When Runoff Ruins the Day of Rest
Shabbos was forecast as a real scorcher, but here in the earlier hours of the day, I’m relaxing on my front porch with a hefty sefer (holy book) and an icy drink. I get quite involved, hardly aware when the air conditioner kicks in with a muffled roar. But suddenly I feel a cold drop of water on the back of my neck—then another and another. No longer able to concentrate on my learning, I scoot over and contemplate the sweating A/C, thinking of going inside to get an empty bucket to collect the water before my beautiful Shabbos morning interlude turns into a dripping mess.
—Wait a minute!
Water dripping from an A/C unit is considered nolad (a new creation) since it is an entity that came into being on Shabbos. It is therefore muktzah (may not be moved on Shabbos). According to many opinions, we may not place a bucket to collect it, since it’s considered mevatel kli me’heichano (invalidating a [useful] object by adding [forbidden] content to it).
The solution in this situation is to place a bucket that has a small amount of liquid—not water—in it, so that kama, kama batel (drop by drop it is nullified). In this way, the dripping muktzah water is always smaller in quantity than what is already in the container; as the bucket fills up with the runoff water, each new drop is absorbed into the permissible mixture and the bucket does not become muktzah.
Another option is to place a fragile, expensive object (such as a bottle of wine) into the empty bucket. Now the bucket is a bosis (base) to substances both heter (permissible) and issur (forbidden), with the valuable item of heter (the wine bottle) nullifying the muktzah (the runoff). In addition, the bucket has attained the status of ee-efshar l’naaro (the muktzah can’t be tipped out as it would break the wine bottle), so that as it fills with dirty water, the container may still be moved in a direct manner under all circumstances.
Any bucket that becomes ma’us (unpleasant) when it fills up with dirty runoff may be removed b’dieved (ex post facto, i.e. it may not be produced with the express intention to move it) on the principle of graf shel re’i (offensive waste); repulsive muktzah which is found in a place of residence may be moved on Shabbos because its presence is at odds with civilized behavior. #638