Texting on the Sabbath? There’s an app for that.

The appropriately named “Shabbos App”—which is in development right now—will hit the market in 2015, allowing users to text on Shabbat within the confines of halacha (Jewish law). This is no cynical, gimmicky ploy: the developers (themselves observant Jews) have outlined all of the potential problems with texting on Shabbat, and explained how each one is circumvented by the app. For example, the app prevents the phone screen from turning off, skirting the prohibition against turning electrical items on and off.

The app has already stirred up debate over whether this would violate the spirit of the Shabbat, even if it is technically permissible. Rabbi Moshe Elefant of the Orthodox Union told Vos Is Neias that “it is very distasteful and not permissible on Shabbos.” Others were unconvinced: the concept struck Rabbi Yaakov Menken as so implausible that he described it as a “farce.”

But The Shabbos App is indeed real. One of the developers, Yossi Goldstein, sees it as the next step in what has been a long tradition of adapting technology around halachic restrictions. In a phone conversation, he compared the app to other items that have been permitted and accepted by the Orthodox community over the years, even if they were at first regarded as controversial. “Look at the Shabbat-mode ovens that are becoming popular, or Shabbat-clocks. Rav Moshe Feinstein [an influential 20th century Orthodox rabbi] prohibited Shabbat clocks. Yet many many people use them today.”

This is Goldstein’s first time developing an app and the only one that he and his team, which includes programmers, marketers and rabbis, are working on. A Kickstarter campaign to raise money and gauge interest went live before Sukkot, and will conclude on December 5. (To date they’ve raised $2,000 of their $30,000 goal.) Come February, the Shabbos App will be on the market for iPhone and Android users for a cool $49.99.

So far, reactions in the press and on social media have been mixed, varying from outrage to delight. There’s even a Facebook page called “Ban the Shabbos App.” (Ironically, the URL ends in “banshabbos”.)

Most responses seem to take issue with how this will impact the tone and feel Shabbat, which many Jews—Orthodox and otherwise—cherish as a day of rest from screen time. Goldstein recognizes that this is something that people will feel “won’t be in the spirit of Shabbos,” although that’s “the only” issue he sees as a possible problem. One commenter by the name of Yoni, wrote that “one of the things I love about Shabbos is that it forces us to disconnect from the outside world so that we can focus on Hashem and the holiness of the day.” Kate Barnes, who does not “keep Shabbat in an Orthodox fashion,” believes it is an “improbable excuse to try to technicality your way out of observing Shabbat properly.”

Writing in The Forward, Julie Sugar framed the Shabbos app as a tool that may draw people closer to Shabbat observance: “we’re making a grave mistake when we judge someone who is already struggling with Shabbos and is seeking a kosher balance.”

Goldstein, who plans to use the app, argues that not only should it be permitted by the rabbinical authorities, it should be openly embraced. He makes a strong case, pointing out the fact that many Shabbat-observant teens are already using their phones on Shabbat anyway. “People realize today most teens are already texting on Shabbat,” he said, “so how do we create something that allows them to do so in a halachic way?”

There’s room yet for consensus. Exceptions to halacha are routinely made for life-saving situations and medical emergencies. Tiffanie Yael Maoz, another commenter, wondered if this “would this allow parents of special needs kids to set up a geo-fence to notify them if their kid wanders too far?”

Goldstein believes that most of the controversy surrounding the creation of the app is a classic case of the “old guard” taking a stand against something new. He encourages people to keep an open mind about the app and see how it can enhance the Shabbat experience, instead of detract from it. “The real question is,” he said “do we embrace change or do we fight it?”

We should know by December 5.

Related: Shabbat Is a Day of Rest—But Does That Mean I Can’t Text My Friends?

(Image via Shabbos App/Facebook)

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Dr. Ruth, our favorite person ever, stopped by NPR’s “Ask Me Another” program, where she talked about her long career as a sex therapist, her thoughts on 50 Shades of Grey, and, most revealingly, her family. Like any good Jewish grandmother, she bragged about her four grandchildren—”nobody has grandchildren like mine!”–aged 22, 16, 14, and 10, and then things got personal:

“So the older ones, do they ever come to you for advice?” host Ophira Eisenberg asked Westheimer.

“God forbid, god forbid,” Westheimer responded, as the audience broke into laughter. “And if they would, I would send them not to a comedian. I would send to someone else.”

Ultimately, she explained, it’s not her job: “I do not want to ever counsel them. They have parents.” But Eisenberg, Westheimer told the crowd, would get a free session.

During the trivia round, Westheimer dropped some more knowledge, saying that breaking up via text was a no-no: “I would not like to get a message from somebody, ‘Goodbye! I found somebody else.'”

Have a listen to the whole segment:

Fifty Shades Of Dr. Ruth [NPR] Previously: Dr. Ruth Discusses the New Play About Her Life—and Debra Jo Rupp’s Accent
Dr. Ruth’s Low Alcohol Wines Hit the Spot

The post Dr. Ruth Doesn’t Want to Give Sex Advice to Her Grandchildren appeared first on Jewcy.

Just ask quirky New York singer-songwriter Hannah Elka Meyers. On her new album, You’re the Pacific, Meyers debuts a song whose title makes exactly that point. In “Emoticons Turn Me Off,” Meyers bemoans a potential love interest’s use of smiley faces (she calls them emasculating).

Meyers probably belongs to the majority of people who find the ins and outs of texting etiquette exhausting. She’s not the only one singing the text message blues, either. Here are five other songs about texting gone wrong, including a choice lyric:

“Longest Text Message” by Childish Gambino: “Texting on my day off, ‘Hey babe, what’s going on?’ ‘Sorry I can’t make it out. Sad face, emoticon.'”

“7 Things” by Miley Cyrus: “When you mean it, I’ll believe it. If you text it, I’ll delete it.”

“Devil in a New Dress” by Kanye West:: “Text message breakups, the casualty of tour.”

“Messages From You” by Drake: “I hate gettin’ messages from you, especially when you say you should’ve stayed.”

“Lollipop” Lil Wayne (Remix Featuing Kanye West): “Cause you don’t want that late text, that ‘I think I’m late’ text”

(Texting image via Shutterstock)

Jared Levy is interested in the intersections between music and philosophy. He tweets here.

The post Singing the Text Message Blues: Songs About Texting Gone Wrong appeared first on Jewcy.