Operating a Washing Machine on Shabbat with Pre-Shabbat Programming

Rabbinical prohibitions on Shabbos

Question

Is it permissible to operate a washing machine by arranging a program on Friday, so that the machine will start its work by itself in the middle of Shabbat, and on Saturday night I’ll be able to immediately wash my clothes?

Answer

It is forbidden. The reason is that it is not allowed that a device work on Shabbos if it is forbidden for a person to operate it on Shabbos and it operation can be heard. This is because this is disrespectful of Shabbos as it appears as if the device was activated on Shabbos itself. This is true both in the case where the device was activated on Friday and did not finish its operation until Shabbos, and where it is activated on Shabbos by a timer. However, in a case of great loss, one can rely on more lenient opinions.

Source

Remo (Orach Chayim, Chapter 252, paragraph 5; Mishnah Berurah ibid.)

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