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Borer and Muktzeh (Oil/Peels)

Why can you use a spoon/knife/fork as not a problem for borer, since for example when removing hot soup with a ladel this would probably not able to be done with a hand and thus why should this be considered an extenstion of the hand? Therefore, can one remove oil off the top of his soup with some soup with a spoon?

When one removes inedible shells from fruit and eggs (not being a problem with borer) etc. this becomes muktzeh - does one need to immeadiatley throw this in the garbage or can this be thrown out at end of meal? Does the plate by which it is resting on become a muktzeh 'basis'?

Answer:

A spoon is considered an extension of the hand for acts of separation that can be done by hand. The fact that you wouldn't do it by hand because of the heat does not make the separation forbidden, provided that in principle it can be done by hand, so that the spoon remains an extension of the hand.

The distinction of a spoon being the extension of a hand applies to taking ochel from pesoles, which must be done by hand, or by an action that is not a specialist borer action. In the case of removing oil together with water, one is removing ochel from ochel, and not ochel from pesoles, and therefore there is no issue of borer at all. However, you must ensure that there is sufficient water so that the soup removed will not be considered pesoles.

The shells of eggs etc. are considered muktzeh. A plate on which they are placed becomes becomes a basis, and before the peels are placed on a plate, something that is not muktzeh should be placed on the plate.

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1 Comment

  1. thanks very much for answering my questions Rav!

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