Introduction:

The following chapter will deal with the laws of squeezing liquids out of solids on Shabbos. Squeezing liquid from a fruit or vegetable involves the Mifarek prohibition which is an offshoot of the threshing prohibition and is thus only permitted to be done in certain scenarios.

The following are the main Halachas of the first chapter.

The first and second Halacha will deal with the laws of squeezing from fruits/vegetables for purposes of drinking the liquid. The third Halacha will deal with squeezing them in order to season a food. The seventh Halacha will deal with squeezing liquids out from cooked or pickled fruits and vegetables.

The Melacha of Dash

A. The Av Melacha of Dash:[1]

Threshing [the act of industrially separating grains from their stalk, such as by stomping on a threshing floor of wheat stalks] is one of the Av Melacha, a principal Melacha, that was performed in the Mishkan. [In the Mishkan this was performed with the dyes, as the dyes were extracted from seeds that were removed from stalks.]

B. The Tolda/subcategories of Dash:[2]

Whoever separates food or drink from the area in which it was covered is performing a Tolda, a subcategory, of the Dash prohibition. The reason for this is because the Av Melacha of Dash involves loosening the grains from the stalk.

C. Examples:

· One who milks an animal is liable for Dash, as he has separated the milk from the utter.[3]

· One who removes beans from their pods.[4]

· Squeezing liquid out of olives and grapes.[5]

· Squeezing liquid from a cloth.[6]

· A woman who squeezes milk from her breasts.[7]