Chapter 22
General Principles Relating to Muktzeh on Shabbath and Yom Tov
USING, TOUCHING AND MOVING OBJECTS WHICH ARE MUKTZEH
33.a. A keli she-melachto le-issur which one has picked up in permissible circumstances, and which is still in one’s hand after one has finished using it or moving it out of the way, may be put down wherever one wishes. (See Chapter 20, paragraph 11)
1) Thus, if one has picked it up in order to use it for a permitted purpose, one is not obliged to throw it down then and there as soon as one has finished using it.
2) Likewise, if one has removed it in order to use the place it occupied, one need not drop it the moment it reaches a position in which it will no longer be a hindrance.
33.b. 1) This is not so in the case of
a) a keli she-melachto le-issur which has come into one’s hand in circumstances where this is not allowed (for instance where one has picked it up by mistake and needs neither to use the object itself for a permitted purpose nor the place which it occupies), or of
b) a muktzeh object of any other category which has come into one’s hand in a forbidden manner.
2) In these cases, the muktzeh object must be put down right away, unless this would cause one financial loss, in which event one may take it to a safe place (provided there are no other prohibitions involved in doing so) and leave it there.
33.c. 1) As explained in Chapter 20, paragraph 26, shells, fruit pits (stones) and bones which are not fit to be eaten even by an animal are muktzeh mei-chamath gufo.
2) They may, nonetheless, be taken out of one’s mouth with one’s hand and put on the plate.
33.d. 1) Similar considerations apply to teruma, terumath ma’aser and challa which have been separated on Shabbath or Yom Tov (in the permitted ways described in Chapter 11, paragraphs 16 and 18 to 28).
2) Although they too are muktzeh, as explained in Chapter 20, paragraph 30, they may be moved in the course of separating and putting them aside.
3) However, once they have been put down, they may not be moved again.
