[AdamN]

My understanding is that making a non–Jewish person work on the Sabbath is also forbidden. Granted, this was just a schoolmate of mine in Brooklyn saying this but I have no reason to doubt the claim.

It does seem like electricity gets a huge carveout though as long as the initial startup wasn't initiated on the Sabbath. One sees that with Sabbath elevators where all the buttons are on and you can walk on without pushing a button and walk off at the correct floor. It still consumes electricity, you're just not making a spark to initiate the work.

[compsciphd]

consuming electricity isn't a problem. doing things defined as "work" is a problem.

work is in quotes, as it doesn't mean doing a job. it also doesn't mean the physics meanin.

As the simplest example: take rabbis in a synagogue. They are doing their jobs.

Another more complicated example: there's no fundamental difference between what an individual can do to prepare a meal they are serving on the sabbath and what caterers can do. Both can't do things defined as "work", but obviously the caterers are doing their job.

Then there's is the whole interplay between biblical law and rabbinic law