/
RSS Feed
We are continuing in siman 11. We left off discussing synthetic materials and whether the melacha of melabein will apply to them. The halacha is that if the garment is woven of synthetic material, one must be concerned for melabein. Thus, for example, one cannot pour water on a stain on a tablecloth made of synthetic material. The weave allows it to be considered akin to regular material in that it holds dirt, so even soaking the stain will be assur.
If the tablecloth is clean, and water spilled on it, even trying to remove the water by pushing or siphoning it off will be assur, because of the concept of sheriyuso zehu kibuso. One could place a towel or the like on top of the water to absorb it, but cannot move it around. If the liquid is dirty, it would be muttar to move around the liquid, because it dirties the tablecloth rather than cleans it. In regards to wine, it is a machlokes whether wine makes a garment dirty or clean, so one should try to avoid the issue.
If one has a plastic tablecloth on top of their regular tablecloth, the concept of sheriyuso zehu kibuso does not apply. Plastic is minimally comparable to leather, where we do not apply the concept of sheriyuso zehu kibuso. Therefore, one could pour some water on top of the dirt in order to help clean it.
On the other hand, we learned that kiskus, rubbing vigorously, does apply to leather, and it is a discussion in the poskim whether this issur would apply to leather as well. Some poskim hold that plastic is better than leather, because it does not absorb at all, while leather does eventually absorb. Therefore, there is no issue rubbing plastic, because it is merely removing an item from the surface, akin to washing dishes. Others hold that since the plastic is pliable, kiskus will apply. Rav Moshe holds that one should be machmir that it is a problem.
Shaking out a wet tablecloth is assur, as it is a form of kibus. If there is liquid only on the surface, it is not a problem. If it is dry, one can shake it out if the dirt is on the surface, but if it is embedded in the tablecloth such that it needs to be shaken vigorously, it is assur.
Summary
- The melacha of melabein is applied to synthetic materials in the same way it is applied to other garments.
- The concept of sheriyuso zehu kibuso is not applied to plastic. However, we are machmir that kiskus does apply to plastic
