DailyHalacha.com for Mobile Devices Now Available

Click Here to Sponsor Daily Halacha
"Delivered to Over 6000 Registered Recipients Each Day"

      
(File size: 770 KB)
How to Squeeze Fruits and Vegetables on Shabbat

It is prohibited to squeeze fruits on Shabbat to extract the juice. Whereas in previous generations only certain types of fruit were used for juice, such as grapes, olives, pomegranates and berries, nowadays most fruits, and even vegetables, are juiced, and therefore one must refrain from squeezing any fruit.

However, Maran, in Siman 320:4, rules that one may squeeze a fruit over a solid food, because that is considered a food, not a liquid juice. The Poskim disagree as to how much juice must actually be absorbed in the food. The majority of the Poskim, including the Taz, Peri Megadim, Hacham Ovadia and Hacham Bension, hold that as long as the majority of the juice is absorbed, it is not a problem if some of the liquid remains on top. The Hayeh Adam (Rav Avraham Danzig, 1748-1820, Vilna), on the other hand holds that it must be totally absorbed, with nothing remaining on the top. The Halacha is in accordance with the lenient opinion, even though the Menuhat Ahaba was strict.

One might be concerned that when he squeezes the fruit over the solid food, some of the juice will inevitably squirt off to the side and not even land on the food. How then can it ever be permitted to squeeze over a food? Isn’t this a "Pesik Reshe"-inevitable consequence that some juice will be extracted as a liquid? Rabbi Shlomo Miller answers that in this Halacha it is the intent which matters, not the actual outcome. Since he intends to extract juice exclusively for food, it is no longer defined as the Melacha of Mefarek.

Accordingly, it is permitted to squeeze a grape over a dry banana to soften it for a baby.

SUMMARY

One may squeeze a fruit to extract its juice into a solid food, if the majority of the liquid will be absorbed.

 


Recent Daily Halachot...
Can Eliyahu HaNavee Come On Shabbat?
Is It Permissible To Have A Seuda Inside A Bet Kennesset
Is It Permissible To Change Biblical Verses from Singular to Plural Form
Is It Required To Repeat The Beracha Of LiHitatef BiTzitzit If Removing The Talit For Just A Short While
Is It Required To Make The Beracha Of LiHitatef BiTzitzit Again If The 1st Talit Was Found To Be Pasul (Improper)
Is One Required To Stand For An Elderly Lady or Scholarly Woman
Is It Permissible To Simply Answer Amen and Rely On Another's Beracha Of LiHitatef BiTzitzit
Granting Precedence to a Jew When Hiring
Is It Permissible To Give A Non-Kosher Turkey To A Goy For Their Holiday
Yichud- 1) Must An Onen Follow The Laws of Yichud, 2) War and Yichud
Yichud- Is It Permissible For A Man To Be Alone With A Lady On An Express Elevator In A Skyscraper
Yichud- Is It Permissible to Be Alone with Mother, Father, Daughter, Son, Brother, or Sister
Tzineeut and The Proper and Improper Ways Of Socializing With Friends
How Could We Pray To G-d That Korbanot Be Accepted, When Today We Do Not Have Korbanot?
Some Laws Regarding Visiting or Seeing a Cemetery
Page of 239
3585 Halachot found