halacha geeking

[cellio]

One of the many fences created by the rabbis is that of muktzah. This is a class of object that you're not even supposed to handle on Shabbat, because the primary use of that object involves activities that are forbidden on Shabbat. So, for example, you aren't supposed to handle writing utensils, your gardening equipment, the TV's remote control, etc.

Recently, while contemplating the logistics of a pot-luck break-fast for Yom Kippur, I found myself wondering: since Yom Kippur is Shabbat Shabbaton (the Shabbat of Shabbats), and it's a fast day -- on that day is food mutkzah?

I don't actually have anything riding on the answer to this (if I did I'd ask my rabbi); I'll take my contribution over before the holiday starts, most likely. But I do find myself wondering about the principles involved. Torah law doesn't need to follow consistent principles -- it is what it is -- but rabbinic law does.

Comments

[530nm330hz.livejournal.com]

Different halachic problem, though: You can't prep for after Shabbat while it's still Shabbat. (Also true of Yom Tov, which is why we need to make an Eruv Tavshilin.) So taking your contribution over before the holiday starts is still the right thing to do, even though muktzeh isn't involved.

[cellio]

Oh, that makes sense. I hadn't considered that transport, absent actually preparing the food itself, would be in that category.

But that raises another question: why is it ok to make an erev tavshillin for chag but not for Yom Kippur? Either way it's an out for doing something that would otherwise be forbidden. Not that I would (on YK), but again, trying to understand the principles.

[530nm330hz.livejournal.com]

Eruv tavshillin is based on several principles:

• Shabbat is on a higher level of kedushah than Yom Tov. (For proof of this, look at the various texts and laws regarding havdallah when Shabbat and Yom Tov are adjacent.) So it should be OK to prepare from Yom Tov to Shabbat.

• Just in case that's not the case, we start our Shabbat preparation before Yom Tov starts. That's why you need two food items, one cooked and one baked, to make the eruv tavshillin on. This turns the cooking done on Yom Tov from "Oh no, I need to start preparing for Shabbat!" into "And now let me put the finishing touches on my Shabbat preparation." Yes, this is mostly frame-of-mind and not actually halachic, if it weren't for the principle that Shabbat's kedushah trumps Yom Tov's, this wouldn't work; I think of it more as a statement of principles.

• According to some of the rabbis on the Talmud, eruv tavshillin only works if it's possible to eat the food you're preparing while it's still Yom Tov, and the mechanism also depends on the chance that you might have a lot of guests show up half an hour before Shabbat and you'll want to feed them. So here's "intent" in reverse --- even though you know you're preparing for Shabbat, there is a non-zero probability that you'll actually need the food for Yom Tov, and it's that small possibility that makes it permissible to do the prep on Yom Tov. Although this is a minority opinion, and we don't require adherence to it, those who are punctilious will act in accordance with this opinion. (I.e., if they're cooking something that takes an hour, they'll be sure to start it no less than 90 minutes before Shabbat.)

• And finally, with the exception of Rosh ha-Shanah (which is a yama arichta -- a single long day even in Israel), our eruvei tavshillin are almost always from a Thursday-Friday chag, where the second day is a "lesser" Yom Tov because it's observed only due to calendrical doubt. If it's actually chol (which we know in our kishkes it really is) then there shouldn't be anything wrong with preparing for Shabbat on it.

In summary, eruv tavshillin is a complex multilayered mitzvah that touches on lots of different halachic, hashkafic, and memetic areas, and is a fascinating subject of study in its own right.