Chapter 20
Categories of Muktzeh
Laws specifically relating to muktzeh on Yom Tov are explained in Chapter 21.
NATURE OF MUKTZEH
1.a Maimonides (Mishneh Torah, Hilchoth Shabbath 24:12) explains what the laws of muktzch are in the following manner: “The Sages forbade one to handle some objects on Shabbath as one does during the week”.
1.b. He says that one of the reasons for the laws of muktzeh is that they follow logically from the prohibitions derived from the Prophet Isaiah: Chapter 58, verses 13 and 14.
1.c. Pursuant to these prohibitions, one’s manner of walking and one’s conversation should not be the same on Shabbath as on other days of the week, but should be subject to restriction. (See Chapter 29.)
1.d. All the more so, concluded the Sages, should one be restricted in handling objects on Shabbath.
1.e. Otherwise, one would find something to do with every object one picked up, having little else to occupy one on Shabbath, and the purpose of our being granted a Shabbath day of rest would be defeated.
