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Question on Muktzeh

Hi. I have a few questions.

1. There is an online company that has a promotion: get your first eyeglasses FREE. Registration/Identity is based on an email address.
Is it permitted to use multiple email addresses to get multiple free glasses? The company is well-aware that this is possible.
– where do we say the company is aware that ppl can cheat the system and is ok with it vs. they are being foolish but wouldn’t want to be taken advantage of?
(another example: grocery store has a promotion: .99$ for 5 cokes – limit 5 per household. let’s say my father doesn’t like coke and he buys another 5 for me. is that cheating the system? is it the same as the one above? what’s the difference and why?)

2. Can one only designate an object that is Muktza Machmas Gufo? What about an object that is Muktza Machmas Chisaron Kis?
3. Is a cell phone always muktza machmas chisaron kis? does it matter if you let your child play with it?
– the issue here is with a cell phone being used as a watch/alarm clock
– can it be designated as such?
– if not, if the alarm goes off, can it ever be considered a Kli Sh’melachto L’issur?
– if it is always considered muktza machmas chisaron kis, the only thing one may do to move it is indirectly (kicking it/covering it with a towel, etc), correct?
4. I have read that anything with batteries in it is muktza. Can’t you designate working electronics as non-muktza before shabbos?
5. If you throw out a chipped or broken cup on shabbos and your wife decides that she wants to keep it , is it muktza or not?

Answers:

1. This is not permitted. Although it might be possible to trick the company, if the company does not permit it the possibility of doing so does not make it permitted. This halachah is ruled by many authorities with regard to copyright law: Although it might be possible to download or otherwise gain illegal access of programs or music/video files, this does not mean that copyright legislation is null.

2. Yes, this can be done. Muktzeh of chisaron kis is equal in status to machmas gufo, and proper designation from before Shabbos will help for both. The designation must be done by means of a concrete action on the item in question, or by a permanent designation so that the item will lose its status of machmas chisaron kis. See Mishnah Berurah 308:34; 55; 87; 92-94.

3. It is hard to consider a cellphone muktzeh machmas chisaron kis, because one does not generally designate a special place for it, and it is moved around freely. Rather, it is probably a keli shemelachto le-issur, because its primary use is for a prohibited purpose (based on Biur Halachah 308:3, citing from Peri Megadim). Some dispute this, however, and rule that a minority use is also sufficient, and in addition there is room to argue that the function of a cellphone to tell the time (and as an alarm clock) is a central enough function to permit its use on Shabbos. Yet, authorities general prohibit the moving of a cellphone on Shabbos, both because of the zilzul involved in this, and because of the changes on the display that take place when the phone is moved. See also Orchos Shabbos 19:44, and footnote.

4. Not everything with batteries is muktzeh on Shabbos. For instance, an electric fan (left on before Shabbos) is not muktzeh.

5. Interesting question. There is room to argue that a husband that throws out an item knows that the final decision will be his wife’s, and therefore the action of throwing out does not imply a final move that will decide the status of the item as muktzeh, and the wife can still decide the cup is fine, and take it back. There is room to discuss this further.

 

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