Them bones, them bones, them crazy bones TB Shabbat 143

“MISHNA: Beit Shammai say: One may clear bones and shells left from the Shabbat meal from the table with his hand. And Beit Hillel say: One may remove the entire board [tavla] that is the table surface and shake the bones and shells off of it, but he may not lift them with his hand because they are set-aside and may not be moved. One may clear bread crumbs from the table, even if they are less than an olive-bulk, and pea and lentil pods. Even though it is not fit for human consumption, it may be moved because it is animal fodder.” (Sefaria.org translation)

The first thing we noticed in the Mishna on today’s daf TB Shabbat 143 is that Bet Shammi takes the lenient position and Bet Hillel takes the more stringent position. In all of Talmud you could count the times that Bet Shammai is more lenient than Bet Hillel on two hands. Well, Rav Nahman says that the version of the Mishna we have is upside down. Bet Hillel here too holds the more lenient position as we would expect. “Rav Naḥman said: Reverse the two opinions, as we have only Beit Shammai in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Yehuda, who prohibits moving set-aside items, and Beit Hillel in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Shimon, who permits doing so.” (Sefaria.org translation) Remember that Rabbi Yehuda has an expansive definition of muktzeh while Rabbi Shimon has a much more limited definition.

Next, I would venture a guess that most of us never thought of chicken bones as potentially being muktzeh. Even though the chicken dinner was designated for Shabbat usage, can we say that the bones were? Are they like stones and only can be moved in a non-normal fashion (טיטול בצד) and only if you need the space they are occupying. Bet Shammai says yes they are. Bet Hillel says no because chicken bones are different than stones and allows us to remove them in a normal way off the table. 

The halakhah follows Bet Hillel because these bones can serve as cat food. In fact our cat Felix ע'ה would approach his plate many times in anticipation of us putting our chicken bones there for him every Friday night. Rabbi Eliezer Melamed writes: “Food scraps that dogs or cats can eat are not muktzeh. Even if one does not own a cat or dog, there are cats and dogs in town that would be happy to have them. Similarly, bones are not muktzeh, since dogs and cats eat them. However, food scraps that neither man nor animal will eat – such as the nutshells, husks, and fish bones – are muktzeh. Additionally, if food scraps would be eaten by some animals but not by any found locally, they are muktzeh (SA 308:29). Apricot pits that children play with and that were extracted on Shabbat are not muktzeh (see SSK ch. 16 n. 33).” (https://ph.yhb.org.il/en/01-23-03/)

We also started studying the 23^rd chapter of massechet Shabbat which primarily deals with the topic of squeezing (sekheetah-סחיטה). More about that tomorrow.