Rabbi Shaul David Buchko, head of Yeshivat Kochav Yaakov, has published a new article responding to a recent stringent halakhic ruling that prohibits an elderly woman living on an upper floor from using an elevator to reach a shelter during an alarm. The ruling argued that she should have left her home before the onset of Shabbat.
Rabbi Buchko firmly rejects this position, opposing any expectation that elderly individuals must evacuate their homes in advance. Drawing on the Shulchan Aruch, he explains that Jewish law does not require a person to alter their lifestyle or relocate simply to avoid a potential future situation involving danger to life on Shabbat.
He emphasizes that real-life circumstances must be taken into account, writing that it is impossible to address matters of life-threatening risk through purely theoretical arguments that ignore the realities of wartime conditions, including logistical and family challenges.
At the heart of his argument, Rabbi Buchko examines the status of electricity use and elevators. While the stricter opinion views such use as a full desecration of Shabbat, he aligns with authorities such as Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, who maintain that using electricity without ignition, such as LED lighting or modern elevator, constitutes a rabbinic, rather than Torah-level, prohibition.
According to Rabbi Buchko, in the context of rocket fire, the situation qualifies as a case of life-threatening danger combined with a secondary rabbinic restriction, allowing for leniency. He therefore rules that elderly, ill, or physically limited individuals may use an elevator to reach a protected space during an alarm and may also return home afterward, preferably operating the button in an indirect manner, such as with the back of the hand.
“In a time of great need, such actions are not considered prohibited labor," he concludes, adding that in clear cases of significant necessity, there is ample basis for a lenient ruling.