Melacha #38: MAKEH B'PATISH - FINAL HAMMER BLOW (FINISHING)

Av Melacha: The last hammer blow the smith gives [on the anvil], finishing off the golden overlay on the beams and other vessels.

Principle: Any physical action that irreversibly transforms or immediately completes an object.

Toldot: Carving out a stone, engraving a vessel, opening uncut pages of a book, winding a watch that has stopped ticking, putting laces in a new pair of shoes, creating a "passageway."

Application:

It is a Torah prohibition to make a neat, usable, two-way opening or hole in a vessel. Therefore, one may not cut or create a nice, big hole in a milk container, plastic bag, etc. in order to remove the contents -- even though the bag is used only once. In order to get the milk, one must first destroy the entire container by slicing through it, and then pour the contents into a different vessel. (One must be careful not to cut through any words or pictures.) According to some, it is permitted to make a tiny hole in the corner of a plastic [milk] bag, even using scissors or a knife.

Gezeirot:

1. Repairing or fixing an object:
   1. Physically repairing a vessel or making it work again (or work better). Examples: nailing a leg back into a chair. (When the repair is a significant one, it remains a Torah prohibition, i.e. when the vessel is totally non-usable before the repair.)

   2. Repairing a vessel even in a temporary way -- e.g. one may not loosely put back a detached chair leg. If a vessel falls apart and (since it is prohibited to place the pieces together again) the vessel becomes impractical for use, the entire vessel becomes Muktzah and may not be moved. [Thus, if a leg comes completely off a chair, or a wheel falls off a baby stroller, all the pieces become Muktzah.]

      If the piece which falls off is lost or completely broken, and thus cannot be used anymore, then what is left over of the original vessel is not Muktzah.

   3. It is permitted to repair a vessel in such a temporary way that it will never be left in that state permanently. Example: replacing a doorknob with a screwdriver.

   4. Perfecting something "spiritually" -- i.e. making something halachically usable which was previously not usable -- is prohibited because it resembles this melacha. For example, one may not Maaser (tithe) food, take Challah (from dough), or Tovel (immerse in a mikvah) a vessel on Shabbat.

2. Actions that may lead one to perform a [Torah-prohibited] repair of a vessel:
   1. Making music, because one might come to repair a musical instrument -- e.g. a broken string.
      1. Creating sound with a musical instrument is in all cases prohibited.

      2. Making music with a non-musical instrument -- e.g. hitting a glass with a spoon -- is only prohibited under the following three conditions:
         1. its purpose is to make music, and not simply to draw attention, and

         2. it is done in the normal way that such a sound would be produced [on a weekday], and

         3. a musical or rhythmic sound is produced.

         For example, one may hit a glass with a spoon to ask for silence, but one may not use a guitar to make noise.

      (Some authorities hold that nowadays this prohibition applies even to making rhythmic sound with one's body, such as clapping hands or stamping feet, when done in the normal fashion.)

   2. Dancing with complicated moves, because this might lead to making music. (According to all opinions, dancing and clapping are permitted on Simchat Torah, when done for the honor of Torah.)

   3. Swimming, since one might come to make a raft.

Takana:

It is prohibited to produce a sound with an object that is made to produce noise (e.g. a baby rattle), even if no "music" is intended.

Moving such an item is permitted if it can be moved without making noise. Therefore, though is prohibited to shake a baby rattle, it is permitted to give it to the baby. (This is true even if one would make noise in the handling.)

It is prohibited to use a "door-knocker" (unless it is only used on Shabbat).

It is permitted to set the alarm on an alarm clock that is mechanical (i.e. non-battery, non-electric), though it is prohibited to wind it.