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Tilting Spoon as Borer

We know there can be “borer” even when dealing with two edible foods, one food that a person does want to eat and the other that the person doesn’t want to eat. Suppose someone used a spoon to take food from a dish, and wound up with both chicken meat and beef, but he doesn’t want the chicken meat. If he tilts the spoon in order that the chicken meat falls off, leaving the beef on the spoon, is this a problem of borer?

Answer:

No, this is not a problem of borer, because the presence of two pieces on a spoon (so that they can be separated simply by tilting the spoon) does not constitute a taaroves (a mixture) and therefore separating them is not borer.

If there would be many little pieces on the spoon, all mixed together, it would be forbidden to remove the unwanted pieces from the wanted pieces, but this could not be achieved by merely tilting the spoon.

There is also room to discuss whether tilting a spoon is considered part of the act of eating (just as it is permitted to remove pesoles from one’s mouth while eating), which some discuss concerning taking bones from fish and other circumstances – but as noted, it appears that there is no need to reach this matter with regard to the specific question.

Best wishes.

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