Halachos of squeezing fruit
cont.
Am I permitted to eat a
grapefruit with a spoon when I know that it will extract juice from the fruit?
The problem is that one squeezes some grapefruit juice from the
fruit when eating it with a spoon and often one enjoys that juice and drinks it
after eating the fruit.
Nevertheless most poskim permit eating the grapefruit when one’s
intention is not to extract the juice. (Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach also permits
it saying that squeezing a grapefruit is an issur d’rabanan and extracting the
juice with the spoon is a ùéðåé and therefore a
d’rabanan, and since it is not one’s intention to extract the juice it is
permitted).
Grapes that are placed in a vat or bowl of
wine and during Shabbos the grapes burst and spew forth their juice. Is one
permitted to partake of that wine on Shabbos?
The Shulchan Aruch
teaches us that juice that seeped forth from grapes on Shabbos is forbidden to
drink, as a g’zeira, for fear that one will purposely squeeze grapes for
their juice. This holds true even if the grapes are set aside for eating and not
for squeezing.
In our
case it would seem that surely the juice is forbidden to drink as one’s
intention was that the grapes spew forth their juice, so what is the question?
The
answer is that one is permitted to drink the juice because it is not considered
as having come into being at all.
Why is the grape juice permitted, do we not
say thatãáø ùéù ìå îúéøéï àôéìå áàìó ìà áèéì?
That is a very good question and the answer is based on two
different concepts, as follows:
The halacha is that
an egg laid on Shabbos or Yom Tov is forbidden to eat. The gemora in
Beitza tells us that this is true even if that particular egg rolls in
amongst 1000 eggs that are permitted to eat, and when that happens, since one
cannot surely say that the egg he wishes to eat is not the forbidden egg, all
the eggs are forbidden to eat until after Shabbos or Yom Tov. This concept is
called ãáø ùéù ìå îúéøéï àôéìå áàìó ìà áèéì,
which means that even though normally a forbidden egg would be annulled when
amongst at least two other ‘kosher’ eggs, or at least amongst 60 eggs, in this
case since all the eggs will be 100% ‘kosher’ after Shabbos or Yom Tov, it is
forbidden to partake of any egg until after Shabbos.
Ordinarily we would have to
apply that concept in our case as well but since the grape juice that spewed
forth on Shabbos was unnoticeable and never stood out on its own, it is annulled
or áèì immediately.
If
however the grapes were on a slope and the juice burst forth and slid down the
slope into the vat of grape juice or wine, the wine would be forbidden to drink
until after Shabbos, because after all the juice stood out on its own.
Is one permitted to place the grapes in the
wine l’chatchila on Shabbos with the intention that the juice will seep into the
wine?
Yes one may, just as it is permitted to put ice into drink with the
intention that it melts and cools the drink.
What is the halacha with
regards to squeezing grapes or other fruits onto salad or fish?
The gemora Shabbos brings a machlokes between Rav and
R’ Yochanan, where Rav says that one is permitted to squeeze grapes onto food
and R’ Yochanan prohibits it.
The
reasoning behind Rav is that squeezing grapes for a beverage is prohibited on
Shabbos, because one is procuring a beverage from within a food item, which is
similar to producing the wheat kernel from within its husk – the melacha
of ãù. When one squeezes juice onto food one
does not procure a beverage, on the contrary, the juice was part of food and has
entered or merged with another food.
R’ Yochanan, on the other
hand, simply says that one has separated juice from food regardless of its
destination.
Most Rishonim rule in
accordance with Rav and rule that one may squeeze grapes and other fruits onto
food on Shabbos. R’ Chananel rules in accordance with R’ Yochanan and prohibits,
on account of a biblical prohibition, squeezing grapes onto food, and other
fruit on account of a rabbinical prohibition.
What is the halacha?
The Shulchan Aruch rules in accordance with the majority of
the Rishonim and permits squeezing all fruit onto food but then quotes R’
Chananel saying that when one squeezes for the juice it is forbidden. This
implies that he indeed reckons with the opinion of R’ Chananel.
The Mishna Berura
therefore says that although the halacha is that one may squeeze fruit
onto food on Shabbos, nevertheless one who refrains from doing so
úáà òìéå áøëä – shall receive a blessing, and
it is a good thing to refrain at least from squeezing grapes onto food.