Q. “As a matter of record”

Shalom U’bracha, I enjoy reading your shailos and cant wait for you to iy”h publish a sefer with all these teshuvs.

I would like to know what the halacha is with keeping on a surveillance system on shabbos.

My question is two-fold.

I have a system that records the front and back of my home and I have a screen that I can watch what is going on, and I have a second IP camera system that does not record, and I do not have a screen to watch it, but I can access it when I go on a computer.

My question now is: Can I leave both the systems on on shabbos if there is no screen on?
If it is a problem because it is recording, what about the second system, which is on however it does not record, but the system is “on.”

Thank you very much.

A. Many Poskim rule leniently in the use of security cameras on Shabbos, which are today of widespread use in many streets, buildings, hotels, outside of nearly every business and gas station, outside of many private homes, shuls and even the Kosel.

There are different reasons mentioned by the various Poskim such as;

a) Although it is a Psik Reisha, (or the prohibited inevitable consequence of an action) the passerby does not care or intend to be recorded and does not benefit from being photographed. He only benefits from the system when there is an unwelcome intruder. Thus becoming a p’sik reisha delo nicha lei or unwanted psik reisha, which Shulchan Aruch O.H. 320:18 permits in a rabbinic prohibition

b) The camera is in service and recording regardless if one walks by or not. Therefore the person’s movement activates nothing; the camera automatically records images, whether the person is there or not.

c) Being photographed is not considered a direct action unless one intends to be photographed. If one merely walks in front of the camera, the meleches machsheves is lacking and it is only a g’romo or indirect action.

d) The electronic image is technically not a form of “writing.” Additionally, since the data is not being permanently recorded (it usually erases automatically after a period of time), it is at worst a rabbinical prohibition. (See above a)

(Horav Moshe Feinstein zt”l in a letter to R’ Yisroel Rozen of the Tzomet Institute,
Yabia Omer 9:35, Horav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach zt”l – quoted in Ateres Shlomo 6, p57, Betzel HaChochmo 6:65, Shulchan Shlomo 340: note 12b, 39 Melochos and others)

Some years ago (Kislev 71) it became widely publicized that Horav Eliashiv zt”l ruled stringently. His psak was that although police cameras may not present a difficulty, since there is the added factor of “security concern,” non- security cameras, such as the Eish Hatorah Wall Camera are different and therefore one should avoid visiting the Kosel on Shabbos. Eish Hatorah reports that they complied with his request and since then they tilt the camera upward on Shabbos. (See also Orchos Shabbos 15, note 55 quoting a personal conversation Between Horav Eliashuv Zt’l and Ylch”t Horav Heinemann Shlit”a)

Horav Shlomo Miller’s Shlit”a opinion is that in both cases mentioned in your question, if possible one should turn off both systems during Shabbos. If needed for security concerns or for the care of the ill or the elderly, they could be left on prior to the beginning of Shabbos.

Rabbi A. Bartfeld as revised by Horav Shlomo Miller Shlit”a