The origins of cholent… and technology-stimulating environmental regulations (bShab 19)

(bShab 19) Were rabbinic texts not intended (at least partly) for hermercurating, then the world would be a far poorer place. For instance, where would we be without cholent? The Mishnah (Shab 1:11) here gives us the core of a recipe "meat, onions, eggs" and the culinary conditions under which we may prepare cholent. But cholent is only permissible during (and just prior to) shabbos when cooked in a way that does not tempt people (khas v’shalom) to stir the fire. (Working a fire is prohibited Biblically, d’oraita).

This rabbinic regulation set up a normative straightjacket from which the Jewish people could only escape through its Inventiveness. And I don’t mean interpretive sleight of hand, but True Techological Innovation. Thanks to the cooking restrictions, no doubt, Jews (or their fellow travelers) invented the slow-cooking* oven. Other inventions motivated by the shabbos regulations include: advanced blech technologies, the automatic answering machine, the automatic electric appliance timer, the self-cleaning oven, the shabbos elevator, and (by extension) the self-correcting thermostat, autopilot aircraft controls, autodidactic software, autonomous weather and MTV satellites, 24/7 Norad missile systems, cybernetics, biofeedback, and automated petrochemical production facilities.

Furthermore, we may also learn by qal v’homer (a fortiori) reasoning that the beneficial use of shabbos regulation for Innovation has served as the model in Western Civilization for much EHS (environmental, health & safety) regulation of industry.

The capacity of shabbos and analogous EHS regulation to stimulate Innovation was discovered both by the Talmud and, in 1991, by Michael Porter: "Appropriately planned environmental regulations will stimulate technological innovation, leading to reductions in expenses and improvements in quality. As a result, domestic businesses may attain a superior competitive position in the international marketplace and industrial productivity may improve as well." (As quoted here.) 

Indeed, Nick Ashford at MIT discovered the Porter Hypothesis in 1979 (before Porter) as it applied specifically to the chemical industry and toxicality.

Though Ashford and Porter limit the historical scope of their studies, we do not. It is fairly certain that contemporary EHS regulations find their origin and justification in the Cholent Law of daf bShab 19.

See also:

For cholent, here is a lovely, linguistic description and advice on how to cook it. Also: a recent Canadian guide, some blog recipes, and the full recipe archive.

"Environmental, Health and Safety Regulations and Technological Innovation," N.A. Ashford, G.R. Heaton, W.C. Priest, in Technological Innovation for a Dynamic Economy, C. T. Hill and J. M. Utterback (eds.), Pergamon Press, Inc., NY, 1979, pp. 161-221. Available at http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/1554 [not tested]. "The Effects of Health, Safety, and Environmental Regulation on Technological Change in the Chemical Industry: Theory and Evidence," N.A. Ashford and G.R. Heaton, in Federal Regulation and Chemical Innovation, C.T. Hill (ed.), American Chemical Society, 1979, pp. 45-66.

Porter, Michael E. And Claas van der Linde, Green and Competitive: Ending the Stalemate, Harvard Business Review, September-October 1995, pp.120-134. For an empirical analysis and more sources: http://econwpa.wustl.edu:8089/eps/pe/papers/0407/0407014.pdf.

Comments

[anna]

"hermecurating"

what does this mean? (it's not in my dictionary)

hermercurating (cp. hermeneutics, Mercury, curating) -- just added this to the Glossary, thanks Anna!

            Exhibiting or describing (without deliberate critique) the material and commercial world through the interpretation of significant texts, such as rabbinic texts.

            “The daf's text here allows us to read indirectly about the rabbinic commercial culture. It does not strike me as a critique of commerce. So my reading is not “hermercurial” but rather “hermercurating”, i.e. exhibiting the Mercurius (Roman god of commerce) through the text.” From a note on the hermercurial method.