Coronavirus: Relevant Halachos in These Trying Times (19)
Tightening a Mask Nose Piece on Shabbos. Last week we mentioned that metal nose pieces on masks made to tighten and loosen each time one puts them on and off, are permitted to be adjusted on Shabbos. However, there are some masks which the nose piece is not made to fit tightly and after the wearer bends them the first time to fit, that is the way it stays. Afterwards, it just slides on and off. Squeezing it the first time on Shabbos is a real “Mesakan Mana/Maka B’patish” and is prohibited.
Using Seforim as a Weight: Question: When I learn outdoors - both in or out of a tent - the wind sometimes picks up and starts to blow away the Torah papers I’m writing. It also starts blowing the pages of my open seforim, and it makes it difficult to hold the right place. Am I permitted to use other seforim to weigh down the papers or hold open the other seforim to the right place, so that the wind will not blow them away?
Answer: Yes. This is permitted in halacha. To explain this shaila, we must introduce a relevant Machlokes, a difference of opinion between the Taz and Magen Avraham, which is quoted in Mishna Berura (154:31 and 315:31). If a sefer is already on a table where one wants to learn, according to all opinions he can place another sefer on top of it to help him use the top sefer at his desired height. However, if one wishes to bring a sefer from elsewhere and put it down to place another sefer on top of it at his desired height, the Taz prohibits it. The Magen Avraham permits this. Our case is similar because here he is using one sefer to help him learn properly in another sefer by weighing down the pages of the open sefer. From both the Mishna Berura and the Kitzur Shulchan Aruch (28:9) it seems that one can rely on the Magen Avraham.
One might argue that this only permits the use of a sefer to help use another sefer which clearly has a similar level of kedusha as the one assisting it. However, how is this a justification to permit holding down pages of hand-written notes, or blank paper to be used for writing? Maybe one cannot use a sefer to service notes or blank sheets? This is not a justified argument because if one looks at the Magen Avraham mentioned in Mishna Berura (154), he will see that the Magen Avraham’s logic is not because one sefer can serve another sefer. Rather, his logic is that when a sefer is not being actively moved and used at the same time, but rather being used passively by just sitting there, it is not called “using” a sefer because what is the difference if it sits here or there?
He proves this from the Gemara (Megillah 26b) which says that one may move a bimah on which the Torah is read to block an opening between two rooms, so that Tumas Meis (impurity of a dead body) will not travel into the next room and prevent Kohanim from entering. He explains the heter of the Gemara because what is the difference if the bimah sits here or there? That is not called using the bimah in a degrading way. This also permits our case of weighing down the notes and pages with a sefer.