I bought some tea bags that come connected in pairs in the box. If one were to make tea in a kli shlishi on shabbos could he disconnect one tea bag from the other. They seperate into perfect square tea bags. If tissues come connected in a box can one use those tissues on shabbos by disconnecting them as well? In these cases, I would have no intention of mechatech and would only be tearing them to this size because of ease. Is this an issue of koraya?
Answer:
Disconnecting one bag from another, and in the same sense tearing the tissue paper, is possibly an issue of kore’a.
It is likewise possibly an issue of mechatech.
Therefore one has to prepare the tissues and the tea bags before Shabbos.
Best wishes.
Sources:
The Shulchan Aruch does not mention the idea of kore’a in regard to tearing paper, but the Mishnah Berurah (340:41) writes that tearing paper to size involves the melachah of kore’a, and explains (in the Biur Halachah) that every act of tearing that is done for a positive purpose involves the melachah of kore’a.
However, this is not agreed on by all authorities; the Shulchan Aruch apparently maintains that the melachah only applies when the intention is to sew the tear, and the Shulchan Aruch Harav (340:17) writes that the melachah only applies when one is separating two connected bodies – and it will therefore not apply here.
Another problem is mechatech. This might not apply here because in separating tea bags there is no interest in size, and even for toilet paper the size has already been given, and cutting it is only so that one shouldn’t have an entire roll – however, it is generally considered by poskim to involve mechatech, or at least a concern for it.
Therefore, one certainly has to prepare the toilet paper before Shabbos.
