Borer

Borer Day: Sunday Date: October 26, 2014 Parshat: Lech Lecha Yalkut Yosef: 319 One of the 39 Melachot is Borer, Separating. One who has in front of him a mixture of edible and non edible food may not separate it by removing any of the non edible food from the mixture on Shabbat. He also may not separate if he doesn't intend to eat the food immediately or by using any instruments, like a sieve or a strainer. The only permissible way to separate on Shabbat is by meeting the following three conditions: 1. One must remove the good from the bad, not the bad from the good. 2. His intention must be to eat it right away and not separate in the morning to eat in the afternoon etc. 3. He must remove the good items by hand, not by using any instruments made for separating. A fork is not made to separate items. It is considered to be an extension of ones hand and therefore one may separate with a fork on Shabbat when the other conditions are fulfilled as well. An example of this would be one who wants to eat cherries on Shabbat afternoon. Very often in the bag there are some bad cherries as well. In that situation one may eat the cherries by selecting the good ones and leaving the bad ones inside. The reason it is okay is because the other two condition have been met as well. He is separating by hand and the purpose is to eat right away. The DSH is brought to you in memory of Rabbi Mordechai ben Daniel. Please visit us online at sephardichalacha.org