Good, so we're learning the laws of Borer, the laws of selecting. We had an unbelievable case on Shabbat. I'll tell it to our members. Now that you know a little about Borer, maybe you can start to analyze the case. One of our members in the shul is the candy man. Every shul has a candy man who gives out candies to the kids. Normally, you have to be nervous about the candy man. But Baruch Hashem, we know this guy is a good guy and he's trustworthy. What does he do? He puts a bowl of candy in front of his seat, with a whole bunch of candies: small ones, big ones, different colors, different tastes. The kids know they can go up to him and take two or three candies as they wish. I noticed the kids coming up, picking up one of the candies and looking at it. “Oh, I don't like that one,” they'd say, and they'd throw it to the side. They'd pick up another one: “I don't like that candy.” So basically, what were they doing? They were taking the bad from the good. I'm sure some kids came along and took the candy they wanted. No problem. They saw the red candy they wanted—bing!—and pulled it right out. That's ochel from psolet (waste). That's good from bad. No problem. But a lot of them weren't doing that. They were seeing the bad one, moving it and picking it up: “No, I don't want that one.” They'd pick up another one: “No, I don't want that one.” So the problem is, you can't serve the candy like that. I told him, “Next week, put out separate bowls. Put each candy in a separate bowl so they're not mixed.” Then it's not a problem of Borer. His question was, “Can I separate them now?” Interesting question. He wants to separate the candies now. What is he basically doing? He's separating each item. He separates the jelly beans into their own group, then the mint candies into their own group, and the chocolates. Is that a problem of Borer? Well, the Pri Megadim writes that it's not a problem. It's not a problem of Borer at all. Because what's consistent? It's a psolet. There's no psolet, there's no bad. You're just categorizing things. He says that categorizing things is not considered taking good from bad when you're just categorizing them. That's what the Pri Megadim writes. And therefore, he says, you have no problem. But I'm sorry to tell you, not everybody agrees. The Mishnah Berurah says that is Borer, and therefore, you can't categorize; you can't separate. So I told him this could be a sin from the Torah. What are you going to do now? Separating the candies—separating them into separate dishes. Therefore, I told him, “Wait until after Shabbat, and you can separate them at that time.”
However, I'll give you an example where Borer will be permissible, and even the Mishnah Berurah agrees. Let's say you're separating something, but not to categorize it. You're separating something to throw it away. To throw it away. Let's say you finished with the soup. Hamda, whatever it is on Shabbat. It could be Hamda; it has soup, meatballs, and vegetables. Now you want to get rid of it, so you pour it down the sink. When you're pouring it down the sink, you have a sieve there, the metal sieve in the drain that catches the big pieces. So basically, by pouring it down the sink, you're separating the juice that goes down from the big parts that stay up. Hey, it's Borer. Well, it's not a problem of Borer, because the Mishnah Berurah says that when you're throwing it away, you're discarding it. That's not Borer. Borer means selecting to eat or selecting to use, not selecting when you're getting rid of it. So we don't have to worry about throwing something down the sink, even though it's going to get caught in that colander.
Similarly, the Poskim (halakhic authorities) bring down an interesting case. Sometimes, at the end of a meal, you have bread on the table. Some of the bread is still good, and of course you want to keep that bread for later. But some of the bread has sauce on it, or is dirty, or whatever, and you want to get rid of it. You see a lady taking a plastic bag and putting some of the pieces of bread that aren't clean into it. Ultimately, she wants to throw them away. Since she's selecting in order to throw them away, that's not considered Borer. Borer is only when you're selecting to use something or to benefit from it later on, not when you're discarding it. Therefore, you can take that plastic bag and take the pieces off the table. Even if they're mixed up, you can take the small pieces, whatever they are, and put them in the bag. I know some of you are saying, “Wait, what do you mean, throw away bread? Are you allowed to throw away bread? I thought the Gemara said that if you throw away bread, God forbid, you could become poor.” It's true. You're really not supposed to throw away bread. But the Mefarshim (commentators) explained that this means throwing it directly in the garbage, in a shameful way, where the bread comes in contact with all the refuse in the garbage. But if you put it in a plastic bag, then even though you drop it into the garbage, it's separate. Eventually it's going to spoil on its own, but there is no problem with doing that. And you don't have to worry about what the Gemara says, that it leads to poverty, as long as you put it in the bag.
My point for today is that you're allowed to collect the pieces of bread off the table, again because you're discarding them. But in the case where he was separating the candies, you're not discarding them; you're going to eat them later on. And therefore, since you're going to eat them later on, you have a problem of Borer. Therefore, even when separating things and putting them into categories, one should be strict and not do that. All right, Rabotai. That concludes the halakha (Jewish law) of the day regarding the laws of Borer. Layla Tov, and Be'ezrat Hashem, we hope to see our members tomorrow night.