Borer – Introduction

Origin of the Melacha

• The melachos, forbidden activities on Shabbos, are learned out from the activities that were done in the Mishkan, due to the juxtaposition of the Mishkan and Shabbos in the Torah. Some say the melacha of ‘borer’, ‘selection’ is learnt from the process of preparing the dyes for the fabrics of the Mishkan, whilst others say it is learnt from the preparation of flour-based korbanos.
• Mishna Berura notes that it is common for people to slip up when it comes to this melacha (perhaps due to the regularity that one is faced with situations of selection, typically many times over an individual Shabbos, but where one may not have considered that this melacha is at stake in such situations, or due to lack of knowledge of its details) so we shall attempt to elaborate its concepts and some common examples and hope this leads to greater understanding of this melacha and its manifold applications.

When the Melacha Applies

• Mixture: Borer is applicable where one has a mixture of two or more types of object, be they foodstuffs or other items such as toys, cutlery etc when one wishes to make use of one type of object (henceforth the ‘desired’ object, known in Hebrew as the אוכל) but not the other (henceforth the ‘undesired’ object, known in Hebrew as the פסולת). (MB 319 Introduction, SSK 3:1)
• Non-regular consumption: When faced with a mixture, taking from it in a manner of ‘eating’, ie in a manner of regular use or consumption is permitted but taking from it in a manner that is not considered to be the usual manner of usage is forbidden under the melacha of borer. (MB 319 Intro, SSK 3:1).

The Three Conditions of Regular Usage

There are 3 conditions that must be met in order for a selection to be considered to be in the manner of regular consumption and thus permitted. Where any of these 3 conditions are not met, it is forbidden to select from the mixture in that manner. These 3 conditions are as follows:

1. One must take out the desired object from the mixture. By contrast, it is forbidden to remove the undesired object from the mixture (except in some specific scenarios we will outline iyH)
   • For example, if one has a mixture of hazelnuts and almonds and wishes to only eat the almonds, one must take out the almonds and not the hazelnuts even where this requires more effort. Or if one has a bunch of grapes with some grapes that have started to rot one should only take off the good grapes, not remove the bad ones (SSK 3:23).
2. One must carry out the selection by hand and not with an instrument that is assisting the sorting process.
   • For example, if one wishes to take sweetcorn out of a can where it sits in juice, one may take out the sweetcorn by hand or with a spoon (which is merely functioning as an ‘extended hand’ as a convenience to avoid getting one’s hands dirty, rather than as an instrument which makes the sorting process easier – to be discussed further iyH) but one may not use a sieve to separate it out.
3. One must be taking out the object for immediate use. Taking it out for use at a later point is forbidden.
   • For example, one may not take out clothes for oneself or one’s children from a mixture on Friday night in order to put them on in the morning (SSK 3:75)

It does not matter whether one is doing the selection for one’s own benefit, or the benefit of another person, or an animal. Hence if one does not like onion in one’s salad one could remove it directly by hand if one is giving it to a friend to eat immediately, as it is for their benefit and from their perspective one is removing a ‘desired’ object from the mixture (SSK 3:8, 24).

These 3 conditions are explored more in the following pages