– Q. Dear Rov I need an answer soon for this shaila. My elderly and ill father has a pacemaker attached to his heart. If the blood pressure or other factors change,the unit is connected to a phone to call for help and my brothers wanted that the phone’s loudspeaker should also recite tehilim that he can then repeat (Yoshev Beseter or similar), when he is by himself so he can feel better. Is that permitted during Shabbat?

This pacemaker is connected to an AI program that makes its own calculations and decisions and not directly by the patient or other bystanders.

A. Although, the intention of the sons is to provide comfort and pleasant feelings to the father, since it does use what seems to be normally and usually prohibited during Shabbos as a tape recorder. Horav Shlomo Miller’s Shlit”a opinion is that if not really needed it should better be avoided.

Rabbi A. Bartfeld as revised by Horav Dovid Pam, Horav Aharon Miller, Horav Chanoch Ehrentreu and Horav Kalman Ochs Shlit’a.