Did You Know? The Shabbos Elevator and Its Law in Eretz Yisroel צי האט איר געוואוסט? דער שבת-ליפט און זיין געזעץ אין ארץ ישראל

Shabbos in a hotel, 14th floor, a room full of kids. The stairs? A nisayon. The elevator? A shailah. Enter the Shabbos elevator.

How does it work? It runs on its own and stops on every floor, so nobody has to press anything. Usually there's a sign saying it's set for Shabbos.

You find them where lots of Yidden live. Israel, the US, Canada, Australia, Ukraine, Argentina, Brazil. In hotels, hospitals, apartment buildings, sometimes shuls.

A fact I didn't know: in 2001 the Knesset passed a "Shabbat elevator law". In new residential and public buildings with more than one elevator, one has to have a Shabbos mode.

Halachically? Some poskim don't hold of it and some are lenient. Ask your rav.

And a bit from my own experience. A Shabbos elevator has no "fast". From the first floor to the twentieth you can say a whole perek of Tehillim. And the guy standing by the door always asks "which floor?", even though he knows it stops everywhere.

Full? Take the stairs. Good for the heart too, says my doctor.