The 39 Melachot
There are thirty-nine general categories of labor that are forbidden on Shabbat. Each of these categories include a range of derivative laws and activities, some of which are described in "The Shabbat Laws." The melachot are generally divided into six groups, classified according to the Mishkan's activities with which they are associated.
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Field Work
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Zoraya - Planting Planting is forbidden on Shabbat, and includes any activity that promotes vegetative growth.
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Kotzeir - Reaping Reaping is
forbidden on Shabbat and includes any activity which uses a tool to detach a
plant, branch, or fruit from its source of growth. Inhibiting or preventing
growth is not included.
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Me’amer - Gathering Binding or gathering produce, the av melachah of ma’amer, is forbidden on Shabbat.
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Tochen - Grinding Grinding, the av melachah of tochen, is
forbidden on Shabbat.
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Dosh - Threshing Extracting juice, milking, and shelling peas all fall under the rubric of this activity. Learn more about it here.
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Zoreh - Winnowing Winnowing refers to the act of removing chaff from grain, using wind to blow the lighter chaff away from the heavier kernels.
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Making Material Curtains
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Menapetz - Combing Combing clumps of tangled, unprocessed material is forbidden on Shabbat.
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Tzoveya - Dyeing Painting, coloring, and dyeing are all examples of tzoveya.
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Toveh - Spinning After wool has been dyed it is ready to be spun and woven into fabric. Here is how it is done.
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Koshair - Tying The act of binding by tying a knot.
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Matir - Untying The act of untying a knot.
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Tofair - Sewing Sewing is forbidden on Shabbat. This includes attaching two different items using any medium which firmly holds them together, like gluing, stapling, or pinning.
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Koraya - Tearing Tearing is forbidden on Shabbat, as it is actually part of the sewing process.
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Making Leather Curtains
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Tzod - Trapping Trapping animals is forbidden on Shabbat.
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Mafshit - Skinning One may not remove the skin of raw chicken or
fish on Shabbat, as this would violate mafshit.
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Me’abeid - Tanning Hides The tanning process involved soaking the hides in a salty
mixture and can be applied to food as well.
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Mesarteit - Ruling Lines The hides used to cover the Mishkan were measured, cut to size, and attached to one another.
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Making the Beams of the Mishkan
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Mochek - Erasing Erasing letters or removing ink to create an empty space large enough to write at least two letters in its place constitutes the av melachah of mochek.
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The Putting up and Taking down of the Mishkan
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Boneh - Building Assembling and building a permanent structure is forbidden on Shabbat, and is the av melachah of Boneh.
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Sotair - Demolishing Demolishing a structure to rebuild it is forbidden on Shabbat and constitutes the av melachah of Sotair.
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The Mishkan's Final Touches
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Mechabeh - Extinguishing Extinguishing a flame is forbidden on Shabbat, but most applications of mechabeh are rabbinic prohibitions.
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Makeh Bepatish - Completing Makeh bepatish literally means “striking the [final] hammer blow.” A craftsman’s finishing touches perfect the item and make it complete; likewise, the melachah of makeh bepatish includes any activity that completes the formation of something.
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Hotza'ah - Transferring Carrying or transferring any item from one place to another—under certain conditions—constitutes the av melachah of hotza’ah and is not permitted on Shabbat.
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Join the Discussion
is opening bottle cap a melachah on shabbos?
There are opinions that it is. You should discuss this with your rabbi.
If I have a fire going on Friday afternoon, and it is still going as the Shabbat starts, would adding logs to the fire to keep it going be considered work?
If the fire was already lit before Shabbat, actively increasing or sustaining the flame by adding fuel is also a forbidden act.
Is using a toaster considered malachah?
Yes, it is.
technically
no,but its muktzah
Shabbos is such an integral part of Jewish life. Why then doesn't the Torah say explicitly "Any work done for the Mishkan may not be done on Shabbos"?
Instead, we have to derive from the paragraphs of 'work' and 'shabbos' that are in proximity, that 'work' is referring to work in the mishkan. why?
Thank you for your wonderful explanations on this topic.
Interesting question. Because Shabbat is indeed so holy and integral to Jewish life, there's no better way to learn how to observe it than from another holy and integral part of Jewish life -- the Mishkan.
For not cutting, does this mean I should pre cut the dinner so that they are in individual pieces, or does this include cutting things down to bite sizes only? Or can it be cut with a fork but not with a knife?
Food is not included in the prohibition and one may cut food one needs for the Shabbat meal to a specific size and shape without concern.
this website is very helpful because we have a project for school on the 39 mealchot and this app really helps. are you allowed to open cans on shabbat? please respond
Glad you're enjoying our site. Please see this article chabad.org/485596 for information on opening cans on Shabbat.
what is sowing
Hi! Sowing means planting seeds.
thank you
what is the av melacha for this
Does threshing mean that I can't shell peanuts as I eat them? Why are real nuts different?
In general, it is best to avoid eating any nuts that were not previously shelled, since there are several prohibitions that one might encounter. In addition to the concern of threshing, there is also the concern of separating the shells from the nut, and that once the nut is removed, the shell becomes muktzah, since it has no use anymore.
For those that do choose to eat nuts from the shell, it needs to be done immediately prior to eating, and care needs to be taken to remove the nut from the shell and not the shell from a mixture of nuts and shells. Also, the shell may not be handled at all once the nut is removed.
Peanuts might have a different status than other nuts according to some halachic authorities, since they have a double layer of shell.
Why can’t we tie knots on Shabbat
Tying knots on Shabbat is prohibited under the melachah of koshair (knotting), except for certain types like a slip knot or a bow tied with intention to untie on the same day. A 'kesher uman' (craftsman's knot) and 'kesher shel kayama' (lasting knot) are generally forbidden, but a bow is permissible since it's not a tight knot and can be easily undone. This forbidden labor is based on the use of a unique blue dye for the coverings (yeriot) of the Mishkan. This dye was made from a sea creature called the chilazon. To trap the chilazon, fishermen fashioned nets from ropes which were knotted together.
Because 1+1 is two
Question : what is the connection between work used to build the mishkan and shabbos laws?
Ask in because they did this in the mishkah we can't do this on shabbos - did they do this on shabbos to set up the mishkan?
Thank you
To communicate to us that the true purpose of all our weekday activities is to make this entire world into a home for G-d, just as the Tabernacle was a home for G-d. Please see here for more insights.
because Hashem told the yidden not to build the mishkan on shabbat so anything they did to build the mishkan is prohibited :)
I really appreciate this web site, following links from another story to better understand the Jewish terminology !!
Why is electricy the same like fire?
Some maintain that using any electrical appliance violates the Torah prohibition of Mav’ir. They maintain that electricity has the same status as fire since, like fire, it has energy and power that can be harnessed. Rav Kook favors this position, arguing that the key aspect of fire is not its appearance, but rather its power to illuminate, heat, and provide power. Indeed, the Sages state that there are different types of fire (Yoma 21b), including some that do not burn and destroy. One example of this is the fire that Moshe saw at the burning bush (Rav Kook, Oraĥ Mishpat §71). R. Uziel agrees with this approach, adding that turning on electricity is also prohibited as a form of Metaken Mana since activating an electrical appliance renders it useful (Mishpetei Uziel, OĤ 2:36:2)
I have a question
Let's say my house started burning on sabbath how will i extinguish or take out the fire
Good question! In fact, the Shulchan Aruch actually has an entire section dedicated to this scenario. See here
The basic summary is: Usually, one may not extinguish the fire. They may not carry possessions out of the house, except for certain essentials. What they can do is prevent the fire from spreading by surrounding it with water, sand or the like.
However, others say that this does not apply in our times, and since there is mortal danger from a fire spreading, one may extinguish it. If there is danger to property, but not life, that is not enough of a reason to be allowed to extinguish it.
Life before Law
Is it permitted to ride the NYC subway on Shabbat, for example? It’s fully electric (so no combustion engine “fire” as was alluded to in another answer about hitchhiking), plus it stops at every station - in a lot of ways it’s actually similar to Shabbat elevators which stop at every floor, except here the “floors” are horizontally separated by large distances. Let’s suppose you know for certain that the crew of the particular train you’re about to catch are all goyim.
Let’s also disregard the paid entry system into station for now and just discuss the riding of the train itself.
There are several concerns with riding the subway on Shabbat:
For starters, it is not entirely automated. Each train still has a conductor performing some form of operations (for example, he can keep the door open for a passenger running to catch the train).
Additionally, unlike an elevator which remains inside one building, the train travels around town and can potentially leave the restricted area outside of city limits ("techum Shabbat").
And finally, you can't disregard the paid entry system, for even if you were to make arrangements in advance to not have to pay (and the doors remain open the entire time, not just for you), nobody else will know that and other will assume you paid to get in, posing a concern of "marit ayin"--appearing to be violating, which if nearly as bad as an actual violation.
I believe most of the Sefarim list ploughing before planting since that is the logical sequence and yet you have planting first and then ploughing could you explain your difference
See the Mishna in Shabbat 7:2 and the Bartenura commentary.
Our list follows that of the Mishna.
Indeed Rambam notes plowing first. See this link
A secondary form of ploughing is cultivating, a light surface plow to aid in early plant development, as a ploughman, I read this as a way to include both forms of plough work. Early and also late ploughing.
But that only my person thought not at all authoritative.
Not sure
These explanations about each Melacha that you have presented are excellent! Thank you very much. It's also important to know with which work on Temple are they linked!
Melacha is a derivative of the word melech, meaning "king." It has the denotion of creative work. G-d ceased from His creative work on Shabbat and we do likewise. Kings have the ablility of giving life and taking it, creating laws and destroying them, etc. The "rest" that we do on shabbat is "cease." It is not necessarily about rest (relax) but rather "stop"......like a ball rolling is said to come to a rest (when it stops rolling). The ball is not relaxing when it "rests." We do indeed relax on Shabbat but the idea is to cease from creation (certain creations) the way G-d did on Shabbat.
When one drives on Shabbat. He lights several flames and also puts them out several times. This isn't even counting the "fires" deemed fires by our rabbis. (a light bulb which has both light and heat). Likewise, even a small electical device has some light and some heat though not seen by the human eye.
is leaning against a tree a melacha?
Although it isn't an actual melacha, it is forbidden rabbinically, since it may lead one to detaching part of the tree.