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Bicycles should not be ridden on Shabbat for three reasons:
1) If the bike's chain falls off or the tire goes flat, one might repair the bicycle. ("Tzitz Eliezer" by R' E. Waldenberg, VII 30). Fixing the bike is like "making the bike anew", which is an act of creation. Jєωs refrain from creative activites on Shabbat.
2) Bike riding is considered uvdin d'chol (a weekday activity). ("Code of Jєωιѕн Law" O.C. 327; MB 7).
3) It is common to travel with a bicycle for a distance longer than the t'chum (Sabbath's 2000 cubit limit outside the city). To avoid going out of the t'chum, one should not travel with a bicycle on the Sabbath.
The Bible says one should refrain from work on the Sabbath, and the Bible includes the kindling of fire as work (Exodus 35:3).
Observant Jєωs (primarily orthodox Jєωs) consider electricity to be a form of fire. These Jєωs do not turn on lights, ovens, televisions, radios and other electrical appliances on the Sabbath. Instead, prior to the start of the Sabbath, they often plug their electrical appliances into special "Shabbat clocks" which turn the lights, air conditioners, ovens, ... on and off at pre-set times.
It is not "work" which is prohibited on Shabbat; rather it is the special category of work called melacha. This term refers to the 39 types of creative activities which were used to build the Tabernacle, the portable sanctuary used by the Jєωs during the time of Moses and Joshua. These 39 activities include, for example, planting, cooking, and writing. For example, lugging a 50-pound sack of potatoes from room to room on Shabbat is technically permissible, while flicking on a light switch is forbidden. You can rearrange the furniture in your house since it does not violate any melachas but you cannot carry a toothpick from your house, out into the street and then back into your house since this would violate the law of transferring between domains (private into public).
In the case of why Orthodox Jєωs are forbidden to tear toilet paper- the law involved is in regards to cutting something to size to make it useful- in this case the entire roll is not what you would use normally- so you are now cutting it to size to make it useful. Some authoirities also say it violates the melachah of "makeh b'patish" since by tearing it into you useful strips you are completing the manufacture of the useful strip of it.
Topic: Why Orthodox Jєωs do that (Read 415 times)