Shabbat 143: Toss the Date-Pits behind the Couch

Talking Talmud - Een podcast door Yardaena Osband & Anne Gordon

More on moving muktzah. Removing bones and husks from the table - or removing the board of the table altogether. Crumbs and left over pods are less problematic, as they can be eaten by animals, and thereby have a purpose on Shabbat. Also, using a sponge on Shabbat is tricky in that it may entail automatic squeezing, unless it has a strap as a handle. Note the implications for cleaning our own Shabbat tables are not necessarily clear from this. Plus: A barrel that breaks on Shabbat - taking the food from it for the 3 meals for Shabbat, and invite others to take for themselves (reminiscent of examples we've seen before). Also: that which has become wet from one of the "mashkim" then has the capacity to be rendered impure - what about the fruit juice that ekes out of the fruit, or honey squeezing out of its honeycomb... your goal for the fruit makes a difference (are they for juicing or for eating?). Olives and grapes may have a more lenient treatment, but that's a matter of machloket. Now, regarding that juice that ekes out of its own accord is to be explained via a nursing mother's milk that can be expressed intentionally or unintentionally - either way will give that which it comes in contact with the capacity to be rendered impure. R. Akiva recasts the case, based on the logic of a kal vachomer. And the fruit that has been rendered impure has no purpose on Shabbat... Stay tuned for pushback against R. Akiva, tomorrow.

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