So what do we know so far? We know, basically, the machloket Rishonim (dispute among the early authorities) between Tosafot, Ramban, Rashba, and Ran: Tosafot says that borer (selecting) has to do with quantity. It is not such a bad shitah (approach), because he builds it from the stirah (contradiction) on daf kuf lamed chet (page 138). The Gemara clearly says that derech borer (usual manner of sorting) is ochel mitoch psolet (food from refuse). And our Gemara said that ochel mitoch psolet is mutar (permitted) on Shabbat. Clearly, derech borer cannot be mutar on Shabbat. So Tosafot has to find a chiluk (distinction). So he finds an unbelievable chiluk, and he says it is all about the quantity. He says derech borer is ochel mitoch psolet when there is a lot of psolet and a little ochel, so you take out the little item. Our Gemara, which said that ochel mitoch psolet is mutar, was talking about a lot of ochel and a little psolet. So taking ochel mitoch psolet is a shinui; that is not the usual way. It is not derech borer, so that is not borer. Which means that ochel mitoch psolet is not an ironclad halachah. Sometimes it is psolet mitoch ochel (refuse from food), and sometimes it is ochel mitoch psolet. It depends on what borer is and on the quantity. Again, you have to say something because there is a stirah here; you are up against the stirah.
Other Rishonim, like the Ran—we saw it yesterday in the paper, in Chidushei ha-Ran (Innovations of the Ran)—he says, “Listen, you’re right; the Gemara later on is a problem.” But just as Tosafot made chilukim legabei (regarding) quantity, we’ll make chilukim legabei time. I could say that the Gemara later on, which said ochel mitoch psolet is derech borer, was talking about when you do it: Bo ba-yom (on that same day), when you are not doing it immediately. Our Gemara over there said that ochel mitoch psolet is mutar; that is le'altar (immediately), because that is considered derech achilah (the manner of eating). Or, le'altar: over there, you were talking about using a keli (utensil). In the wine case, we were using a meshameret (wine strainer); that is a keli. Even ochel mitoch psolet with a keli is going to be borer. Mah she-ein ken, our Gemara over there was talking about using your yad (hand). Therefore, the Ran says there is no such thing as differences in quantity and all that. Ochel mitoch psolet is the only way you can do borer. Psolet mitoch ochel is not an option.
Okay, so we left off yesterday on that note. We said beli neder we would come back today, open up the Shulchan Aruch, and see what Maran (our master) holds.
Let’s open up the Aruch first, because let’s read it inside. It’s going to be siman (section) shin-yud-tet. Baruch Atah Hashem Elokeinu Melech ha-olam she-ha-kol nihyah bi-devaro (Blessed are You, Hashem, our God, King of the universe, by whose word all came to be). It’s going to be se'if (section), I guess, heh. Ein chiluk be-borer bein she-borer ochel mitoch psolet u-vein she-borer psolet mitoch ochel, de-ve-chulo chayav chatat (sin offering). You know? Hey, boom! It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter what you do, really. Ochel mitoch psolet could be borer, which is true. It’s true. Ochel mitoch psolet can be borer, and psolet mitoch ochel definitely can be borer.
Ve-chen hu le-hedya ba-Gemara: de-ve-makom echad omer (daf kuf lamed chet) mah darko shel borer, borer ochel u-maniach psolet, u-ve-makom acher omer (ayin daled) psolet mitoch ochel lo yivror, ve-im berar chayav chatat. There you go. So that’s Tosafot’s question. Ve-da'at raboteinu Ba'alei ha-Tosafot sham ha-inyan ken hu. That’s why the Aruch ha-Shulchan (Aruch ha-Shulchan) is so beautiful: you get a little flavor of the Rishonim. You get—it’s like just reading gives you the sugya a little bit. Ha-inyan ken hu: de-le-olam borerim ha-mu'at mitoch ha-merubeh. De-kheshe-ha-psolet merubah derech livror ha-ma'achal, u-kheshe-ha-ochel merubeh derech livror ha-psolet, ayen sham. U-mihu le-dina ha-kol echad afilu min ha-Torah. What does ha-kol echad lefi ha-Torah mean? It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter what the quantity is. Okay, but how are you answering the stirah? Ha-kol echad: there is no difference between a greater amount and a lesser amount.
Veha-Rambam yesh chiluk, de-psolet mitoch ochel le-olam chayav. Afilu birer be-yad, kedei le'echol miyad (immediately), chayav. Oho! Let’s get the Rambam, rabotai. The Rambam is in Shabbat, there, perek zayin, halachah yod-gimel. Shabbat zayin, yod-gimel. There’s no—ah, there is no yod-gimel? No, that’s not the one. Then I’m going to guess that that’s not the one. So then it’s going to be Shabbat there, perek chet? Okay, all right, yod-gimel. Veha-borer psolet mitoch ochel, ha-ochel, afilu be-yado achat, chayav. So the Rambam says psolet mitoch ochel is always chayav, even if you did it be-yad. Psolet mitoch ochel, there is nothing to discuss. Like our Gemara said, our Gemara said borer ochel mitoch psolet. So he learns specifically ochel mitoch psolet. Any other calculations, chayav chatat.
Veha-borer turmosin (lupines) mitoch psolet shelahem chayav mipnei sheha-psolet shelahem mematekan otan keshesholkan otan, ve-nimtza ke-motzi psolet mitoch ochel ve-chayav. Leave the turmosin. So, ha-borer ochel mitoch psolet: good, be-yado, good; lehanicho—ah, bad. Afilu le-vo ba-yom, na'asah ke-vorer le-otzar (for storage) ve-chayav. Ah, chayav also. So the Rambam is very strict. The Rambam says even ochel mitoch psolet, ochel mitoch psolet be-yad—you’re good. You have ochel mitoch psolet be-yad, but you don’t have miyad; the Rambam says chayav. So the Rambam is very, very strict. So, psolet mitoch ochel, have a good day. Have a good day with psolet mitoch ochel. Don’t even talk to me about psolet mitoch ochel. And even with ochel mitoch psolet, you’d better have some conditions there; otherwise you’re going to be chayav as well. So he took all the—he took everything, all the opinions in the Gemara. Obviously, he held that they’re not arguing. He took the be-yad one, the miyad one, the ochel mitoch psolet one, and put them together.
Stop right there. Go back to the Aruch ha-Shulchan. Veha-Rambam yesh chiluk u-ve-psolet mitoch ochel le-olam chayav. Finished. But wait, according to Tosafot, that’s not so. Sometimes you have to do it that way. Sometimes you have to do it that way. If that’s the lesser amount, then that’s— that’s— that’s what you have to do. Oh, no, no. If it’s the greater amount, then you have to do the opposite, because whatever the derech borer is, you have to do the opposite. Afilu birer be-yad kedei le'echol miyad chayav. Ochel mitoch psolet le'echol miyad mutar kemo she-peresh Tosafot. Ve-chen be-meraked amrinan hatam mah darko shel meraked, psolet milma'alah ochel milmatah, ayen sham. Mihu im hirkid le-hefech, ochel milma'alah psolet milmatah, gam ken chayav de-mai shena. Okay, that’s all we need to know over here.
Open up the Shulchan Aruch, rabotai, halachah alef. Is there a shi'ur for miyad? Miyad means—yeah, sure, we’ll see. We’ll see, of course we’ll see. We’ll see. Very good question. What does le'altar mean? Sitting at the table, putting it in your mouth, hand to mouth? Right. Also, I mean, no nafka mina (practical difference) really, but what would Tosafot hold if it was fifty-fifty?
That’s what Tarbag, Rabbi Tarbag, called me up yesterday from Sha'arei Torah in the middle of a class. He’s teaching the girls Hilchot Berachot (Laws of Blessings). He calls me up while I’m driving to Deal. He says, “Rabbi Mansour, you’re on speakerphone.” I say, “What’s the case? Don’t embarrass me.” He says, “Don’t embarrass me.” I say, “No, I’m careful.” So he said, “What’s the berachah (blessing) on Crispix?” I said, “Crispix? I’m not a cereal guy. Explain to me what Crispix is, and I’ll tell you what the berachah is.” He said, “Half of it is rice, half of it is corn flour. And Kellogg’s said, mamash, it’s 50% one side...” I said, “It is?” He said, “That’s why he called you on it.” “50% flour on one side, mamash, it’s machine-made. It’s half... What’s the berachah on...” Crispix. “Shehakol (Blessed are You, Hashem, our God, King of the universe, by whose word all came to be)—why shehakol? It’s 50/50. Bake-off, maybe, like you said, no?” “Okay, but bake-off.” Every time you eat a spoonful of it, you’re 50/50, no matter how you split it up. Every spoonful is 50/50.
“Ah, so the milk is a ta'arovet (mixture), and that’s if you don’t eat it with the milk.” “No, but half is corn. So the rice—the rice, the rice—doesn’t go with kol she-yesh bo (anything containing it). What if we threw in rice flour and said rice flour is shehakol, or said rice—” “No, this, this rice was—it’s rice. It is—” “This is a mezonot (grain-food blessing), right?” “Exactly, that’s the way he told me. The rice is mezonot, and they established already, and the corn flour is shehakol.” “Ah, the rice is not flour?” “No, rice is not flour.” “Ah, then all right, that’s fine. You don’t say kol she-yesh bo on rice.”
Anyway, I’m just giving you this—he’s like 50/50. That’s why he asked me that question yesterday; we’re talking about Crispix. One of my students showed me this Crispix; I didn’t—We have it in the top closets, an unbelievable item, and mamash, it’s 50/50. So I told him in the class, “Take off one. Take off a drop of the corn flour; now you’re 49%, so whenever you put—” “Do you have to do it every time you eat it by the spoonful, then?” “Can be a bowl.” “Yeah, but every time you have a spoonful of it, now you made a mezonot. I guess on the first spoon, once you made a mezonot, well, you could be, you cover it. On the first spoon, take a little of the corn flour off; now in that spoon it’s going to be more than the flour.” I don’t know, a lot of tricks. Sure, sure, they’ve talked about it. They made this cereal on purpose to stump us. Mamash! Mamash! Lehagdil Torah uleha'adir (To magnify and glorify Torah). Lehagdil Torah uleha'adir.
Okay, David, do you want to read the Shulchan Aruch, ha-borer? Ha-borer ochel mitoch psolet o she-hayu lefanav shenei minei ochalim, borer min mi-min acher be-nafah u-ve-khevarah chayav. So first Maran says ha-borer ochel mitoch psolet, or even if you had two minei ochalim (kinds of food), or if you have two foods in front of you, which we haven’t seen yet, u-vorer min mi-min acher, you're separating even two foods—I guess one you like, one you don’t like, and you did it with a nafah ve-khevarah (sieve and winnowing basket)? Oh, nafah ve-khevarah, have a good day. Nafah ve-khevarah, chayav. Continue. Bikanon u-ve-tamchui, patur aval asur (exempt but prohibited). Okay, bikanon, patur aval asur. This is like one of the rabbis in the Gemara, Rabbi Yosef, or one of the rabbis in the Gemara. Aval asur. Ve-im—ve-im berar, ve-im berar be-yado kedei le'echol le'altar mutar. Beautiful!
So the Shulchan Aruch over here sounds like he took the Rambam, ve-lo katav le-chalek be-din ha-borer ochel mitoch ha-psolet keshe-ha-psolet merubah. He didn’t mention over here—I mean, he tells me, ha-borer ochel mitoch psolet be-yado mutar. That is—what do you mean? How could that be? That’s what you’re doing, so how should he say it? Mutar? Well, where were you on the beraita (early Tannaitic teaching)? The beraita—what did the beraita say? Borer ve-ochel, borer u-maniach (One may select and eat, or select and set aside). How come you jumped up now? How come for three days we’ve been reading the beraita and you didn’t say anything? I’m just asking you. Borer—all right, so borer. Borer means it’s mutar. In this case, borer is mutar.