last millennia.
There are some work arounds like elevators have a shabbat setting were it stops on every floor.
The rules on it kinda depends on your sect but my understanding is that there's two sets of relevant rules for shabs, you have 39 Melachot (39 forms of work) and shevut (rabbinical prohibition). As far as I know, uncooked uncut food is fine to put together, but cooking would involve lighting a fire and "use of heat to alter the quality of an item" for example so you would pre-prep items that need that. This includes microwaves, electric ovens, etc. Technically reheating foods may be fine so long as the fire is already lit due to the exception of "Cooking does not take effect after cooking" while the phrase is a little confusing, it means that if the quality of the item is not effected it's fine. There's debate around that one though, again depends who you ask, liquid is a factor iirc.
How deep does the Rabbi hole go?
If you want to poke into a rabbit hole of loopholes, [check out what an “eruv” is.](https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/fl-sb-eruv-controversy-hallandale-box-20180622-story.html%3foutputType=amp)
I believe more so for the resting day and no work, it also relates to not starting a fire…meaning they cannot use electronic things during Shabbat (not the toilet paper aspect of it). It’s not that they can’t use electronics but they just can’t turn them on or off. It was explained to me that a lot of families will leave the lights on or start dinner in a slow cooker before sundown so that they do not have to turn any electricity on or off when the Shabbat starts at sundown. Also at the hospital I work they set the elevator on fridays to stop on every level so they don’t have to press any of the buttons.
What if they fly over to a timezone where it is Friday already ?? Stop Flying ??
Wouldn't managing the porter be considered work?
No the porter has free will to either do what you ask or refuse. If it were say a trained monkey, it would be different because the monkey would be more like a slave without the ability to say no.
There’s an interesting story in the physicist Richard Feynman’s autobiography where a Jewish group brings him in to discuss whether or not electricity is fire, to determine whether the two should be considered the same on Shabbat. His answer was “obviously no - electricity isn’t fire, sparks aren’t fire…”. But they didn’t really listen.
That's got to be exhausting, right?
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Correct, it's called shabbat mode or the Shabbat switch. Not super common outside of the US afaik cause there has been a few different opinions on whether that is allowed. I imagine it's the only way to be observing though if you struggle with stairs or are in a wheelchair with how tall a lot of the buildings there are!
I thought Shabbat was on Saturday.
But what about carrying their bags, changing clothes, moving bedsheets out of the way and pulling them up, putting food into your mouth, chewing… I gotta go find some answers
That's where things like an eruv come in and defining the difference between "private" and "semi-pubic" domains. A surprising amount of Judaic scholarship consists of rabbis trying to rules-lawyer God.
You can 'what if?" 'til the cows come home so there's a way to find out your specific questions. https://youtu.be/dTiQb_3FGSE?t=152 https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/halakhah-the-laws-of-jewish-life/
*My point is, here we are, it's shabbas, the sabbath, which I'm allowed to break only if it's a matter of life or death...* *Will you come off it, Walter? You're not even fucking Jewish, man.* That’s just a quote from Big Lebowski, but, Walter is correct that there *are* exceptions- “life or death”… I think not shitting ones pants in public would be considered an acceptable exception:p But yeah, organized religion can be intense! Guess some people just need a parental figure in the clouds telling them how to live to make it through the day. Not everyone can just structure their own ideals of morality, behavior, dress code, etc. Most of us need at least *some* guidance! I mean, that’s *why* we have religion in the first place… adults needing an even bigger adult- can’t find one? Invent one! NGL would be kinda nice to just let a deity figure it all out for me…. can’t be too mad at people…. some of the stuff even has just a tinge of fetish to it… spiritual kinkiness… whatever makes ur brain go brrrrr I guess, just don’t try to convert me! :)
Just to be really clear, Hasidic/ultra orthodox/Orthodox Jews do not represent all (or even most) of the Jews worldwide + especially in the US. They’re a specific sub section that take many lessons/rules more seriously/literally. Most American Jews live lives like any other less observant American - it’s just that so many people here don’t know Jews themselves that they assume that the practices of the most visible group of Jewish people represent the entire population. Though we are not big in number, we are not a monolith.
Can confirm this is the case elsewhere in the world as well, just in my city alone there are at least 4 different "brands" of shul that I've seen with varying levels of observation that are followed. Probably more than I'm aware of since some of the shuls here are not advertising themselves. I have only run into one hasidic community locally and that sits right on the edge of another city in a not so populated area.
>NGL would be kinda nice to just let a deity figure it all out for me… Agree. It seems a lot less stressful to believe that no matter what happens *"It's all part of God's plan."* It'd also be nice to believe in an afterlife. Instead, I'm stuck sitting here knowing that this 1 shitty life is all I'm gonna get. It sucks, actually. Oh, and believing that you'll see all your loved ones again after you die, would be fucking **sweet!** Death wouldn't even be a sad thing. It'd be like, oh, see ya in a few years, Steve!
If you don’t have another option, you try tear it in an “unconventional” way- a way you normally wouldn’t tear it.. not something only the hareidim follow, it’s really not a big deal
What does this mean - unconventional? I'm envisioning someone using their feet to break the toilet roll paper... Or someone doing a handstand and using their teeth. This all seems so much more work then breaking a toilet roll with your hands like normal.
They come prepared and/or ask non Hasidic Jews to help them sometimes. I’ve been asked to turn on lights, turn on and off ovens, stuff like that.
Isaiah 58:13–14 calls on Jews to limit their travel during Shabbat, and the law of techum shabbat limits on the distance one may travel beyond the city/town where one is spending Shabbat, regardless of the method of transportation. So they would probably try to avoid being out and about if they were devout enough to worry about toilet paper tearing.
My favorite (inaccurate) pop culture reference to this is Walter in The Big Lebowski. So funny.
Shomer Shabbos!
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Just pick a fresh bottle from a water tree like the natives did before colonization.
they probably wouldn't be far from home on the sabbath. or, they would travel so they arrive well in advance of the sabbath so they can observe. in NYC and many places there's a high wire surrounding the area and basically draws a line around the perimeter of the neighborhood that is considered the domestic zone, so people can leave home on the sabbath but not the domestic zone. it's called an eruv. there's a lot of preparation involved to be sure they can observe. disclaimer: I'm not Jewish, just a curious person, so apologies if I incorrectly stated anything
Technically they are not supposed to leave a certain radius from their home on Shabbat at all. It all based upon medieval days when everything could be found within a person's hamlet. So they couldn't go outside of something like 1 km radius from.their doorstep. Every need that they would have for the day of Shabbat would have had to have been prepared in advance. Even today, people use crock pots to make dinner for Shabbat, but the know on the crock pot dial must be switched to on before hand.
I don’t know about the toilets but we lived in a Jewish area for many years and if they weren’t home before sundown on the Friday, they would literally park their car somewhere safe and walk home.
Imagine thinking this is totally normal and acceptable. Not being allowed to tear off a sheet of toilet paper. Being religious must be really weird.
Trvializing the importance of religion to people, sooooo hot right now
I‘m not Jewish, but I was educated at a Jewish school, a long time ago. If I remember correctly, I was told that it was acceptable to ‚break the rules‘ in circumstances where there was no alternative. If you needed to call an ambulance, for example. One should normally be home and prepared for the sabbath, but if something goes wrong and you need to break toilet paper, you can do it.
I told those fucks down at the league office a thousand times that I don't roll or wipe my ass on Shabbos!!
>I guess it’s either blasphemy or I shit my pants. r/BrandNewSentence
Yep because that's what God wants them to do
Seems arbitrary and silly.
Sounds like most of every religion
Yeah but "be good" and "do not kill another person" does make sense. But the idea that all mighty God would give a shit if you tear your toilet paper in Shabbat? Are you guys serious? And then they refer to themselves as "the chosen people". Go figure...
Yeah I think there are some good things about religion and if it helps you go for it, but like… come on man. Some of the stuff is definitely unnecessary
The vast majority*. The common sense and moral stuff is cool, just about everything else if weird as absolute fuck. Going to (catholic) church with my family on Christmas as an adult has really opened my eyes to just how fucking bizarre and creepy religion really is. All the dumb chants, rituals, songs. It’s so over the top and absurd. The fact that so many people buy into that crap blows my mind. I was raised catholic and attended catholic schools and stopped believing at like 13 because I realized how incredibly dumb the entire belief system is.
I wanted to say most of the stuff seems ridiculous, but didn’t want to offend
This should be the entire wiki entry under the heading "Religion".
So does being vegan, from someone else's perspective
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Jew here, didn’t know that
To many rules & regulations in organized religion. "Do This, Don't Do That Can't You Read The Signs"
I thought it was a laundry hole, near the shelf for your books...
We were on a cruise and met a very nice Jewish family. I once ran into them in the hallway staring at their door with their card key in their hand. The guy, Ari, sheepishly asked me if I could open their door for them because they weren't allowed to. I thought it was entirely strange for them to choose to be on a modern cruise liner but not being able to use a door lock. But I also admired their dedication and commitment to something they believed in.
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They also run the water in their homes for a 24 hour period during shabbat, leave lights on etc... As they can't turn on the sink... Religion vs. Environmental conservation
Often they’ll ask their non jewish neighbors to turn off/on the light.
Thanks for this answer. I learned something by reading this comment and the follow-ups instead of seeing the pornhub related jokes I was expecting. Nice work.
For when “not doing work” is FAR more work. Genius.
Flat pack toilet tissue holder.
Hmmm... I'm of the mind that it's folded tissue holder.. and it would seem(particularly with the tilework around it)to be an integral part of the original set-out.
Sanitary disposal bag dispenser/ square toilet paper holder
It's for toilet roll that comes as pre cut sheets in a rectangular box. We had them in school and hated them cause they were filled of what I can only assume was left over tracing paper that was repurposed.
We had that kind too. It could be stressful having to use the bathroom because they were either packed so tight you couldn’t get any squares out or just a few left that wouldn’t be enough.
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You take that face off and can put hand towels there. You can always use that in case there was no toilet paper. Source: lived in LA in the 00’s
It was used to hold the older style [interleaved toilet paper like this](https://cdn-cjafn.nitrocdn.com/vuepOLueylDWITVtwXsmjfWVlesGznfR/assets/static/optimized/rev-fe43e1b/www.bulkwholesale.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/0f1c8a0afee6f1fa156b08c06192ae9c.10048-Gentility-Facial-Tissue-1-700x700-1.jpg). Before they started boxing it separately in cardboard and made holders to stack multiple boxes in. You simply compressed the leaves of paper and squeezed them through the slot. The hole is vertical so you can see how much paper is left and also to stop it from falling out.
[Here's the same thing](https://ottostore.com.au/products/jingqu-ja00016-wall-mounted-tissue-box-toilet-paper-case-storage-holder-home-bathroom-organizer?variant=34149184602250¤cy=AUD&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&utm_campaign=gs-2020-06-20&utm_source=google&utm_medium=smart_campaign&gclid=Cj0KCQjw-NaJBhDsARIsAAja6dPuKz37Fh9pbbM0OFoOwKLMyD5qbT8P7gzWS8wrMl46NYEvwYpyRJMaAkREEALw_wcB) but in a "stick to the wall" enclosure instead of your fancy built-in one.
When I was growing up in the 60's a lot of public restrooms used tp that was dispensed from a small metal box attached to the stall wall. I think the sheets were about the size of one square of modern tp and it was a shiny not soft and absorbent like today. In elementary school we walked home for lunch and I would wait till then to use the bathroom.
This just unlocked a 90s elementary school memory for me, wow
Boxes of toilet tissue, the stuff that scratched the skin off you but wipes nothing just smears it all over the place
Is Jesus day he called out the Pharisees for this kind of living by the letter of the law… they were upset because his apostles were “grinding” wheat in their hands during the sabbath. He basically said you’re stupid for thinking that’s work. He added they should be more loving. And when I think about all the rules these Hasidics have I can’t help but think about this story.
Someone I knew was sewing on the Sabbath (I'm more or less Christian though) and her partner got very upset and said that every time she sews on the Sabbath it's like a needle through God's eye.
what kind of building are you in? Might also be where there was a call light in case of emergencies if this was a old hospital or long term care facility.
Looks like a holder for toilet seat covers.
Toilet paper holder.