Can Orthodox Jews Use Uber? Technology and Shabbat Rules

This question usually comes from someone who has heard about Shabbat restrictions and concluded that Orthodox Jews live in a pre-electric world. They do not. My phone is glued to my hand six days a week, just like yours.

The Short Answer

Orthodox Jews use every modern technology — smartphones, laptops, rideshare apps, social media, streaming services, email, smart home devices — except during Shabbat and holidays.

That means:

• Sunday through Friday afternoon: fully connected, fully modern
• Friday sunset through Saturday night: no electronics at all
• Jewish holidays (8-12 days per year): same restrictions as Shabbat

The Shabbat Cutoff

On a typical Friday, my tech use looks like this:

• Morning through early afternoon: normal day — email, calls, texts, Uber if I need it
• Two hours before sunset: start wrapping up, send final messages, set up Shabbat timers
• 18 minutes before sunset: phone goes off (literally powered down or put in a drawer)
• Saturday night after three stars appear: phone comes back on, emails flood in, the world resumes

There is no gradual reduction. It is a hard stop. One moment I am a modern professional with a smartphone. The next, I am unreachable for 25 hours.

How Orthodox Professionals Handle It

Successful Orthodox professionals in every field — law, medicine, finance, tech, media — have figured out how to manage the weekly disconnect:

• Out-of-office messages on Friday afternoon: "I observe Shabbat and will be unavailable from [time] Friday to [time] Saturday."
• Frontloading the week: important calls and deadlines happen Sunday through Thursday
• Friday morning hustle: the last productive hours before the cutoff are often the most intense
• Saturday night catch-up: many Orthodox professionals do a quick email scan Saturday night to triage anything urgent before Sunday

Community Variation

Not all Orthodox communities have the same relationship with technology:

| Community | Weekday tech use | |-----------|-----------------| | Modern Orthodox | Fully integrated — smartphones, social media, streaming, no restrictions outside Shabbat | | Yeshivish | Smartphones common but some families use filtered internet; children may have limited access | | Hasidic (Chabad) | Smartphones common; internet used freely for business and outreach | | Hasidic (Satmar, etc.) | Many use kosher phones (no internet, calls/texts only); internet restricted; community norms enforce limits |

The Satmar and some other insular Hasidic communities have the most restrictive technology policies. But even within those communities, businesses use computers, email, and financial software during the work week. The restrictions are primarily on personal devices and entertainment content.

For Colleagues and Clients

If you work with Orthodox Jews:

• They are fully available Sunday through Friday afternoon
• Do not expect responses from Friday evening through Saturday night
• Text and email are fine during the week — they use the same tools you do
• A 7 PM Friday call will not be answered. A 9 PM Saturday call might be.

The tech gap is 25 hours per week. The other 143 hours, they are as connected as anyone.