A Jewish Oven

oven
Some time back mom bought a new oven…
a
Jewish oven!
Shortly after the oven was installed, she noticed an unusual code appeared on the screen (you know the part that flashes the wrong time).

After hours of research, we discovered the flashing code was actually flashing “Sabbath.” Who knew that some ovens come with a setting for those of Jewish faith that will render your oven kosher on the Sabbath day. This is a built in setting so you won’t forget that it’s the Sabbath day, making your oven “unclean.”

Once I discovered the significance of the code, I said, “Mom, we have a problem!”

Mom had that look of “now what?”

I said, “You have a Jewish oven and you can’t put a Jewish oven in the same kitchen with a Baptist refrigerator!” I continued, “we need to take it back and get a baptist oven!”

We laughed and fixed the problem by setting the codes to “baptist.”

What’s a “baptist” oven? One that is pre-set to poultry settings for Sunday at 11:00 am.

So why does an oven have “Sabbath” settings. Imagine the marketing group who thought this setting would sell more ovens. Is there a Jewish family somewhere who forgot it was the Sabbath day and accidentally cooked something, causing them to be kicked out of the synagogue? There has to be more to the story.

There is… but it may get technical!

“Halakha prohibits Jews from doing creative work on the Shabbat. Observant Jews interpret this to include various activities including making a fire, preparing food, or even closing a switch or pressing an electronic button. A range of technology solutions have been created for those who need to use electronic (or electronic-controlled) devices on the Shabbat, including a special “Sabbath mode” for otherwise standard appliances.” – Wikipedia, Shabbat Mode

Apparently, some Jewish families used to turn the oven on the day before the Sabbath and leave it on during the Sabbath day to cook food already prepared. However, newer appliances have instituted a fire prevention safety feature that automatically shuts off the heat after a number of hours. The Sabbath setting bypasses the safety shut off and disables all the lights and displays (example a light that might go on when the door is opened, causing a violation of Sabbath laws).

Now there is a debate among Orthodox Jews and others, that adjusting the heat of the oven is allowed, but changing a digital readout on the control panel is not. And there are other issues like, is turning a knob the same as pushing an electronic button.

There’s more… but I think we can all agree! Thank God for HIs GRACE!

Thank God for His amazing grace that sets us free from the law of sin and death! I’m so thankful that my eternal life is not dependent on an oven working correctly. But this is what happens when you have a religion built on works. It gets confusing and leads to chaos. There is no freedom and no future when our relationship with God is built on our works.

P.S. If you happen to know what a “baptist” refrigerator is, keep it quiet. We don’t want the preacher find out!


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