- Included in the issur of laundering is shaking off dew or snow from a new (looking) black garment. If you would wear it, not caring about the dew or snow on the garment, you are allowed to shake it off l’chatchila.
(ShA 1 – MB 1,2 – BeH “min”)
- If you aren’t makpid on the snow and your friend is – are you allowed to shake off snow from **his** garment? Is he allowed to shake off the snow from **your** garment? This is unresolved in the Beur Halacha. (BeH “v’hu”)
- Dew and snow make a small difference to a garment – which is significant to a black one only. But if the garment is very wet, it will make a difference to **any** color garment. Do not shake it out – it’s s’chitah! (MB 3)
- In cases that you are allowed to shake out the garment from dew and snow, shake gently so it will not come to s’chitah. (MB 4)
- Some poskim forbid shaking out dust from a garment. Be strict not to shake it yourself, but through a non-Jew you can be lenient especially out of concern of kavod habrios. (Rama 1 – MB 6)
- Be careful to keep your clothes and hat in a dust-free area in shul on Shabbos so you won't be tempted to clean them if they get dusty. (MB 6)
- Feathers, which are merely hanging on to the surface of the garment, are allowed to be removed on Shabbos by hand (not with a brush). (Rama 1 – MB 7 – BeH “v’ayin”)
- Makkeh B’patish is a malacha of putting the finishing touch on any craft or kli. **Examples:** Removing “pills” (even one) from woolen garments. Removing straw, splinters, or burrs that became interwoven into a garment accidently. Removing connective stitching left by the tailor. (ShA 2 – MB 8,9 – BeH “halokayt”)
- Cholent on your clothes? If it is dry you can peel it off, using the conditions mentioned above in number 52. If it is moist, wipe it off with a rag. (MB 11)
- Folding material on Shabbos removes the wrinkles and is tikkun manna. Do not fold your tallis (e.g.) unless you fulfill the following five conditions:
- You will wear it again on Shabbos (otherwise you are preparing for after Shabbos).
- Do not fold it with another person's help.
- The material is still newly firm (i.e. never been laundered).
- White.
- You have no other. (ShA 3 – MB 12, 13, 15)
- You are allowed to fold the material in a different order than usual. However, it is better to be machmir not to fold it at all. (ShA 3 – MB 19)
- Make your beds erev Shabbos for Friday night’s sleep. Do not make your bed on Shabbos for the needs of Motzo'ay Shabbos – it’s “preparing”. However, you can make the beds on Shabbos for the needs of Shabbos itself. For example – you want to sleep in one of the beds on Shabbos, or it looks unkempt. (MB 19)
- Mud on your foot? Do not wipe it on the ground especially where there are uneven spaces – you might come to fill them in. You may wipe even dry mud on a wall, edge of a step, and certainly on a beam or a stone. Other options are to scrape it off with a piece of (non-muktza) pottery or rinse off the mud in water. (ShA 6 – MB 27, 28 – BeH “o”)
- Mud on your leather shoe? If it is wet you can use the criteria in the above note. But if it is dry mud you must consider the “smoothing” of the leather. Do not scrape off the mud with (the back of ) a knife nor with a built-in metal shoe scraper, unless you do it gently. Though l’chatchila, you should still be machmir because of “grinding” the mud. (MB 26 – BeH “o”)
- Mud on your woven garment? If it is moist, you may either scrape it off or rub the material together held from underneath the mud. Do not rub the material on itself from the outside surface of the stain – it looks like laundering. (ShA7 – MB 31, 32)
- And if the mud is dry, do not remove it yourself at all – crumbling the mud is “grinding”. However, since it is only “grinding” d’rabbanon, you may instruct a gentile directly to crumble it off using the principle of shvus d’shvus m’shum kavod habrios. It is embarrassing to walk around with dirty clothing. Just be sure the gentile does not attempt to also remove the dirty mark from the garment in the process – that’s laundering. (ShA 7 – MB 36)
- There is a rule in tefilla: Daaven only in clean clothes. (MB 36)
- You are allowed to rinse off dirt from your leather shoe with water. To do the same with cloth material is ossur since soaking cloth is categorized as laundering. For leather, “laundering” is only when you rub the dirt with water. (ShA 9)
- Some poskim hold that soaking even **clean** cloth is “laundering”. Be machmir since it is a d’oraisa. (Rama 9 – MB 48)
- Drying your hands on a cloth is allowed, since the cloth is becoming soiled in the process. Even wringing it out is not a concern because of the small amount of water that the cloth absorbs. (Rama 10 – MB 51)
- If water spills on the table, do not soak it up with a cloth that you are usually makpid from getting wet – you might wring it out. (MB 51)
- Beware not to spill water into a pail of dirty clothes. Beware not to throw any cloth into water on Shabbos. (MB 55)
- When giving a baby a warm bath on Yom Tov, you are allowed to place a clean cloth at the bottom of the tub. Since the baby has a din of a choleh, the usual stringencies (e.g. you might come to wring it out) are relaxed. Make sure not to wring it out. If the cloth is dirty you may only instruct a gentile to put it into the water. (BeH “d’lo”)
- Do not wipe your muddy hands on a hand towel lest you will be tempted to launder it. Rather use another surface like a rag or a horse's tail. (ShA 11 – MB 57)
- You are allowed to dry dishes with a dish towel even if the towel becomes very wet. But if it is a regular cloth, don’t dry a lot of dishes with it. (MB 59)
- You should not dry the inside of a narrow cup even with a dish towel, but do not protest against those who do – especially if they spill out the water from the cup beforehand. (MB 60 – BeH “mishum”)