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The KosherSwitch (a.k.a. "Kosher Switch", "Shabbos switch", "Shabbat switch") is a patented wall switch marketed to the observant Jewish market and institutions servicing this market, as a means of controlling electricity on-demand on Shabbat and Jewish holidays in a manner that is permissible according to several Orthodox authorities, though others reject it. It is manufactured by KosherSwitch Technologies headquartered in New York City and invented by Andy Menashe Kalati.
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Background
The use of electricity on Shabbat is restricted in many ways, leading a typical Shabbat observant individual to utilize various innovations such as the Shabbos clock and the Kosher Lamp. The KosherSwitch seeks to improve upon existing innovations by allowing light fixtures to be triggered on or off as needed. According to the manufacturer, the switch is based upon "un-grama" (non grama, thus making it suitable for general consumer use) technology, and several reputable Orthodox rabbis/poskim have ruled as such. Others, however, have reached the opposite conclusion.
Launch
In April 2015, the KosherSwitch group launched an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign seeking to raise $50,000 USD in support of their product. The campaign was successfully concluded with $70,715 USD total funding, and several thousand KosherSwitch units pre-ordered. Their launch video, featuring founder Andy Menashe Kalati, went viral among Jewish viewers and had received over half a million views within the first few days post-launch.
In October 2015, the company announced that all pre-orders had been shipped and that sales of the product would shift to retailers and Amazon.
Debate and controversy
Shortly after the KosherSwitch launch on Indiegogo, fervent halakhic debate ensued. Many rabbis have issued rulings against use of the switch, or have ruled in favor of its use for exigent purposes only, while others continued to back its use for general consumer use. Yet others encouraged a less emotional and more calculated analysis of this paradigm-shifting invention.
The KosherSwitch group also faced unsubstantiated allegations of misrepresenting rabbinic positions by doctoring their letters of endorsements and/or their endorsement videos. However, the KosherSwitch group, has denied such wrongdoing and has stressed their policy of presenting letters and videos unedited and in their entirety.
Several rabbis who had initially endorsed or offered their blessings for the product found it necessary to backtrack and retract their original endorsement. Those retractions have also been published by KosherSwitch on their website. Adding to the confusion, in some cases these retractions seem self-contradictory, even at the expense of the KosherSwitch group’s reputation, and such hypocrisy has been decried by impartial bystanders.