Borer - Removing a Tea Bag from the Liquid

I sent the following question to Rav Ostroff:

Siman 319:9 (It is forbidden to put dregs inside a strainer even when the strainer was hanging before Shabbos, but if the dregs were put inside before Shabbos it is permitted to pour water over them until the water becomes clear) seems to describe perfectly a tea bag. Clear water goes into the bag, picks up the flavour of the tea from the leaves and then drops through the other side. So why is it assur to take a tea bag out and let it drip back into the cup?

Rav Ostroff replied:

The difference between the two is that in the first case you are pouring water, which does not require separating (that's the explanation we gave), and [in the second case] you are lifting out the tea bag in order to separate the leaves from the surrounding beverage.

For further discussion see SSK 3:48 footnote 171 and Sefer Shulchan Shlomo siman 319 paragraph 2.

Borer - Cracking Nuts - Opinion of Shulchan Aruch HaRav

The following question was sent by one of the Chabura to Rav Ostroff:

Cracking nuts. I understand the Alter Rebbe [author of the Shulchan Aruch HaRav] in Siman 319:9 is machmir, but I do not understand why?

a) The Alter Rebbe does not mention cracking the nut, only the skin and the green shell. Why do we say the shell is ossur and not mutar?

b) Your explanation on page 41 "since one is able to crack the nut and eat it without peeling he should do so." This implies cracking the nut is mutar?

Rav Ostroff replied:

The Alter Rebbe in the Siddur suggests against cracking nuts because it can lead to borer, not that cracking is always borer, because cracking for now is permitted.

Silverware - Borer after Scattering

The following question was sent by one of the Chabura to Rav Ostroff:

I believe I am correct that if silverware is "thrown" on to the table, I can take what I want even if not l'alter. If yes what is the source for this?

Rav Ostroff replied:

Rav Moshe Feinstein in Igros Moshe, OC Vol. IV Siman 74 (Borer Question 11), based on the Gemora.

For those without immediate access to an Igros Moshe, here's what is written there:

יא) האם מותר לברר כפות ומזלגות ע"י שיזרקם קודם על השולחן ויפרדו

(כי הא דשבת ע"ד ע"א ושדא קמייהו וברש"י שם).

תשובה: היא עצה טובה.

Borer - Arranging Chairs

The following question was sent by one of the Chabura to Rav Ostroff:

If I have two cups on table, my understanding is I can only take the one I want (l'alter). What about arranging chairs? And what if they're stacked?

Rav Ostroff replied:

But it's one min and they're the same, I don't see a mixture. It's like having 10 identical socks in a drawer - there is no mixture.

Borer - What is a Mixture?

The following question was sent by one of the Chabura to Rav Ostroff:

What is the definition of a taroves [mixture]? Does borer apply to all items? In Siman 319:3 the Mechaber writes "two foods which are mixed" and the Mishna Berura (15) adds mixtures of different types of keilim or clothing.

Rav Ostroff replied:

Your question is the hardest issue of borer!! Rav Neuwirth gave a shiur and mentioned 12 cases of where he cannot define whether items are in a mixture or not. One must determine whether jumbled items are together and a mixture, or separate; it is hard to determine.

Siman 319:8 - Separating Karshanim

In Vol. IV Shiur 6 HaRav Ostroff mentions in the name of his father-in-law, why we don't say that using a sieve in this case [removing peel from karshanim by placing them in a sieve] is a psik reisha, namely that the action is one of carrying the sieve and not a ma'aseh borer.

I'd just like to mention that the Kaf HaChaim on this Seif, 319:75, writes that we are not worried that borer will axiomatically take place as "לא עביד כלום" - i.e. not only is he not doing borer, but he isn't doing anything at all (carrying or otherwise). He makes the further point that we don't prohibit this in case he might do an actual ma'aseh borer as it wouldn't be derech b'reira (it's a shinui) and he would only be doing an issur d'Rabbanan.

Uvda d'chol and Borer

I would be interested in your comments before I bother Rav Ostroff with this theory, that any time borer is permitted with a shinui it is because of uvda d'chol and not borer per se:

In truth, all borer for constructive purposes should be prohibited. Because borer is so common and necessary to function and enjoy Shabbat, Chazal made certain allowances. The caveat is that there is a distinction between uvda d’chol borer and Shabbat borer. A shinui on a permitted action too similar to a weekday act is permissible. One could never turn a truly ossur act, either d’oraita or d’rabonon, into a permitted one with merely a shinui.

The Teferet Yisrael in Kalkelet Shabbat identifies three categories of activity prohibited by Chazal because of uvda d’chol:

An activity which resembles one of the 39 forbidden labors on Shabbat

An activity which might lead one to perform one of the 39 forbidden labors on Shabbat.

An activity which entails excessive exertion and ruins the spirit of Shabbat.

Examples:

Filtering slightly turbid water is permitted thru a cloth but not thru a dreg strainer. Slightly turbid water is one min and is not subject to borer; if it were, it would also be prohibited to strain thru a cloth. Proof is that, cloudy water is a taarovis and prohibited to strain thru a cloth. A dreg strainer is the usual weekday tool for straining. Its use for slightly turbid water was too close to a weekday activity so Chazal insisted on a shinui.

One is not allowed to peel the thin skin off peanuts by rubbing them in between two hands or sifting them through two hands, but may separate them by rubbing them with the tips of his fingers (SA 319:6) or sift them through one hand (SA319:9). Peanuts and their skin are two mineem, but one is allowed to separate with his hands before eating or remove the outside cover to access the inner food just before eating. Hands can’t be a kli for separating the definition of a borer kli is facilitating separating which can’t be done with ones hand! Peeling the sifting peanuts with two hands is the normal weekday procedure, one hand is a shinui

Heat can’t be a kli for separating. One can’t hold heat! Nevertheless, one is prohibited from standing “milk in a hot place for it to become cheese” (MB seif katan 63). This is a transgression of mechabeytz מחבץ which is a toldah of borer. Yet what did one do? One is allowed to stand up a bottle of wine and let the dregs settle out, even though the wine in its original state is a taarovis and settling is borer mamish, because, what did one do? Placing milk in a warm location was forbidden by Chazal because it is the uvda d’chol manner of making cheese.