Chapter 20
Categories of Muktzeh
Laws specifically relating to muktzeh on Yom Tov are explained in Chapter 21.
BASIS LA-DAVAR HA-ASSUR
71. The following rules apply to the garment itself:
a. 1) Where the pocket is a patch-pocket,* the whole garment becomes a basis la-davar ha-assur (subject to fulfillment of the conditions set out in paragraphs 50 to 56 above) and may not be moved even after the muktzeh object has been taken out.
2) It is worth noting that this situation will not usually arise, as explained in paragraph 72a below.
b. 1) If (as in the case of ordinary trouser pockets and most jacket pockets) the pocket is of the type which is sewn around its opening to attach it to the garment and is self-contained in that the garment itself does not constitute one of its walls, the whole garment does not become a basis la-davar ha-assur even where, as explained in paragraph 70b, the pocket does.
2) Should one wish to wear the garment or move it about, one should first shake it to make the muktzeh object drop out by itself – as described in paragraph 72b below – but one should not try to achieve this by turning the pocket inside out (if the pocket itself is muktzeh)
c. 1) If the pocket containing the muktzeh object is the small pocket for loose change one often finds sewn inside a larger pocket, whether or not the larger pocket or the whole garment becomes a basis la-davar ha-assur depends on considerations parallel to those set out in a and b above.
2) Thus, if the small pocket containing the muktzeh object shares a wall with the large pocket (as in a above) and the large pocket is of the type which hangs inside the garment (as in b above), then
a) both pockets may become a basis la-davar ha-assur, but
b) the garment as a whole is not muktzeh.
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*a. A patch-pocket consists of a piece of cloth sewn onto the garment in such a way that the garment itself constitutes one wall of the pocket.
b. Shirt and cardigan pockets are usually patch-pockets, and sometimes the top pockets of jackets are as well.
