How Do Orthodox Jews Cope With Not Allowed To Tear A Piece From A Roll Of Toilet Paper On The Sabbath?

Answer 1

Simple, there are a number of options:
1) use a sharp knife and cut a roll in half. It looks messy but works
2) Tear of strips of four or five blocks each and stack them next to the toilet
3) Buy the prepared strips (like they use in public toilets)
4) Use tissues

And Modern orthodox does NOT allow driving on Shabbos or women sitting next to men while praying- in all Orthodox shuls the sexes are seperated. Modern orthodox just don;t wear the black hats/suits etc. they tend to be more integrated into the secular world, watch TV, go to sports games etc. However, they still follow the Halachah (Jewish law) fully. the group that doesn't but still maintains a facade of adherence are Conservative Jews. What you do find in some Modern Orthodox xoomunities, is that they are very accepting of Jews that are non-observant and do not obey the halachah. They hope that by them remaining firmly esconced within the community, even without being observant, they will eventually become "chozeret b'teshuvah"(returning in repentance) and to following the halachah.

Edit: There is a lot of misconceptions here about what is/is not allowed on shabbos. What is forbidden on shabbos is "melachah", loosely translated as "creative work", not "avodah" work in general. Regardless of how physically taxing it may be, if it does not fit into one of the categories of melachah, it is allowed. For example - you can rearrange the furniture in your house since it does not violate any melachahs (there are fourty categories) 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). Similarly, a switch may not be physically arduous but it violates the melachah of "makeh b'patish" (the final hammer blow)- in other words, by flipping the switch you complete the circuit in order to allow it to work. Int he case of the respirator for the baby- the family did not actually need to get a non-Jew to do it for them since in any life threatening situation the laws of shabbos are abrogated. A sick child under the age of seven is ALWAYS considered to have their life threatened and thus you can break the laws of shabbos to aid them in fighting their illness. For older children, the illness actually has to be one considered dangerous. In the case of 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.

Answer 2

I'm not orthodox myself but I believe they tear pieces up the day before. There are a bunch of those things you aren't supposed to do on Shabbis that you can take care of the day before and have ready.

Also, a large portion of today's orthodox Jews are "Modern Orthodox." They believe things like women can attend prayer with men and I've seen the one I know driving on the Sabbath. So the "Modern Orthodox" probably don't worry about such extreme examples of conduct, just doing a lot of things that demonstrate faithfulness to Gd's teachings.

-Glenn O.

Answer 3

I'm sure there is a work around. My wife used to work for Hasidic Jews and one of the Rabbis had a baby with respiratory problems. He would have a Shabbos goy come over to turn on it's breathing machine.

note: flipping the switch on a machine is not hard manual labor. Neither is pressing a button on an elevator. But in Israel I've heard they have Sabbath elevators that automatically stop on every floor.

Answer 4

Prepare some ahead of time? That's what they do with many modern conveniences.

Answer 5

That would be an overly extreme case. They are only not allowed to do hard, manual labor.

Answer 6

That's a bit extreme...and no they don't have sex through a hole in the sheet either!

Answer 7

stack some ahead of time.

Answer 8

I suspect some might cheat.