Zomet Institute

Zomet describes itself as a national center whose purpose is to adapt contemporary technology to Jewish life in accordance with halakha.[2] Its teams bring together halakhic authorities and technology experts to address the challenge of using new technologies in everyday Jewish life without violating Shabbat, working across research, collaboration, development, approval, and production of halakhically sanctioned adaptations.[4] The institute's English-language materials state that its main developments are intended for Shabbat and Jewish holidays, though not exclusively.[4]

Zomet's work responds to practical problems created by sensors and automated devices in modern buildings. Institute head Rabbi Menachem Perl has cited stairwell lighting sensors, electronic entry systems, and smart-building equipment among the challenges requiring halakhic-technological solutions.[7] Zomet works with major institutions across Israel, including the IDF, police, Shin Bet, and hospitals.[7] As of 2014, it employed approximately 20 staff members, most of them engineers, and received funding from the Israeli government and private donations.[1]

Sources place the founding of the Zomet Institute in Alon Shvut, Gush Etzion, in either 1976 or 1977.[8][2] Rozen studied electronics engineering at Machon Lev and led the institute for approximately 40 years until shortly before his death in 2017 at the age of 76.[8][3] One source groups Zomet with technological halakhic institutes established during the 1978–1988 period, reflecting additional ambiguity in its precise founding date.[6]

Rozen's vision was to address how a modern Jewish state could function in accordance with halakha, producing practical engineering solutions alongside halakhic research.[3] A 2017 account described the institute's work as encompassing both scholarly inquiry into contemporary Jewish-life questions and hands-on development of technologies designed to help people observe Jewish law in an age of digital electronics.[3] After Rozen's death, Rabbi Menachem Perl assumed leadership of the institute.[2] A September 2026 report identified Perl as its head and described Zomet as continuing to lead the development of technological solutions for complex halakhic cases.[9]

Zomet's engineering work distinguishes direct electrical activation from indirect mechanisms used in cases of need. One recurring principle is grama (also rendered gerama), or indirect causation. Zomet's patient–nurse call system combines grama with changing electrical current to avoid direct activation, while a wheelchair mechanism uses a dedicated button after which the chair begins moving several seconds later.[10][7] A 2014 account similarly described Zomet modifying a lightwriter by adding an intermediate step between the user's input and the device's spoken response.[1]

A second principle the institute employs is shinui zorem — changing the level of electrical current rather than switching a circuit on or off. Zomet has developed Shabbat devices using this principle to enable essential medical and security equipment to be operated under permitted circumstances.[11] The institute's own account acknowledges that the permissibility of this principle is disputed: some authorities, including Rabbis Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, Shaul Yisraeli, and Ovadia Yosef, as characterized by Zomet, permitted it in principle, while others prohibit it. Zomet therefore applies such mechanisms only for essential needs when a more preferable option is unavailable.[11]

Zomet also applies a related principle, sof chamah lavo — essentially a delayed-action mechanism — for highly essential, non-life-threatening situations. Products designed under this principle include hospital equipment, wheelchairs, and vehicles for routine security patrols in Israel.[5] The institute emphasizes that permissions are context- and model-specific: changing-current mechanisms are restricted to cases of need, while product approvals apply only to the exact models and usage instructions examined.[11][12]

Zomet does not manufacture the products it certifies; instead, it defines halakhic-technical requirements for each product category, tests submitted models in its laboratories, and issues detailed approvals and instructions for halakhically appropriate use.[12] The institute stresses that an approval applies to the specific model examined — a different model from the same manufacturer may not meet the same criteria — and advises consumers to verify that a product's exact model is currently approved.[12] Categories covered include household electrical appliances for Shabbat and holidays, food-preparation products for kashrut certification, personal-care products, and medical or accessibility equipment.[12]

Among Zomet's most widely known certified devices is the grama telephone. In this device, lifting the receiver does not immediately complete an electric circuit; instead, the phone sends an electric pulse approximately every ten seconds to check whether the receiver has been lifted and completes the circuit only upon detecting that it has.[5] The IDF purchased hundreds of these phones for essential, non-critical Shabbat use, and Rabbi Ovadia Yosef endorsed their use for essential needs.[5]

For mobility and accessibility, Zomet developed and certifies a Shabbat control system for powered wheelchairs. In one design, the user steers and selects speed with a joystick, while a dedicated button initiates movement indirectly — the chair begins moving on its own after a few seconds rather than responding instantaneously.[7] Zomet also adapted an electric scooter for a woman with a mobility disability and modified a lightwriter, a computer that speaks typed text, by introducing an intermediate step between the user's input and the device's response.[1]

In the medical domain, Health Fund hospitals in Israel purchased a Zomet-developed system for computer use on Shabbat and festivals.[6] The institute developed and certifies a patient–nurse call system that enables patients to request care or pain relief on Shabbat without direct electrical activation, using grama and changing-electrical-current principles for cases not classified as pikuach nefesh (life-threatening emergency).[10] In 2020, Zomet partnered with Pangea to develop an infrared thermometer, model Aircare A66, designed to measure temperature automatically and continuously on Shabbat without human contact, intended for public institutions seeking to screen entrants under coronavirus health restrictions.[13]

For security settings, Zomet developed a Shabbat metal detector that uses a continuous low-level vibration; proximity to metal increases the vibration, which a security screener detects by hand, without opening or closing an electronic circuit or activating a buzzer.[14] The device's technical-halakhic principle is described as continuous electrical-current change; it received approvals from Rabbis Shlomo Amar and Yehoshua Yeshaya Neuwirth and was introduced at synagogues following successful hospital testing.[14] The institute also developed security-oriented keyboard systems designed to reduce Shabbat violations when entering data, as well as a special vehicle key combining electrical operations and systems for replacing a gas-pedal press or opening electric gates — solutions approved only for security-related needs.[7]

Other notable products include Lee-Ner Shabbat electric lights designed as an alternative in settings where an open flame poses a safety concern. The device uses a small incandescent bulb — considered akin to fire in halakha — powered by a battery rather than the electrical mains; it was initially designed for hotels and hospitals but has also been used by submarine crews and soldiers in field settings where candles could not be lit safely.[15] Zomet has also certified the HotMat warming device, which has separate hot and warm surfaces for keeping food at different temperatures and is certified kosher for Shabbat use by the institute.[16] A Sabbath electrical outlet operating through indirect action has been developed for essential needs as well.[17]

The institute's position on emerging technologies extends to consumer electronics. Rabbi Binyamin Zimmerman of Zomet examined whether Amazon Echo should be left on during Shabbat, concluding that because all speech triggers a function in the device, leaving it active raises serious concerns even if the wake word is never spoken; the institute's position as reported is that the Echo should not remain on in the home on Shabbat.[18]

Zomet established a hands-on visitors center in Alon Shvut called the Zomet Experience, which opened in December 2013.[19] The center was designed to explain the engineering behind Shabbat-approved devices through interactive exhibits on items such as metal detectors, hospital food-heating trays, and electric wheelchairs, and has been described as a "techno-halachic journey."[19] More than 30,000 people had visited the center by the time of one published report.[19]

A central activity of Zomet alongside its engineering work is the publication of its annual Torah journal T'humim (also rendered Techumin or Tehumin). Zomet first published the journal in 1980; its title is an acronym for Torah, society, and state — the three fields the institute identifies as central to the journal's work.[20] The journal serves as a forum for halakhic examination of the intersection between Judaism and modernity, regularly addressing topics in medicine, security, law, and broader Israeli society.[6]

Rabbi Rozen conceived the journal and served among its editors.[3][8] By 2017, 37 volumes had been published.[3] A 2021 interview with institute head Rabbi Menachem Perl described T'humim as attracting dozens of submissions from scholars and academics across a range of disciplines.[7] Zomet has also developed T'humim Plus, an online searchable database of the institute's texts — covering Torah, state, law, medicine, and society — intended as a research tool for Torah scholars, academic researchers, rabbis, religious-court judges, and halakhic authorities.[21]

Zomet's approaches are not universally accepted. A 2017 Ynet account reported that some of Rozen's Shabbat technologies were not accepted by the Haredi public and that prominent rabbis strongly disputed some of his positions.[3] Zomet's own account acknowledges that changing electrical current is prohibited by some authorities and states that the institute therefore restricts its application to essential needs when no preferable alternative exists.[11]

Shabbat elevators have been a particular flashpoint. Senior ultra-Orthodox authorities issued rulings against their use, prompting Zomet's then-head Rabbi Rozen to circulate a detailed response arguing that the institute's permission rested on a substantive ruling associated with Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach — not merely on what Rozen called "gerama patents" — and pointing to features such as the elevator operating at the same times and speed regardless of whether passengers were aboard, with door sensors, load-weighing systems, and buttons disabled.[22] Ynet's coverage presented Zomet's defense alongside the opposing halakhic objections, while a separate account noted that some Haredi communities did not adopt the institute's approach.[22][3]

More broadly, Zomet frames its approvals as limited rather than general permissions. It does not sanction use of its grama products on Yom Tov for non-essential activities, and its certification guidance stresses that an approval applies only to the particular model and usage instructions examined.[5][12]