We're continuing here with the daily halacha (Jewish law): Can one make Israeli salad on Shabbat? Why is that even a question? The answer is that one of the 39 melachot, one of the 39 actions that a person is allowed to do on Shabbat, is melechet Shabbat (Shabbat labor), called tochen. Tochen means to cut into small pieces, to crush, to grind a vegetable. So anything that grows from the ground—fruits or vegetables—a person cannot cut into very, very small pieces, grind with a grinder, or cut into very thin pieces and crush into a salad. That would be asur min haTorah (forbidden by Torah law) because of tochen. However, things that don't grow from the ground, like cheese, meat, and fish—anything that doesn't grow from the ground—you're allowed to grind and make into very, very thin or small pieces. But with anything that grows from the ground, such as fruits and vegetables, one has to be very careful on Shabbat not to break the issur (prohibition) of tochen by crushing the vegetables into very small pieces.
So how does one make vegetable salad on Shabbat? How does one make Israeli salad on Shabbat? The reason I mention Israeli salad is that it is very well known for having very, very small pieces of vegetables. The onions are small, the cucumbers are small, and the tomatoes are very small. That's 100%, or most probably, issur tochen on Shabbat. It's something that should be avoided totally on Shabbat.
So how can one do it? The answer is either you do it right before the meal, just like we know we have halacha by borer. A person cannot do borer on Shabbat. A person cannot separate bad from good on Shabbat. A person cannot cut the peels off vegetables on Shabbat because the peels are psolet, are bad, and the vegetables are good. So how can one peel any vegetable on Shabbat? The answer is that the Shulchan Aruch writes that if you do it while you're eating or right before you're eating, within a half hour or less, then you're allowed to peel your vegetables. So even though you're doing borer by removing the peel from the vegetable, and the peel is considered not good, psolet, and you're removing it from the vegetables, which is good, which is ochel, you're still allowed to do it when you do it right before you eat or a half hour before or less.
So too when it comes to tochen. The melacha of tochen is similar to borer. A person cannot do tochen on Shabbat. A person cannot cut vegetables into very small pieces. However, if they do it right before they eat, on their plate by the Shabbat table, or on the table at the Shabbat table, or within a half hour before they start the meal, or less—which means less than a half hour—then they're allowed to do tochen. Then they're allowed to cut the vegetables into very small pieces.
So is one allowed to make Israeli salad on Shabbat? The answer is, it depends. If they do it while they're eating or right before they start the seudah (meal), a half hour before—for example, if a person eats Shabbat lunch at 12 o'clock, they're allowed to start making the salads at 11:30 and on. Before that, one is not allowed to cut the vegetables into very small pieces.