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Siman 310 – More on muktza

  1. A kli that smells bad is only mildly repulsive and it isn’t muktza. We pasken like Rabi Shimon. (MB 1)
  1. According to Rabi Shimon, food is (almost) never muktza including:
  1. Food merchandise.
  2. Wheat kernels placed on soil intended for planting.
  3. Harvested food put aside in baskets to ripen.
  4. Fruit put out to dry and not yet fully dry (except for grapes and figs).

(ShA 2 – MB 2, 8, 9)

  1. Fruit still attached to the tree during bain hashmashos is muktza the entire Shabbos even when belonging to a gentile. The same goes for fish caught by the gentile on Shabbos. (MB 12)
  1. “Ain muktza l’chatzi Shabbos”. As long as the item was muchan during bain hashmashos, when it becomes muktza later on Shabbos (and then back to muchan) it does not remain muktza for the rest of Shabbos. (ShA 3 – MB 15)
  1. The Rama (Y.D. 266) holds a mila knife is not muktza during bain hashmashos since it will be needed on Shabbos. Therefore even after the Bris, the knife is allowed to be picked up and put away. The Taz and Magen Avraham hold the knife is essentially muktza during bain hashmashos and remains muktza after the Bris. L’chatchila, do not put the knife down before putting it away. However, if you did put the knife down after the Bris and you are afraid it will get stolen, you can rely upon the Rama. (MB 15)
  1. If you are under the mistaken impression that something is muktza, it doesn’t make it muktza. (ShA 4)
  1. You aren’t allowed to position a kli to catch falling muktza. The kli will become a bosis on Shabbos which is similar to demolishing it. (ShA 6 – MB 20)
  1. A new wallet that has never been used is a kli hetter. A wallet that had money in it during bain hashmashos is muktza as bosis. If the wallet is emptied before Shabbos the wallet is a kli shem’lactho l’issur. (ShA 7 – MB 25, 27)
  1. Even though a money pocket on its own may be muktza, if it is sewn into a garment and there is no money in the pocket, you may wear the garment and put muttar objects in and out of the pocket. The pocket is bottel to the garment also in regard to carrying out to reshus horabim. (Rama 7 – MB 28)
  1. You left money in your weekday trousers, are you allowed to move the trousers? It depends upon the type of pocket:
  1. A pocket that is stitched along its length is not deemed as a separate kli therefore the trousers are a bosis.
  2. A pocket that hangs only by its opening is a separate kli that is secondary to the trousers. The trousers themselves are not muktza. Some poskim hold to shake out the money before moving the trousers. (Rama 7 – MB 30)
  1. Are you allowed to move a desk with money in the drawer?

It depends upon what type of drawer it is:

  1. A fixed drawer that does not pull all the way out is a secondary kli – the drawer is a bosis but not the desk.
  2. A pull out drawer is a separate kli. The desk is a bosis to the money in the drawer. You can only move the desk if it holds some other heter item on top that is more chashuv then the money. (MB 31)
  1. A kli that is a bosis for hetter and issur equally is deemed muktza. When the hetter is more chashuv (to you) then the kli is not muktza. Therefore if you want to use the kli or transport the hetter, dump out the muktza first (where feasible). If you want merely to move the kli out of the way, you may move it normally with the muktza still on it. (ShA 8 – MB 33, 34, 36)
  1. If muktza gets mixed up with even a thousand hetter look-alikes, the entire mixture is muktza until after Shabbos. (MB 32)
  1. A kli that held only muktza when Shabbos entered may not be moved – even by putting hetter items on it first. (Rama 8)