Question 1) Is it OK to scrub your leather shoes to get mud off them? Question 2) What about to clean your couch with some water? Question 3) Are you allowed to wash a metal pot on Shabbos? Question 4) Is it OK to remove a stain a baby has made on your shirt by rubbing it, even without water? Question 5) What about shaking out a wet coat after coming in from the rain? Cleansing absorbent materials that have absorbed soil grime or other impurities is the melacha of Scouring. Any type of washing, soaking, squeezing or even scrubbing a material that is dry is included in this melacha. It applies to any soft or pliant materials including natural or synthetic fabrics, leathers or canvas materials. It applies to non garments too, so it's also a problem to wash or the like to carpets, leather and fabric upholstery, or string. The melacha applies even if the stains are not removed but only improved, eg its not ok to dab water onto a wine stain on a blouse to dilute the stain because causing a stain to fade is a significant improvement to the garment. It is only a problem with pliable or porous materials so hard completely non absorbent materials like glass, ceramic, wood etc are not included, as they don't absorb any tangible dirt or grime.  This explains why it's ok to wash dishes, pots and pans on shabbos (assuming they are needed for shabbos use, you don't pour boiling hot water onto the grease, and it's done with a type of sponge that's acceptable, ie don't use a wet sponge or rag!). There are 3 methods through which 1 can violate this melacha: 1) Soaking When liquid saturates a cloth it has the effect of loosening soil and stains. So, soaking a fabric in any clear liquid is a problem even if no scrubbing or squeezing is done, and even if the stain doesn't disappear, eg, you can't sprinkle water onto a clean shirt. Paper napkins and paper towels (that has been pre cut before shabbos) may be wetted for wiping a counter top, but don't squeeze them while wiping. 2) Scrubbing Rubbing or scrubbing a garment even when dry to remove a stain is the melacha because the friction of the scrubbing forces out dirt. This can be whether you scrub with a brush, another part of the garment or even with your hands, eg one can't remove a stain by folding over part of the garment and rubbing it against your skin.  Even to rub a leather belt clean is a problem! 3) Squeezing Squeezing or exerting strong pressure on a wet fabric effectively flushes out the saturated moisture, eg squeezing, wringing etc. Any form of forcing out liquid is a problem even by vigorous shaking, so one mustn't shake out their wet raincoat. Note, a plastic raincoat could be, as it's non absorbent. Even to walk or step on carpet that's wet to press out the moisture isn't ok! The way to deal with a spill is to gently place paper towels over the area to absorb the surface liquid. It's not ok to use a mop as it's designed to be wrung out regularly.

Question 1) Pulling out a grey hair on Shabbos, ok? Question 2) What about tweezing eyebrows? Question 3) How about pulling a hair from a fur coat? Question 4) Removing feathers from a cooked chicken?? Question 5) Is it always OK to comb hair on Shabbos? Question 6) How can you remove nits on Shabbos? Gum?! This "melacha" is the first in a group of 13 that comprises the essential steps in the processing of wool fabrics and garments. Shearing the wool of a sheep is the 1st stage in the manufacture of woolen garments. It can be *defined as the severing or uprooting of any growing part of the body of any creature*, even one no longer alive. Also included is *cutting or tweeting hair from one's head or body.* Even cutting a single hair is this "melacha". Biting or pulling out hair is also prohibited. *Tweezing eyebrows or other excess hair or using a hair remover isn't ok.* As a dead animal is included in this "melacha" you can't pull a hair from a natural fur. But, it's *ok to remove feathers from a cooked chicken* for various reasons, including that the cooking causes the feathers and hair to loosen their grip and come off easily, therefore they are considered "flicked" through the cooking. *Cutting or brushing hair is this "melacha", as it will inevitably pull out hair.* In order to *brush hair in a permissable* way; 1) use a *soft bristle brush* as the bristles usually bend. 2) use in a *gentle way*. 3) designate a *special shabbos brush* (due to a different issue). However if someone knows their hair will come out no matter what, this wouldn't help. *Nits* would appear to be a similar issue. The way to deal with this is to remove them *without any comb in a gentle way so it's not being tugged from its roots.* This can be done by gently grasping the long strand of hair with one's thumb and forefinger, between the root and the knit while sliding the nit upwards and out of the hair with the thumbnail and forefinger of another hand. Additionally, shampoos should not be used. What would you say about *removing gum* from hair?! It can't be forcibly pulled out as it will definitely cause hair to be pulled out. Possible solution is to apply *ice to the spot where the gum is embedded which usually causes the gum to harden and lose some of its stickiness and after a couple of minutes should slide off without pulling hair!* A few drops of oil could accomplish the same result. And.. what about removing a bandaid/plaster from male skin?! Try using oil or nail polish remover to devolve the adhesive. Otherwise leave plaster on till after Shabbos. *Cutting or removing fingernails or toenails is a problem*, or even a part of a nail. Similarly, one shouldn't remove a wart, a pimple or even loose bits of dried skin.

how can we tap into Shabbos to look after our soul and keep it going into the week? Question 1) Why is the "kedusha" in the amida longer on shabbos than during the week? Question 2) Why should we care about this?! Question 3) Is it OK to take a shower or bath on Shabbos? Any limitations? Question 4) What to do when hot tap is accidentally turned on? A) We don't beat raw eggs because this is almost exclusively for frying, cooking or baking, and so looks like cooking preps. B) Another ordinance connected with this melacho is not bathing ones entire body. One can't do this even if the water was warmed before shabbos. Bathing and showering were prohibited amongst other reasons because one could forget themselves and warm up the water on Shabbos for the bath. You can wash parts of your body, such as face, hands arms and feet and even in hot water. One must be careful not to wash most of one's body at one time as this would be considered like washing ones whole body. Even when washing parts of ones body in warm water please bare in mind: 1) the water must be heated before shabbos. 2) a wash sponge and the like can't be used. 3) hard soap may not be used. 4) shampoos may not be lathered into ones hair. Swimming in a lake or swimming pool isn't OK for a number of reasons. A lady whose mikva night is Friday night does go in its warm water, she should be wary of not squeezing her wet hair and not comb it. Bathing a child who is soiled in warm water that was heated from before shabbos is ok, eg you can pour hot water from a kettle into a dry wash tub and then add hot water to make it lukewarm. C) Using a hot water tap isn't ok, as its "cooking". Check out how the boiler works! If the hot water was accidentally turned on there is a problem with turning it off, especially if left on for say 15 minutes full force the water in the tank probably cooled and by shutting the tap it will cause the cold water remaining in the tank to stay and become hot thereby doing "cooking". You could hint to a non jew to turn it off. Note, depending on type of system you have that is warming your water, it may be a problem even if on for a shorter period of time, so safest is to not turn it off yourself even in this circumstance.

1) Can you wrap a schnitzel in aluminium foil to keep it hot? 2) Can you put chicken soup in a thermos flask to stay hot? 3) What about putting kishke in aluminium foil so it doesn't dissolve in a chullent in a crockpot? 4) Can you put a towel over your food on a hotplate on shabbos morning to warm food up? *Insulating is forbidden on Shabbos.* The concern is that someone will be anxious that his food isn't being kept warm enough and may forget it's shabbos and then place the food on a proper flame. Some forms of insulating are forbidden even before shabbos begins. Read on. In order for something to be *forbidden under insulating it requires 4 conditions to be present:* 1) *Total enwrapment, ie the food must be totally covered by insulation.* It is *therefore permissable to partially cover or wrap any hot food or hot container of food.* As long as a significant area is left exposed it's ok, eg one may not completely wrap a hot potato on shabbos with aluminium foil to keep it warm. However, if you keep it open slightly, thereby exposing a part of the potato, it's ok. Note, it's likely that the first layer of foil is ok if it's main purpose is to prevent food drying out. However a second layer isn't necessary. Also, please note the aluminium foil would need to be precut. Another example is it's ok to put towels over an urn or hot pot of soup as long as a significant part of the urn/pot is exposed. 2) *Original container, ie still in the first vessel.* *However if the food was transferred to a second container, its ok to insulate it*, eg its allowed to cover a hot tea with a towel to keep it warm as it's in a second vessel, or another example is you could pour hot coffee into a thermos to retain it's heat as the thermos is a second vessel. 3) *Intention, ie the intent must be for insulating purposes.* *However if the purpose is to protect the food, covering it even totally is permitted*, eg its allowed to cover a hot pot of soup with the lid even though the lid acts as an insulator, as the primary purpose is to protect the food. Even if your intention is also to keep the food warm, its ok. Another example is leaving a kishke inside a chullent pot which is wrapped in silver foil is ok. The main purpose of covering the kishke is to separate it from the chullent, and so not an issue when aim is to prevent it dissolving into the chullent or to prevent it absorbing to much of the flavour of the chullent. 4) *Direct Contact, ie the wrapping material must be in direct contact with the food or container.* *Therefore if the towel or wrapping is not touching the walls of the pot, it's ok to insulate.*, eg one can place a large plate on top of a pot and drape a towel over it as the insulating materials will envelope the pot whilst not touching its walls. *If any of these 4 conditions are absent, insulating is permitted.* There are 2 categories of insulation; one which generates added heat and 1 which only retains heat. 1) Generates added heat; when materials that are used do more than just insulate, as they produce heat, eg hot sand, salt, grass etc. This is a problem even when done before shabbos, eg wrapping a pot in an electric blanket is not ok even before Shabbos. 2) Only retains heat; eg blankets, dry straw, wheat etc. It's ok to insulate in this way before shabbos, but not on shabbos, eg it's forbidden on Friday night to completely cover a pot of hot soup with a blanket after the pot was removed from the blech. However on Friday afternoon you could do this to keep it warm until the meal. Crockpots we looked at in an earlier session in terms of insulating. It could be that the crockpot with its cooked food inside it's metal cylinder is a form of generating added heat, which would deem it potentially forbidden to set up even before shabbos if so!? The way to circumvent the issue is by lining the inside wall of the

Question 1) is it OK to put a tray of cold roast chicken on the blech to reheat it? Question 2) Is there a way to return a hot cholent pot back into a crockpot after you serve from the pot? Question 3) Is it OK to take pot from fire and put on hotplate? It is prohibited to return any food even if fully cooked directly onto the heat source, ie the "blech" during the course of shabbos. So, this prohibition even applies to foods that one is otherwise permitted to reheat, eg you can reheat a cold tray of roast chicken if placed near to the blech, but you can't place it on the blech to warm up. The reason it's forbidden to return food to the fire is it has the outward appearance of cooking and could lead people to think that cooking is allowed. There are 4 conditions under which it's permitted to return a cooked food to the fire: 1) it must be fully cooked. 2) it must be the intention to return it. 3) it must be held the entire time even if held on a surface, eg a table. 4) it must be returned to a properly covered flame. In the case of a mistake, as long as the food is fully cooked and returned to the blech, ie conditions 1 and 4. You could transfer a pot from an oven to blech but not the other way round.  You couldn't transfer a pot from the blech to the hotplate as transferring is like returning. The only way to do this acceptably would be to put the pot on the hotplate with a sheet of foil or another blech would cover the hotplate. There are 2 ways without the 4 conditions to permissibly warm food: 1) to place food near to the blech, even if the food to get properly hot. 2) to place food on a pot that's on the fire already or even to put down an empty pot on the fire. Eg if you want to heat up a cold kugel put it on top of an upside down tray. Now it lacks the appearance of cooking. How does one return a crockpot to its cylinder? On the surface this would be an issue of returning. The way to allow this is to cover the interior of the cylinder with aluminium foil. Then you would have to know its fully cooked, have the intention to return it and hold it whilst serving from it.

Question 1), could there possibly be any issue with leaving raw food on a flame before shabbos? Normally no issue with a melacha with setting it up ahead of shabbos, what about here? Question 2) If your using a hotplate or crockpot is there anything you need to do to it ahead of shabbos to allow you to put food into it before shabbos? Mishna teaches us that a raw food that has began cooking may not be left on an uncovered flame over shabbos. This is despite the fact that the act of positioning the food on the flame was done before shabbos. This restriction is called "shehiyoh". The reason our Rabbi's forbade this was that one might be inclined to adjust the flame in order to make it cook faster. The general custom is to cover the range top with a sheet of metal called a "blech" before shabbos and even when the food is fully cooked. The blech does 2 things: 1) it diminishes the heat of the fire 2) it serves as a visual reminder that adjusting the flame is prohibited. On modern stoves one should cover the flame and preferably the control knobs too. A sheet of metal placed over the grates and burners is adequate. Note that when a blech is in place you could even leave raw food on it, such a raw chullent which is placed there just before shabbos. When this is done, the pot may not be moved or tampered with until after the food is definitely cooked. If you forgot to put a blech on, as long as the food is 1/3 cooked you can use the food. It's best not to put uncooked food into an oven before shabbos to finish cooking. The only way to deal with this would be to cover the source of the heat. In most ovens it comes out of the bottom of the oven so only the bottom of the oven must be covered with a piece of heavy duty foil. To add to this issue, if the thermostat is very sensitive a sudden change in temperature can cause the oven to ignite instantaneously.  A crockpot or hotplate without a temperature settings doesn't need a blech, ie it doesn't require a piece of aluminium foil as there is no possibility that you may adjust the source of heat on shabbos. But please note that for other reasons (insulating) it's best to line the inside of the cylinder of a crockpot with aluminium foil and allow the foil to extend noticeably higher than the cylinder walls. However if the crockpot or hotplate have a temperature control it can only be used if the food was mostly cooked before shabbos, and the controls should be taped or covered before shabbos. For a hotplate, put heavy aluminium foil or a few layers of regular foil as a blech. There is an exception to the requirement of covering the heating element when maintaining food on a flame from before shabbos; this is when raw meat is placed in a slow cooker where it cooks slowly and will therefore only be available for the day meal and not the Friday night meal.

1. Warming cold noodles in a hot pot of soup? 2, reheating boiled chicken on shabbos, is there a way? 3, dipping challah in hot soup? 4, heating a dessert on hot plate where margarine will melt? Although we can't heat a food to the point of the heat where the hand would not touch it as its so hot, we can reheat foods under certain circumstances. This is because a food can't undergo halachik cooking twice.  If you recall cooking is defined as the changing of a food or substance by use of heat.  However in the case of a previously cooked food this doesn't hold true as the food has already undergone a major change when it was first cooked, so reheating isn't considered cooking. There is a big difference between solids and liquids. To be able to reheat a food, it must be a solid food and dry. A cooked liquid can only be reheated if still warm.  Additionally a food may only be reheated with the same method that was used to heat and prepare it the first time, eg a roasted food by roasti ng it and a cooked food by re cooking it. Some examples, 1) it's allowed to take a cold baked potato from the fridge and to place it near flame where it can become hot. 2) one can place cold boiled chicken from the fridge into a hot pot of soup (1st vessel) that was removed from the flame ). 3) matzah or challah may not be put into a hot pot of soup since challah and matzah are baked, and you are now cooking them.  How dry does dry have to be? It doesn't have to be literally dry. As long as no significant accumulation of gravy or liquid its OK. Eg meatballs are considered dry even if moist, as long as not in gravy. Margarine, congealed fat are regarded as "dry" as there current status determines them and they are dry at room temperature. Examples include rewarming chicken with congealed fat or a dessert being rewarmed that has margarine in it.  Anything that is a liquid can't be rewarmed.  Examples include meatballs in sauce, pouring ketchup into a hot pot of chullent, a pot of soup etc.  The reason liquids are different is that heat doesn't have an intrinsic transition in a liquid, which therefore means that a change in temperature of a liquid to a hot point is itself the state of cooking. As long as the liquid remains warm it can still be reheated. "Warm" would mean it could be used for a hot drink. Eg if leftover soup is hot enough it would still be enjoyed, it can be poured back into a the hot pot. It should be noted that only intense dry heat radisting from a direct flame is an issue, therefore boiled chicken or noodles can be put on a hotplate isn't intense enough to cook it.  Foods that were both roasted and cooked go after status of last process, eg a lokshen kugel. So back to our questions. 1) Warming cold lockshen in hot soup ok as long as pot off the fire, as its same way the lokshen was cooked. 2) Reheating boiled cold chicken is ok either by placing it into a pot of soup or by putting it onto a hot plate as the heat isn't hot enough to be an issue. 3) Dipping challah into hot soup is an issue as the challah was baked and you would now be cooking it. The way to do this permissibly would be if either the soup in bowl is no longer terribly hot or if your the hot soup is in a 3rd vessel. 4) Heating a dessert is ok even though the margarine will melt as its considered a dry food as we look at it's current status.

Join the challenge! Oops! We've all been there, we've said something we shouldn't have said, or said something that came out wrong. Now What!?! He reminded us how it can be almost impossible to take the words we say so we need to be so careful with our words, but also showed us how repair is possible. Your Challenge! Think of one person you may have hurt with your words -- we've all done that, and acknowledge to yourself that you owe them an apology. Even if you don't feel courageous enough right now to apologise to them at least acknowledge to yourself that they deserve that. Remember that as hard as it is to be honest with ourselves about our mistakes, it gives us an opportunity to repair and strengthen our relationships.

Question 1) Putting spices into a pot that's on the flame? Ok? Question 2) Putting milk and sugar into a hot coffee? Ok? Question 3) Making a cup of tea on shabbos how to do? There are a number of different categories of how heat can be used to heat uncooked liquids and foods. 1) 1st vessel 2) 2nd vessel  3) 3rd vessel For our purposes please note that we are going to use halachik rather than scientific principles. Ultimately we are saying that the first vessel can cause cooking when its really hot, whereas the second vessel can't, even when it's hotter.. So, it must be dependent on more than simply how hot a vessel is but other factors too, including how the "walls" of the vessels are regarded in terms of "cooling" things off. 1) First vessel - the container into which a food or liquid was cooked or heated. This can be on the flame itself, eg a pot of soup boiling on the fire where its absolutely forbidden to put any uncooked food or liquids into it, eg one can't put salt into a pot that's on the flame on shabbos. Or it could even be a hot pot that's been removed from the flame. You also can't put a baked item into a first vessel, eg croutons into a hot pot of soup.  So, what can be put into a first vessel? Any solid food that is completely cooked may be placed into it once its been removed from the fire, eg a piece of cold cooked chicken could be put into a pot of hot soup. 2) second vessel - it has a lower heat than a first vessel. Its any container into which hot food or liquid from a first vessel is directly poured, eg a cup of hot water filled directly from the hot water urn. The rule is, anything that's deemed "sensitive" to heat can cook even in a second vessel.  As its uncertain exactly what this includes the only items to put into a second vessel are things already cooked like warming a bottle of milk as the milk is pasteurised or to add cold milk or sugar to a coffee. Additionally water, oil, ginger, cinnamon, salt, pepper. 3) Third vessel - it's a different level of heat than a second vessel. We can rely on saying that a third vessel does not cause any cooking, no matter how hot it is. So, use a 3rd vessel anytime you prepare hot drinks or food. So, make your tea or coffee this way.

Question 1) What are the concerns of driving on Shabbos? Question 2) What about pouring hot water from a kettle on a kiddush cup to melt away droplets of wax? Question 3) Any difference between cooking a liquid and a solid? Like drops of water vs piece of chicken. Question 4) What can be re warmed on shabbos? Cooking is the causing of a change in the properties of a food or substance by use of heat. This not only includes a raw food until it becomes edible, through cooking, baking, frying or roasting, but also in non foods too like heating wax until it melts or causing metal to become red hot. In terms of a car there are a number of reasons it's an issue: 1) Melacha of "mavier" which we will do in a later session. Combustion is the issue here. Crazily this melacha occurs thousands of times per minute 🙈. Nothing else like this. 2) This melacha of cooking, due to engine lubricants such as engine oil which are cooked halachically. Similarly the cooling system causes the engine coolant such as the anti freeze to become very hot. Liquids are more strict than solids in a regard. With solids it is considered cooked once there is a significant physical charge.  By liquids they don't need any significant change but rather it's the state of warmth itself which is the point at which cooking has taken place. There is a similarity between liquids and solids in that it's only an issue once a substantial degree of heat has effected the food, this is the point at which ones hand would draw back from touching something due to its heat. So, room temperature wouldn't make you accountable for this melacha, eg if ice cream melted (granted you would have another issue of creation). The temperature of the hand drawing back is somewhere between 40 and 71° celcius/ 104 and 160° degrees Fahrenheit. Another aspect of cooking liquids is accelerating the process. These methods include: 1) Changing the position of the pot so it's closer to the fire. 2) Reducing the volume of what's in the pot cooking, as that causes what's remaining to cook faster. 3) Stiring the food in the pot on the fire.  4) Covering a pot with a lid whilst it's on the flame. 5) Closing an oven door if the food isn't completely cooked. Reheating foods: The only way to do this is with a 1)fully cooked dry food, 2) in an indirect way such as on a hot plate, and 3) in the same way it was cooked the first time!, eg if baked can only be re warmed dry if if cooked can only be re re warmed through liquid, like putting cold noodles into a bowl of hot chicken soup.