What can a modern orthodox Jew can and can’t do on the Sabbath?
What is forbidden is not work- but melacha which is defined as “creative endeavor” and involves activities that were either part of building the Temple or the Temple service. These activities are divided into 39 categories known as the av melachos (parent melachos) but each has various toldos (offspring) of items that are in the same category. Some of the obvious ones in a modern context are: no driving a car- this comes from the av melcha of not lighting a fire- a car works of internal combustion… no turning a light on or off- on, once again from lighting a fire or in the case of an element- smelting, heating a metal till it glows or changes state. off is the same as removing fuel from fire,another av melacha no cooking- changing the chemical state of something is an av melacha, cooking changes the chemical state of the food no drawing, writing, making symbols- from the av melacha of no writing no plowing, harvesting, chaffing, grinding etc- all related to the various agricultural t