#94 Shabbat elevators in every building with two elevators

The Israeli Knesset passed a special Shabbat elevator law in 2001, ordering the planning and building of all residential buildings, and public buildings which have more than one elevator, to install a control mechanism for Shabbat in one of the elevators.

An elevator may be marked with a sign noting that it is specially configured for Shabbat observance (Pikud Shabbat). There are several ways the elevator works (going up and down), stopping at every floor, stopping at alternate floors, or rising to the top floor and stopping, while going down.

In this mode, an elevator will stop automatically at every floor, allowing people to step in and out without having to press any buttons. Otherwise, Jewish law prohibits observers from using an elevator on Shabbat in the usual manner, because pressing the button to operate the elevator closes a circuit, which is one of the activities prohibited on Shabbat and may also indirectly lead to “writing” of the new floor number in the display.