Sabbath mode — hot-wired rest

Ottensoser knows a thing or two about appliances. A mostly retired mechanical engineer from Baltimore, he knows pretty much everything about how these increasingly complex and sophisticated contraptions work — how electricity pulses through their copper veins and how smart digital technology is empowering them to do things their predecessors could only dream about (if stoves and fridges could dream, that is). He knows that for religious Jews who are Shomer Shabbos — those who observe the halachic laws governing the Sabbath — the last couple of decades have made available a vast range of “Sabbath mode” appliances, specially designed to perform functions to make life easier and more efficient while keeping the Sabbath (and often, Jewish holidays) holy. In fact, Ottensoser knows so much […]