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Is there an inyan with respect to electronic or “virtual” shaimos? Clearly, we would not throw any papers or hard copy documents containing the name of h’ashem or lines from tanach in the trash but would set aside for proper disposal as shaimos. Also, many follow the practice of double wrapping tapes and CD’s containing divrei Torah and shiurim before disposing into the trash or recycling bags (so called ” kli besoch kli”). But what about disposal of a hard drive or flash memory card that may contain documents or files which we would clearly consider as shaimos in hard copy?? What if we receive an email or file attachment containing the name of hashem or other words from tanach….can we press the “delete” or “junk” button without any concerns? Certainly not the type of question worth a column from Rav Hoffman but perhaps one of our CR poskim could offer their thoughts.
I’ve never heard of wrapping a CD or tape before discarding it. I suppose a memory card would be the same, but since none contain actual letters and words, I’ve never heard that they can’t be disposed of normally. They’re not shaimos. Are they being considered as tashmishei mitzvah, such as wood from a sukkah or worn out tzitzis? Interesting.
As far as erasing Hashem’s name from a typical screen, most poskim have said it’s not a problem, and I understand that the reason is because the screen is constantly refreshing. In other words, it flashing on and off very quickly (too fast for our eyes to perceive) so when you turn it off, you’re not actually erasing it, you’re causing it to not flash back on.
Some screens (such as Kindle Paperwhite I believe) use what’s called e-ink, and turning a page or turning it off does actually erase.
I believe R’ Dovid Feinstein said these would be a problem if there’s Hashem’s name on it.
There was a problematic electronic “seforim library” device made with this technology. I don’t know if it’s still made.
It only applies to hebrew and therefore screen and disks are not considered writing. The Netziv says that it must be created for kiyum, permanence.
DY: So if I have one of the older USB flash drives containing files with the entire tanach with meforshim that I no longer use (its all on the cloud now) and want to dispose of, just trash it?
AFAIK, it’s definitely not shaimos and doesn’t need to be buried. You brought up an interesting point, though, that perhaps it should be disposed of respectfully and wrapped before being thrown out. I don’t know the answer to this.
GHD: Now that you have it on the cloud, please insure to arrange with Amazon to place their AWS servers into shaimos when they retire them with replacements.
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