Power Up!

Power Up!

By Gila RossReligion & SpiritualityJudaism
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Power Up! episodes

  • Shabbos Treasures 20 - Medicines & Treatments
    In the time of the Talmud most medicines were derived from herbs, which were prepared by grinding or pulverizing. This involves the melacha of grinding, therefore any form of medication or therapy was Rabbinically forbidden to safeguard the melacha. Even exercise would be included in this as it improves one's fitness.
    1) As a rule any form of progressive therapy is forbidden, so any form of corrective or health enhancing therapy is included, eg, ingesting pills, use of ointments  acupuncture etc.
    This is even for a healthy person, therefore medications, exercise, vitamins taken to improve one's physical constitution are out.
    2) However, vitamins are OK to maintain one's health, eg to prevent a relapse. Preventative therapy is ok as long as it doesn't also strengthen or also improve him. So vitamins not ok if also to improve his general health. 
    3) Only minor ailments are included in this prohibition. Severe illnesess etc were never restricted by Rabbinic ordinance. 
    4) Also note, if it could be excused as behaviour of a regular person it's ok, eg having a hot tea to sooth a throat is ok, as is taking a walk to ease tension, as people who are fine do these things too.
    5) Medications that will only be effective when taken over many days consecutively may be taken. 
    Antibiotics are fine to continue with as needed to complete the course.
    6) For an illness such as a headache that it's bad enough to confine him to bed, he can then take medicine. 
    We shall now look at a number of real life examples and get a feel for how complicated this can be and why to ask a Rabbi in all cases!:
    1) Removing a splinter? OK as not healing, but removal of "outside affliction".
    2) Talcum powder for perspiring feet?
    Ok as only absorbing troublesome moisture.
    3) Applying a plaster (bandaid) on shabbos?
    Ok (as long as no ointment on it) as it merely covers and protects the wound.
    4) Drinking whisky to to calm nerves?
    Ok as it could be something a regular person does.
    5) Taking a pill when fearful a headache could come on?
    Ok as preventative.
    6) Sleeping pills?
    Ok as fatigue isn't regarded as a medical condition. 
    What to do if I want/ need to take medication but it doesn't appear to follow any of the lenient examples?
    You can always camouflage it into food eg smeer with peanut butter or crush into a dribk before shabbos, as then it doesn't have appearance of medicine.
    27 min
  • Shabbos Treasures 19 - Grinding

    How to make a salad on Shabbos? Or otherwise put what could possibly potentially be wrong with making a nice salad on Shabbos?

    After the grain was isolated from the dirt it was ground into flour.

    The melacha of grinding is breaking down and reducing a sizable entity into small parts whereby it becomes suitable for a new use.

    So, crushing, chopping, pulverizing any object into small particles whether by hand or with a utensil.

    Eg chopping lumber into wood chips.

    By food, it's only an issue when food is reduced to small particles which makes it easier to eat. 

    There are 4 exceptions to grinding under which if you have even 1 of these 4 its ok:

    1) It is only an issue with  earth grown foods. So, meat, fish, cheese etc can be chopped up.

    2) There is no problem  of grinding after grinding. 

    So you could crush a cookie into tiny crumbs because the flour was already ground.

    3) For immediate use is fine.

    So even if it wasn't pre ground, and it came from the ground you can reduce the fruit or vegetable to a pulverised mass eg by chewing on a carrot.

    4) When done in an abnormal way is fine, eg grinding with the handle of a knife is ok.

    So, when we speak about making a salad on Shabbos, other than "borer" - sorting issues we saw such as removing bugs or taking the bad from the good, the issue to look out for is grinding related.

    The way to deal with this issue is to prepare the salad immediately before consumption. The other exemptions of not growing from the ground and being chopped previously don't apply.

    If it's not practical to chop the fruits or vegetables just "before" the meal you can avoid the issue by either using the back of a knife, or by cutting it into long thin slices under which the whole issue doesn't arise.

    16 min
  • W4W: Esther & Your Place in History
    The Jews are in desperate danger and mordechai is trying to convince Esther to put her life on the line for her people. But he tells her, don't worry the Jews will be saved anyway! Why should she bother? Well learn about conflicting worldviews and why we should push ourselves in our lives.
    28 min
  • How to Develop Resilience - Pekudey
    Cynicism is a normal defense system when we experience setbacks. We can feel stuck and hopeless. Let's look at the rather surprising ending to the book of Shemot and learn the key to resilience.
    6 min
  • Shabbos Treasures 18: Sorting in Action
    Some scenarios:
    1) Removing bones in chicken or fish? 
    Can't do unless take some of good with it or whilst eating it to pull the bones out
    2) Removing skin of chicken?
    Ok as considered same "type".
    3) Trimming fat off meat?
    Must trim the meat from the fat.
    4) Peeling an egg?
    This is fine as long as by hand and just before the meal.
    5) Cracking a nut?
    Also fine.
    6) Discovered small insects on lettuce how to dispose of the insect?
    Can't rinse leaf as that removing the bad from the good.
    So, solution is to cut away and discard part of leaf together with the insect.
    7) Using a slotted spoon to remove salad or chullent?
    This is like a strainer ao no good. Unless it's a soupy chullent or thick dressing and undesired liquid isn't intended to be drained off.
    If you don't want the liquid drained, it's fine anyway.
    8) Using a pot lid to allow soup to pour out whilst the noodles stay inside?
    This is a problem unless he makes sure to leave soup with the noodles.
    9) Organising pieces of a game of different colours and returning to different compartments after been used?
    No good
    10) Putting assorted books away that are left piled up?
    Best solution maybe to read a bit from each book before you put it away.
    11) Setting the table on shabbos?
    Caution to do close to the meal and taking wanted cutlery from others not wanted.
    If it gives a nice feeling to have dining room set, this could be considered just before use even if done hours earlier.
    31 min
  • Shabbat Treasures 17: Sorting
    1) Could there possibly be something wrong with removing the naturally unwanted nuts from the yum chocolate that's in a bowl?
    2) What about getting those annoying bones out of my salmon?
    3) What then about eating the delicious chicken off my plate whilst leaving the veg?
    After threshing, a mixed collection of waste matter remained there with grain kernels. They were sorted and removed by hand.
    So, for us it's a matter of choosing the bad from the good, eg, removing spoiled cherries from a bowel of cherries. This would be the melacha.
    The prohibition would also apply to things less desirable so if don't want nuts that are mixed with chocolate you couldn't remove the nuts, even if you happen to like both.
    Note, this melacha applies to both food and non food items, such as a mixture of cutlery.
    For us to have an issue of "sorting", 2 factors need to exist:
    1) there must be a mixture 
    2) there must be 2 types in the mixture
    So, a bowl of cherries and blueberries has both criteria. Or a pile of mixed cutlery would too.
    But, if let's say clothing in a cupboard isn't mixed but hung loosely to each other, no problem.
    Or if it's just 1 type it's OK too, eg 2 cookies. 
    But, if a chocolate cake and coffee flavoured cake, that's 2 types, and therefore not ok.
    Other examples of things considered mixed:
    1) peanuts with raisins
    2) an assortment of laundry in a basket
    3) assorted books stacked together 
    4) loose pages of books that got mixed.
    5) bones in fish 
    6) seeds in melon
    7) wrappers stuck to a candy 
    8) grapes attached to stems
    9) cream on top of milk
    10) hair in a liquid
    Other examples of things not considered mixed:
    1) oranges and tangerines scattered on a table 
    2) assorted cutlery spread out on a table
    3) apples in a bag
    4) food on a plate 
    But..what if it's got the 2 criteria, ie a mixture and 2 types, is any way to get what I need out of the mixture? Eg how to eat a grape as its attached to its stem?! 
    When have these 3 criteria it's ok:
    1) by hand as opposed to with a utensil like a fork or a sieve.
    You are allowed to use a utensil when its being used solely for convenience, eg cutlery so your hands stay clean.
    2) the good from the bad
    3) for immediate use
    So, to get chocolate from nuts, remove the 1 you want by hand for immediate use, it's that simple😄😉
    Other ways to get what you desire from a "mixture":
    1) Peeling fruits or removing wrappers
    2) Cutting away some of the good with part of the bad, eg cut a little good bit of melon together with the pits
    3) Scatter the mixture so it's no longer a mixture, eg scatter the washing or the cutlery and then you can take piece by piece 
    Lots of real life examples of this all next week..
    24 min
  • Shabbat Treasures 16 - Snow, Ice, Melting Chocolate etc.
    1) Crushing snow?
    2) Warming up chocolate cookies (on shabbos hot plate) where the chocolate will melt?
    3) Squeezing or shampooing hair?
    4) Brushing your teeth?
    Gemara tells us that one may not crush snow and hail on Shabbos for purpose of producing water.
    From this we learn it's a problem to produce liquids by breaking down solids or even semi solids.
    This would extend to crushing or warming ice, ice cream, butter, congealed fat or similar substances to cause to melt or dissolve.
    These activities resembles the process of crushing grapes for their juices.
    Included in this is chopping up juice concentrate so it devolves faster into water.
    However you can put ice cubes into a liquid to melt, or even to crush into small ice fragments to put immediately into your drink, as not trying to produce water. 
    That's the key, anything that is trying to break it down into a liquid is no good, so we don't stir a frozen cup of slush/slurpy.
    Nor can one squeeze a hand full of snow if the intention is to turn it into water.
    You can defrost a liquid at room temperature.
    It appears that using whip topping from a pressurised can could be problem as whilst in the can it's in a liquid form and once it comes out it becomes like foam. Some are lenient but interesting to see another possible application.
    In terms of melting margarine and the like, it's OK as long as most of  the melted liquid becomes absorbed into a solid substance.
    Please note there may be an issue of "cooking" when melting ice cream or chocolate on a hot piece of cake. We are discussing the present issue of changing a substance.
    If your hair becomes wet on shabbos you can't squeeze it to extract the water. Similarly shampooing is a similar issue. 
    Way to dry it is to wrap a towel around your hair to absord the wetness.
    You could use a dry toothbrush as long as done gently enough that it won't cause blood.
    A wet toothbrush is a problem as it involves pressing and squeezing the wet bristles of the toothbrush against the teeth. Toothpaste is also a separate issue.
    24 min
  • Shabbos Treasures 15 - Spills, Juicing & Washing Up
    1) How to clean up a spill on Shabbos?
    2) Grapes vs Strawberries 
    3) Making a lemon tea on Shabbos?
    4) Washing up on Shabbos?
    After the stalks of wheat were sheaved they were brought to fields and threshed, which is the removal of the grain kernels from their chaff.
    The basic concept of threshing is extracting fruit or vegetable from its natural inedible shell, peel or similar attachment, eg breaking apart kernels of wheat from the stems.
    This melacha applies to plant life and human life, eg expressing human milk or milking an animal, or crushing a honeycomb to extract honey are problems.
    Other examples of this melacha are:
    Removing peas from the pods or squeezing grapes for their juice.
    Squeezing is related to threshing as the juice is extracted from the solid fruit in the same way that grain is detached from husk and peas extracted from their inedible pods.
    There are 3 conditions under which one can extract liquids:
    1) to improve food
    2) squeezing liquids into solid foods
    3) sucking fruits/vegetables
    Grapes and olives are in a stricter category and dont follow these exemptions, so you can't squeeze then onto a solid food nor can you suck out the juice. It's best to not even cut up fresh grapes or olives onto a plate as it's inevitable that juice will flow out. 
    Fruits commonly pressed for their juices, such as orange, lemon, apple and strawberry you can suck out the juice with your mouth, cut them on a plate, squeeze over a solid food, put them in tea, scrape it out with a spoon, or by lemon squeeze it over sugar which can then be stirred into tea, or cut a slice of lemon and place it in the tea. 
    But you can't press it against a glass for the juice to come out, eg lemon against a glass, nor slice the fruit over the tea.
    Also, squeezing a wet cloth or sponge or any wet fabric to expel absorbed liquid is the melacha, or even to press down on a soaked cloth. Best way to deal with a spill on a tablecloth is to gently use a spoon to pick up not yet observed liquid..or use a plastic table cloth😉. Other methods are to use a rag or towel, just don't wring it out.
    To wash dishes on shabbos, you can't use a sponge as the scrubbing exerts pressure and consequently the water will be squeezed out. 
    You can use a sponge that has a handle and to then wipe gently. 
    Or use a brush with stiff synthetic material or of plastic or wire mesh.
    Expressing milk for a baby is also an issue.
    A mother who needs to express milk on shabbos should use a hand pump, put liquid soap into a cup and it that way the milk will be unusable.
    28 min

About Power Up!

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Gila Ross, author of Living Beautifully - How to bring meaning, joy and love into your life based on the timeless wisdom of Pirkei Avot shares real life insights based on Jewish wisdom that impact…

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