Q&A: Defining the Labor of Sorting
Defining the Labor of Sorting
Question
Hello and blessings,
Recently I heard a question about the Sabbath labor of sorting, and everyone who hears it answers differently.
I wanted to hear the Rabbi’s opinion.
If there is a salad made up of several kinds of vegetables, one of which is onion, and I remove some of the onion in order to reduce its quantity relative to the rest of the salad, am I liable for the act of sorting, or can one say that since I want some of the onion to remain in the salad, this is not sorting one type from another but merely reducing the quantity, and that does not fall under the definition of the labor of sorting?
It is important for me to emphasize that the question is not from the standpoint that the task was not completed as long as onion still remains in the salad, but the opposite: does my desire for a small amount of onion in the salad define the action as quantity reduction rather than separation and sorting between different types?
More power to you.
Answer
I don’t have a clear answer to that. If you do it by hand and not with a utensil, there may perhaps be room to be lenient. If there is someone else who will eat the onion, then of course that is better (because then it is food separated from food).
Discussion on Answer
I didn’t understand the question. We’re talking about removing all the lemon seeds, right?
And if you squeeze them out, there is no mixture here. Seeds in juice are, simply speaking, not a mixture.
And what about lemon seeds that fell into a salad?
I saw that according to the majority view one should not remove them, because that is considered the labor of sorting. What one can do, though, is remove them together with a little salad.
But what if I squeeze the lemon into a plate, then remove the seeds from there, and only afterward pour it into the salad? Is that permitted?
Is there another way to do this on the Sabbath?