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Killing mosquitoes in the UK

שו”תCategory: HalachaKilling mosquitoes in the UK
asked 2 years ago

Is it permissible to kill mosquitoes on Yot because of “out of spite”?


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0 Answers
מיכי Staff answered 2 years ago
Simply put, this is from the Shachag (see Shabbat 3) which is forbidden by the rabbis but permitted for necessity. Although in Yot I have seen some who permitted it because slaughtering is permitted for necessity, and in my opinion this is very puzzling. See considerations, sources, and opinions here: https://forum.otzar.org/viewtopic.php?t=18161  

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י.ד. replied 2 years ago

Mosquitoes are the creature that kills the most people on Earth. Isn't it permissible to kill them on Shabbat (like snakes and scorpions)?

אורן replied 2 years ago

Regarding what you wrote, “But it was permitted for a need,” what need did you mean? A need that consumes one’s soul? Or a great need?

And regarding the end, why does it seem puzzling to you? What is the point of not permitting because you think it was permitted for a need that consumes one’s soul?

מיכי Staff replied 2 years ago

I am not familiar with these data. If it is dangerous then it is certainly permissible, but it is difficult to assume that every mosquito is considered dangerous. Usually they kill it because it is annoying. In the Gemara that I referred to on Shabbat 3:1, it is stated that killing a snake and a mosquito with an abscess is exempt and permitted because of pain (see the appendix there). It is not clear to me what pain permits, although it is stated there that it is not a question of killing, of course.
It seems puzzling to me because the slaughter that is permitted is the slaughter of kosher animals for the purpose of eating, and to learn from this “from within” the killing of flies, which is a completely different action, is puzzling. It is true that there are methods that refer to the entire craft, meaning that if they permitted taking a soul, then this craft is generally permitted in all types of Judaism and for all needs (not just when there is a need, but when there is a need), but this interpretation is puzzling to me. There are opinions that allow crafts that are primarily for the purpose of the Och”n, and I don't think that taking a soul is such (although spending doesn't seem like such either). We need to delve into the issue more, but from a refrigerator, this is a strange permission in my opinion.

אורן replied 2 years ago

You wrote: “The permitted slaughter is the slaughter of kosher animals for the purpose of eating.” If I apply to it the rule defined by Wikipedia as follows: “It is permitted to perform crafts on a Yom Tov even when they are not for the purpose of eating a soul, but for another purpose of a Yom Tov,” then it should be said that slaughter was permitted even when it was not for the purpose of eating a soul. What kind of old slaughter is it not for the purpose of eating a soul but for another purpose of a Yom Tov? It is precisely the killing of mosquitoes, which is the taking of a soul that is not for the purpose of eating a soul but for the purpose of preventing sorrow. Why do you see this as a completely different action? After all, both are forbidden because they are the work of a slaughterer, which is defined as the taking of a soul.

מיכי Staff replied 2 years ago

I said that I have not entered this issue now and therefore I cannot provide sources or reasons for it. What I wrote is that on the face of it this implication seems puzzling to me.
Slaughtering without the need to eat a soul is killing a rooster in order to play football with its head (Risha's verse). But we are talking about killing a rooster, which is similar to slaughtering for the purpose of eating a soul. Killing a mosquito is a completely different act (it is not slaughter. Although, as I mentioned, in terms of Shabbat laws, it is the same work – taking a soul). This will probably depend on the limits of ‘from’, but we need to go into the issue more to discuss it.

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