DailyHalacha.com for Mobile Devices Now Available

Halacha is For Refuah Shelemah for
 Shmuel ben Leah
"Healthy heart, legs, and mind, as part of fully healthy nefesh and guf"

Dedicated By
Children

Click Here to Sponsor Daily Halacha
      
(File size: 904 KB)
Separating A Bottle Cap From Its Ring on Shabbat

There is extensive debate amongst the Poskim regarding opening a bottle which has a cap attached by a ring. When the cap is twisted, the ring separates and falls to the neck of the bottle.

There are three opinions amongst the Poskim. Some Poskim prohibit opening such bottles on Shabbat. They hold it violates Shabbat, since the act of twisting the top essentially creates the cap. Before, it was a seal of the bottle, and now it is a separate vessel.

Some Poskim, such as Rav Shlomo Zalman (Jerusalem, 1910-1995), distinguish between metal and plastic bottle tops. The metal caps have a ring which is an integral part of it, attached by perforation. Twisting it open creates a new entity. The plastic ones are not a part of the cap itself, and do not constitute a problem.

On the other hand, some Poskim, such as the Menuhat Ahaba (Rabbi Moshe Halevy, Israel, 1961-2001), say that neither variety is problematic, since it was always considered a cap.

Hacham Bension (Or Lesion 2:27:8) also permitted opening bottles, even with the metal cap. He based his argument on the fact that the manufacturing process of the bottle tops first sets the cap, as a separate entity, on the bottle and only then seals the cap with the metal ring. If one would stop the assembly line in mid-process, he would see a distinct stage in which the bottle has a viable cap, without the ring. Halachically, this means that twisting the bottle top does not form the cap. It was always there; the ring is merely a seal, which may be broken according to Maran in 314, who permits breaking the seal of a barrel to access the wine.

While there is room to be lenient, it is praiseworthy to open bottles before Shabbat.

SUMMARY
One may open all bottle tops on Shabbat, although it is praiseworthy to open them before Shabbat.

 


Recent Daily Halachot...
Reciting Arbit Before Sunset When Praying Privately
Is It Permissible To Pray Arbit B'Yachid Early Before Sunset
Daily Reading of the Ketoret To Bring The End To A Plague
Tefillin and Birkat Kohanim During Minha on Fast Days
The Special Significance of Alenu
May One Person Recite Birkat HaGomel For Many In The Synagogue?
Is it Considered Praying B’Tzibur if One prays a Different Prayer than the Congregation
Sitting Near Somebody Praying the Amidah
The Proper Way To Vocalize The Amidah
Answering Kadish and Amen During Pesukeh D'zimra
The Meaning of the Term “Pesukeh De’zimra”
Answering to Kaddish or Kedusha After Reciting “Ado-nai Sefatai Tiftah”
Reciting Hodu Before Shaharit
Reciting Shema During the Korbanot Section of the Prayer Service
If One Comes Late to the Synagogue and Will Not Complete the Amida Before the Hazan Reaches Modim
Page of 239
3585 Halachot found