The Questions (and Answers) of BDJ

View a printable version of this Q and A here.

Thank you to everyone who submitted Shabbat questions! I think that all of us will benefit greatly from reading the discussions that they generated! Because there were so many questions, I was able to respond to most but not quite all of them. If I didn't get to your question in this round, I will bli neder get to it in the near future!

Q: I was raised not to tear anything for any purpose on Shabbos due to the Av Melachah of "tearing". However, a friend says that she had been taught that it was permissible to tear aluminum foil, paper towels, plastic wrap etc. for food preparation and storage on Shabbos. There is also the related question of tearing (or needing to pre-tear) toilet paper. What is your psak on these matters?

A:  On Shabbat, we refrain from creative physical activity. The reason we do not tear paper towels, aluminum foil, and the like is that if the towel or foil is still attached to the larger roll, its utility is limited to non-existent. When we tear it off the roll, we are creating a useful object that had not existed before. The relevant melacha (forbidden activity) here is less the melacha of “tearing”, and more the melachot associated with “building”. Part of Shabbat preparation (an important Mitzvah in its own right) is preparing the paper towels and foil that we anticipate we will need. 

Toilet paper follows the same logic, and also should be prepared before Shabbat (who remembers the Srugim episode that highlighted this 🙂?) The big difference when it comes to toilet paper is that the Halachik concern for human dignity (kavod habriyot) waves rabbinic prohibitions, including the “tearing / building” of an object when that object is designed to be non-permanent (i.e. all of the things we are discussing here). The Gemara cites the case of a person who on Shabbat has nothing with which to wipe himself, as an example. In practical terms then, if you find yourself on Shabbat in a sticky situation of this nature, you should most definitely tear some toilet paper. If possible, avoid the tearing on the perforations, as in this way you are not “building” a perfectly formed object. 

As a final note, tearing open a package for the purpose of accessing food on Shabbat is expressly permitted (and there is more to be said about this if anyone would like to ask a follow-up question 😀)

Three related questions:

Q1: You emphasize a lot of importance over the years with things being technically halachikally permitted, but not "shabbostik" (I forget the Hebrew term you use). Are most Jewish categories of laws concerned with the kavanah and feelings behind things or is Shabbat the exception? For example, we seem to care about the laws of kashrut, but not necessarily the "spirit of kashrut".

Q2: Is it really acceptable to ride a scooter on Shabbat?  I had always thought it wasn’t (analogous to the prohibition of riding a horse) but I see scooters frequently on Shabbat in LA. Thank you very much (starting this is a great idea!)

Q3: Aside from wringing hair/towels, what are the other halachic issues with swimming on shabbos and is it permissible?

A:  I grouped these three questions together as they all ultimately revolve around a halachik category that sometimes elicits eyerolls, but which in truth may be the most important one that we, as modern Jews, possess. It’s a bonafide Talmudic concept, known as “uvda d’chol” (deeds of the work week). Although the Talmud more gives examples of “uvda d’chol'' than precisely defining the concept, the idea is that there are certain activities which, though they are technically permissible on Shabbat, seriously compromise Shabbat’s quality as a day set off from the other six days of the week (“The spirit of Shabbat”). The reasons that I maintain that this may be the most important category of Shabbat law that we moderns have are that (a) we do very little leather-tanning, sheep-shearing, or weaving these days, i.e. we refrain from most of the 39 melachot on Tuesdays as well, and are therefore in need of consciously setting Shabbat off in other ways, and (b) were if not for this category there would likely be nothing standing between us and using our computers (which is the primary mode of work for many of us!) on Shabbat.  

Now onto the answers:

1. It is true that we don’t speak about maintaining “the spirit of kashrut” nearly as much (though we should aspire to do so!) The reason for the disparity is that Shabbat is uniquely fragile. Shabbat is a state of mind. A state of mind in which we are recognizing that our lives of the six days - as significant and meaningful as it is - are not all there is. This is what it means to be “shomer Shabbat”, i.e. to preserve and guard over it, lest it dissolve into the ether.

2. Scootering on Shabbat - within an eruv -   is not technically forbidden. (The great Moroccan Posek Ben Ish Chai even said the same thing about bicycle riding.) And scootering has real positive value when it enables families to get to shul or to Shabbat meals with their kids. But I am chagrined over its having become a commonplace and routine activity for older children (and even some adults in the ‘hood’), as to my mind it’s a weekday leisure / entertainment activity (stressing the root word “active” in “activity”) that lets a lot of the air out of Shabbat. (Which is why even though the same technical argument has been made for bicycling, albeit in the form of the minority opinion of the Ben Ish Chai, I’d never dream of hopping on my bike on Shabbat.) 

3. Swimming is a little more complex, but not ultimately different. The Mishna’s prohibition to swim in open bodies of water lest one fashion a flotation device is obviated when swimming in a water “that has a lip around it” such as a pool, as the latter is simply outside of the above-mentioned Mishnaic prohibition. In addition, the concern expressed in the Gemara, that one might splash water a distance greater than 4 amot in a public domain is obviated in a gated backyard or in a place that has an eruv. (Other concerns have been raised, such as the possibility that the swimmer will wring out the bathing suit afterwards, but one can simply be sure to avoid doing this). Again though - and here I am also echoing a great deal of contemporary Halachik opinion - the question is what happens to the character and “state of mind” of Shabbat. In order to swim we obviously need to remove our Shabat clothing (which we may be unmoved to put back on in order to properly fulfill the mitzvot of Shabbat Mincha and Seudah Shlisheet), and we plunge ourselves into a recreational activity that makes Shabbat afternoon indistinguishable from Sunday afternoon. One can certainly make allowances for children on a particularly hot day, but this is a “teachable moment” about how we generally honor and take special care of the fragile gift that is Shabbat by not engaging in the ordinary recreational activity of swimming.

Q: If a mother must use a breast pump to maintain her milk supply for her child (i.e., exclusively nursing won’t cut it), is she permitted to use an electronic breast pump on Shabbat?

A: I want to express (no pun intended, really) thanks to Rabbanit Alissa Thomas-Newborn for sharing with me the relevant pages from her forthcoming book, “Shabbat Guidebook for Parents”. 

In the case that you are describing, it is halachikly necessary to pump on Shabbat (despite the fact that ordinarily this would be forbidden under the melacha of  mifarek / dosh),  as the alternative would endanger the infant’s life, God forbid. An electric pump may be used, with the following guidelines: 

1. If at all possible, the pump should be put on a timer, and put into position on the body before the timer turns it on. 
2. If this is technically impossible, then the electric pump should be:
   1. turned on in not the usual way (using your knuckle for example, rather than the tip of your finger), and
   2. should be left to turn itself off rather than your turning it off
3. There’s an important difference here between pumping milk that you project the baby will need over Shabbat, and pumping milk that you are confident that your baby will not need over Shabbat. In the latter case, while it is permitted to pump in order to prevent your supply from drying up, the milk itself should not be used and should be expressed directly over the sink (for example).  

Q: Are Smart Watches and Exercise Trackers permissible on Shabbat? Must certain functions (e.g. display text messages) be disabled?

A: The premise of this discussion is that the communication and notification features of the watch must be turned off for Shabbat. The question is about the fact that the watch is, imperceptibly in the moment, recording health data. There is a fantastic article on this subject that is absolutely worth reading by Ike Sultan (https://thelehrhaus.com/scholarship/wearing-a-smartwatch-on-shabbat/). It derives answers to the Smart Watch question from an analogous halachic discussion about computer sensors in refrigerators that are compiling data whenever we open the fridge. Two schools of thought emerge about the latter case. One school forbids having such recording data, on the grounds that while the triggering of the computer chip is unintentional, it will provide concrete benefit to the fridge opener. The other school permits on the grounds that (a) we are not investing any specific effort whatsoever in activating the computer chip and (b) the work of the computer chip is completely not discernible to our senses on Shabbat, and therefore cannot be considered a melacha of any kind. It is my impression that the second school of thought has emerged as the dominant and accepted one as we have been moving further and further into a world in which “stuff” is just happening all around on Shabbat without our effort. 

Here is the article’s concluding paragraph:

“Communication, notifications, and even having the screen display vary its brightness as per the proximity sensor are certainly not permitted on Shabbat. Regarding the health tracking, some poskim including Rav Schachter and Rav Willig think that wearing the smartwatch is rabbinically forbidden because one’s actions cause the smartwatch to open and close circuits on Shabbat. In their opinion, the health monitoring is considered beneficial and therefore the Shabbat-violating action is attributed to the wearer. However, Rabbi Rozen held that technically it is permitted since the results of the tracking are unobservable and not immediately beneficial. Nonetheless, Rabbi Rozen agreed that one should not wear a smartwatch that has health monitoring since it is not appropriate for Shabbat.” 

I want to note that least sentence: Here again, I think we need to consider the “need”. If there is a particular health issue that is being addressed by the monitoring, I think that it can be worn on Shabat, per the lenient opinion. If there is no compelling reason to wear it, I would just wear a regular watch. 

Q1: What is the technical prohibition of not planning or preparing for after shabbat - what exactly can you not do? Does the same prohibition apply to yom tov days?

Q2: When and how can you and when and how can you not clean up board games on shabbat after playing them?

A:  Part of our honoring of Shabbat and Yom Tov is refraining from doing anything on Shabbat that is explicitly a preparation for after Shabbat. This would include things like setting up chairs and tables for a gathering that is taking place on Saturday night, or packing a suitcase for a trip that is taking place after Shabbat. The category does not include the routine returning of things to their ordinary places, such as bringing one’s tallit home from shul even though this returning will obviously be beneficial for a time after Shabbat. An interesting case is the washing of dishes that probably won’t be needed again over the course of that Shabbat. In principle (and often in practice as well), these dishes should wait till after Shabbat is over. If, however, these dishes are making the kitchen unpleasant or inappropriate for guests (for example) and are detracting from the pleasantness of Shabbat, they may be washed on Shabbat itself. (With cold water, and with a brush, rather than with a sponge) Here’s a really nice short essay on this topic. (outorah.org/p/69604/)

In terms of cleaning up a game on Shabbat, see the principle above regarding washing dishes. There is an additional factor in cleaning up a game, and that is the resorting of the pieces. As this raises questions of borer (separating and sorting), this should only be done if you are planning to play the game on Shabbat. Otherwise, this resorting should be done after Shabbat. 

Q: When walking a dog, may one carry the waste until finding a trash bin? What's the best way to do this?

A: Assuming that you are within an eruv, you may carry the waste to the nearest appropriate receptacle. This is because bad smelling / disgusting things are exempted from the laws of muktzeh whenever they are in a place that will cause distress to anyone.