A plug-in timer is inserted between a wall socket and an appliance. It supplies power according to intervals defined in advance, for example from 18:00 to 22:00 or from 22:00 until midnight.

During Shabbat, electrical switching cannot occur once the ritual interval begins. A television left on before sunset may run for the entire day. A bedroom light may remain illuminated through the night. A room may fall into darkness while someone is reading, without the possibility of restoring light. Any miscalculation persists until the programmed cycle ends.

To prevent this, lights, hot plates, heaters, or ventilation must be scheduled before sunset. A reading lamp may be set to turn off at 22:30. A bedroom light may activate briefly at dawn. A hot plate may remain powered overnight. Multiple timers are distributed across rooms, composing a coordinated temporal arrangement. Each device operates within a fixed window; together they organise the rhythm of the household.

The plug-in timer reconfigures the relationship between inhabitants and their devices. Electricity is no longer assumed as continuously available; it becomes temporally allocated. Activities align with predefined intervals: reading relies on anticipated light; warmth relies on pre-authorised heat; gathering unfolds in spaces prepared beforehand. The home becomes a field of scheduled possibilities rather than instant response.