@Zmaster said:
As an practicing orthodox Jew myself, let me weigh in on this.
xaade summarized the technicalities pretty well; the issue most of you seem to be havng is the matter of hiding behind technicalities. And that’s not wrong. The vast majority of their target market (i.e. observant Jews) will see things the same way and not use this product, no matter how persuasive the manufacturer’s blurbs are. However—
There are times when “hiding behind technicalities” is appropriate: situations of hardship where most of you would be saying, “God couldn’t have meant for you to leave the lights off now, could He?” Probably not, but the Rules don’t tend to have complex exception clauses; they just say, “Don’t.”
It’s a different way of approaching rules and exceptions. You can have exceptions that need to be updated as technology develops, or you can set up eternal rules, but with loopholes—and depend on human judgement to decide when the use of the loophole is appropriate. Some religions take the first route; orthodox Judaism believes God treats us as responsible adults. (Some people’s behavior makes me wonder, though.)