SHABBAT: Juice and snow

Today is the 7th day of Adar I, 5771

One of the 39 prohibited tasks of Shabbat is threshing, in Hebrew 'dash'. Threshing is the process of loosening the edible part of cereal grain from the scaly, inedible chaff that surrounds it. It is the step in grain preparation after harvesting and before winnowing, which separates the loosened chaff from the grain.

As we've explained, every melakha includes also similar operations. But it is a little tricky to establish (or knowing) what is included and what not, within the principles of each melakha.

In the case of 'threshing', it includes all actions where 'food' is intentionally extracted from its natural inedible container.

A few examples:

Squeezing a fruit on Shabbat is forbidden. We can not make orange juice, either by hand, or by a juice squeezer. But lemon is considered an exception, because is only used as juice. So, it is permitted to squeeze lemons by hand for lemonade, salad dressing, etc.

It is forbidden to 'melt' snow on Shabbat when the intention is drinking the water. That will be an action similar to extracting juice from a fruit. However (if needed) it is permitted, to apply melting salt on snow or ice on Shabbat, because we don't need the water, we just need to get rid of the snow. (Yalkqut Yosef, Shabbat 3, 358).

It is also permitted to use ice on a drink, because the melting happens by itself, there is no 'extraction'.

Shabbat Shalom!!!

Candle ligting in NYC: 5:07

Shabbat ends in NYC: 6:16

Dear readers.

Halakha of the Day will be momentarily suspended. It will resume B'H in a few weeks.

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Rabbi Yosef Bitton. YMJC | 130 Steamboat Rd. | Great Neck | NY | 11024