May
one tear a piece of glad-wrap from the roll on Shabbos?
Destructive tearing on Shabbos is merely an
issur d’rabanan but constructive tearing on
Shabbos is an issur
d’oraisso
(a biblical violation).
The
Mishna Berura writes
that tearing paper in order to use the torn pieces is a
beneficial tearing and hence it would be an issur
d’oraisso.
Accordingly, tearing a piece of Glad Wrap or aluminum
foil from the roll infringes on an issur
d’oraisso
and
may not be done on Shabbos for any reason.
However, tearing open the glad wrap that is covering a
bowl of salad is totally permitted as one is destructing
the glad wrap and it is being done to attain the
contents of the bowl and not for the sake of tearing the
wrapping.
This
latter halacha is learned from a Tosefta
that teaches us that one may rip the leather covering a
barrel in order to reach the wine.
What
about tearing toilet paper when there is no option?
Obviously one must prepare toilet paper
before Shabbos. The problem arises when one has depleted
the supply of tissues, torn toilet paper etc. or one is
in a place where there is no pre-torn paper.
For
obvious reasons we will not discuss the various
technical options that are on hand when there is no
toilet paper available, but when those options are
exhausted and/or one’s only practical option is uncut
toilet paper, the following is the correct procedure:
One
should tear the toilet paper by resting one’s elbows on
the sheet of toilet paper and tear it with one’s elbows.
This is called tearing kilachar yad – in a
backhanded manner, and is only an issur d’rabanan.
Where do we find
that one may violate an issur d’rabanan in such a case?
There are two sources. The Rama says
that one may carry stones (olden day toilet paper) from
a reshus hayachid (a private domain) into a
carmelis even though one is violating an issur
d’rabanan. The basis for this heter is that
Chazal did not institute their prohibition when
it confronts a person’s dignity –
ëáåã äáøéåú.
The
other source is the Mechaber
who
permits one to raise a stone that has moss growing on it
even though raising it from the ground is a violation of
an issur d’rabanan.
This
therefore is the basis for this heter.
Does
it make a difference whether toilet paper is torn on the
perforated line?
To
answer this question we must, in a few words,
familiarize ourselves with the melacha of
Mechatech – tearing or cutting to an exact size or
measurement.
îçúê
is the melacha of cutting or tearing an item for
a specific purpose or size. An example of this is a
gemora which says that one who purposely breaks the
feather between the soft part and hard part has violated
Mechatech. The soft part would be used for down
and pillows and the hard part would be used for hat
manufacturing. Since one is particular about breaking
the feather at that exact point, it is mechatech.
Based on this and many other proofs we can determine
that although tearing toilet paper involves Kore’ah
and maybe even “making a k’li”, tearing on the
dotted line is probably not Mechatech. Rav Shlomo
Zalman Auerbach explains
that
one only tears on the perforated line because it is a
convenient manner of tearing the paper but not because
one is particular about the exact size of the paper.
Proof of that is that each paper company has a different
size paper and nobody buys paper because company A has
paper size B.
This
means that one may only tear paper backhandedly, as
mentioned above, when there is no other feasible option,
but one need not be particular about not cutting on the
perforated line.
However, we do not find this opinion mentioned in other
poskim and therefore, if possible, one should
avoid tearing on the perforated line.
May
an adult hand a child food that is not kosher?
In three different cases the gemora
in Yevamos 114a
teaches us that an adult may not hand a child an
issur, regardless of the child’s age.
The
first case deals with handing a child something
forbidden to eat. The possuk in Vayikra
(11:42) says
ìà úàëìåí ëé ù÷õ äí,
and the gemora teaches that the Torah is
telling us ìà úàëéìåí –
we must not feed a child an issur. This has
nothing to do with the mitzvah of chinuch
– educating a child to perform and heed the mitzvos,
rather it is a negative commandment prohibiting adults
from feeding a child an issur.
The
second case refers to the issur of drinking
blood. The possuk in Vayikra (17:12) says
ëì ðôù îëí ìà úàëì ãí,
and since this issur was written previously, the
gemora understands that it is teaching us that an
adult may not feed blood to a child.
The
last case deals with èåîàä
– impurity. The possuk in Vayikra (21:1) says
àîåø àì äëäðéí áðé àäøï åàîøú,
from the seemingly superfluous word
åàîøú – you shall say
to, the gemora understands that we are prohibited
from handing a child-Cohen something that will cause him
to be defiled.
The
poskim learn
that
these three halachos teach us that one may not
hand a child any issur, even if it is only an
issur d’rabanan.
What
if I am merely placing it is his hand, or placing him
next to the issur or the issur next to the child?
The
gemora Shabbos at the end of the 9th
perek says that one may not hand a child a
non-kosher grasshopper, lest it dies and the child will
eat it. (I suppose that this exact scene would not take
place nowadays but the ramifications of this case are
definitely pertinent). Rashi there explains that
placing the issur in the child’s hand is akin to
feeding him the issur. It follows that placing
the issur in front of the child, in a way that
the child will certainly take it, is similar to handing
it to him and if through one’s action the child can
partake of the issur, one may not do it.