(2022/5783)

One new device that has raised Shabbat concerns is a smart lock. Aside from the various features described in the footnote, some smart locks also have a feature that locks the door automatically a certain amount of time after one opens the door. This certainly is problematic on Shabbat, as the locking is performed via electrical impulse. Triggering this effect by walking into the house constitutes Molid. 

Another feature of this technology is its ability to keep an active log of entries and exits. Every time a door is opened, the smart lock sends an electronic message to an app indicating that it was opened. This too can pose a real issue on Shabbat. An article by Dov Pavel puts the problem as follows: “[E]ven if you choose not to use the auto-lock feature, there may be an over-arching Shabbat issue. Every lock and unlock event, even if using the mechanical lever, is logged. Through the Wink app, you can see a detailed log that the lock sends every time it is opened or closed. Apparently, even with the auto-lock feature completely disabled, every time you open or close the lock you are sending a signal. This log may not be useful or even noticeable in most cases. There is no obvious light and everything about the activity of turning a mechanical lock seems permissible…except for the log.”

What is the status of this log in terms of Shabbat? Does it pose a problem to the use of smart locks in practice? 

According to Rav Eliyashiv, who holds that Neicha Lei is defined by whether one benefits from the Melachah taking place (even if not the particular effect one is triggering), this presumably should constitute a Pesik Reisha DeNeicha Lei, since one benefits from the logging system overall. If so, even if the issue at hand is merely a rabbinic prohibition of Molid, there is little room for leniency. 

However, according to the opposing view of Rav Ovadia Yosef and Rav Zalman Nechemia Goldberg, that Neicha Lei is defined by broad strokes and is limited to direct benefits that result from the melacha performed, one might argue that this action constitutes a Pesik Reisha DeLo Neicha Lei, since one does not care about this particular entry being logged. And because the concern here is only rabbinic (Molid), there may be room to be lenient according to Rav Ovadia Yosef and Rav Goldberg.

Rav Ike Sultan, in an article on this topic, writes as follows: “Regarding a door with a Smartlock, if it is on one’s own house, it is considered beneficial to have the Smartlock enabled and functioning since it allows a person the ability to track the opening and closing of the door, an important feature of the lock. Rabbi Hershel Schachter explains this point by saying that anytime a system a person buys for his house is functioning normally it is considered beneficial, otherwise he wouldn’t have bought it in the first place. However, if someone else has the Smartlock enabled on their door and invites a guest, the guest has no intention or benefit whatsoever from the fact that the Smartlock was enabled; he would have been just as happy if the door had a regular manual lock. Therefore, if someone were to be invited to the house of someone who has a Smartlock enabled it is considered a pesik Reisha where there is no benefit to the guest. Yet, this question will hinge on the century old discussion of whether closing a circuit is Biblically prohibited or only rabbinically prohibited. The majority of rabbis believe that it is only rabbinically prohibited. That being the case, there is room to permit a person to enter someone else’s house who has the Smartlock enabled and functioning on Shabbat.”

Rav Schachter’s assertion that “any time a system a person buys for his house is functioning normally, it is considered beneficial” seems to fit more with Rav Eliyashiv’s aforementioned definition of Neicha Lei. Nevertheless, one might argue that even Rav Ovadia Yosef and Rav Zalman Nechemia Goldberg would consider this Neicha Lei, because in this case, the homeowner set up the smart lock intentionally. Rav Schachter argues that a system one has himself set up is by definition considered Neicha Lei.

However, Rav Mordechai Willig rules leniently. He views this as a situation of Lo Neicha Lei, since the owner does not benefit from the system recording his entering or leaving the house.

In practice, it is very worthwhile to satisfy Rav Schachter’s more stringent view. However, if one forgot to set up the solution before Shabbat, one may rely on the more lenient view to permit entering and exiting one’s house. One may add as a lenient consideration Rav Asher Weiss’s approach that there is no concern for Molid when the result is of no consequence or significance. Thus, even if one views the situation as Neicha Lei, the homeowner may enter his house anyhow, since it is not a situation of Molid. 

To avoid any confusion though, this discussion of smart locks bears no relevance to smart homes. Guests and hosts alike benefit from the heat, air conditioning, and lights which turn on as a result of the smart home sensors one triggers. Therefore, one must disengage the smart home devices before Shabbat. If one forgot to do so, there is no solution available other than to ask a non-Jew to enter the house and disable the smart systems.

To see all the footnotes please contact us at koltorah@koltorah.org