Just one Halacha on the laws of Shabbat. One of the 39 Melachot (forbidden tasks) is, ‘Shochet’. Shochet means to slaughter and it includes in that concept, the killing of any creature that has life. That would include bugs, and different types of animals. This would fall under the category of Shochet. Netilat Neshama, which is taking away the life of a living being, is clearly forbidden. So the question is, if a person is in a room and there are different bugs, and it’s disturbing him, can he take bug repellent, and spray the room to get rid of the bugs? Is this permissible on Shabbat?
According to the Halacha, it would be permissible, so long as you open a window first, and you don’t spray the spray bug repellent directly on the bugs. Which means that you are giving a chance to the bugs to escape, as they start to smell the repellent. So you are not locking them in, and you are not going to create a situation where they certainly will die.
So therefore Halacha Lema’ase (the bottom line), it would be permissible on Shabbat, to spray repellent in the air, and the bugs themselves can do what ever they want. If they want to leave, then they could leave. If they want to stay and suffer their fate, they can do that also. Therefore the Halacha, that would be the case.
Even the Chazon Ish was lenient on this only in a case where someone is sick in the room, and its creating great suffering. But there are enough Acharonim, including the Menuchat Ahava, which writes clearly, that one would be permissible to do in the way we explained.
