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Thought for the Day: Nothing Is Mundane About Torah

Can you just imagine the vast breadth of questions that R' Fuerst, shlita, must get every day? People call out of the blue, and the rabbi is expected to just have the answer to each question. The wait on hold ("one minute; other line") is nearly always longer than the time it takes to ask the question and get the answer. In fact, it usually takes longer to ask the question itself than to get the entire answer. I had two questions recently that reminded (again) about how fortunate we are to have such ready access to a posek of the caliber of R' Fuerst.

Question #1: When a person has surgery and parts are removed, does one need to ask them to be retained so they can be buried? Does it make a difference if it is an entire אבר/organ/limb or "just" an  integral component of said אבר? (As an aside, one certainly can ask to have any removed parts or devices retained and returned. Stop by and I will happily show you the port-a-cath through which the chemotherapy that cured my cancer was delivered more than 20 years ago.) I asked the question because when this came up (err... out) for me some 20 years ago and I did have an entire אבר removed (non-critical, obviously), I was told to retrieve it for burial.

The answer was that R' Moshe apparently changed his mind; a fact that only came to light after my surgery 20 years ago. While R' Fuerst said that one might make a distinction between a complete אבר and a sub-component, in either case it can just be thrown away. (The rabbi's words :) ) The rabbi said further that it was an interesting case, because in the later responsa, R' Moshe didn't even refer to his earlier responsa. A complete reversal, which is unusual for R' Moshe.

Question #2: May one use a vegetable peeler on Shabbos? The question is, of course, because of בורר/selection. As is well known, improving food be removing the undesirable parts, or for later use, or with a specially designed instrument is forbidden on Shabbos. Removing the peel of a vegetable is certainly removing something undesirable, but that is permitted in this case because it is otherwise impossible to get to the desirable part of the food. (Ditto for removing a banana peel.)  Of course, this would only be permitted for immediate consumption. (No, would not be permitted even before going to shul to be ready for consumption on return from shul.) The only remaining question is whether the vegetable peeler is considered an instrument specifically and specially designed for בורר/selection purposes, or it is just a funny shaped knife?

I had heard, in the name of R' Moshe, that a vegetable peeler is just a funny shaped knife and its use is perfectly permissible. I had, therefore, so paskened for a friend. (Yes; I can do that now... so cool.)

As it turns out, though, there is a disagreement among the poskim on this. R' Ribiat amazing work on Shabbos says it is forbidden to use a vegetable peeler. No dissenting opinions. Now, one of the features of R' Ribiat's work is the excellent foot-/end-notes. I am particularly impressed because he quotes whole sections and not just the few words he needs as a source. However, they are all in Hebrew, so not everyone checks them out. In any case, I did. Foot-/End-note 125 quotes the אגלי טל as  forbidding a vegetable peeler. Then there is one more sentence (my translation): I have heard that R' Moshe permits a vegetable peeler, but I haven't found that in the Igros Moshe. "Ha!", thought I... "there's my opening!"

I asked R' Fuerst and he confirmed: a vegetable peeler is just a funny shaped knife and perfectly permissible to use on Shabbos. He didn't even mention a dissenting opinion :)

Two important lessons. First, just because you asked a question 20 years ago, doesn't mean you don't need to ask again. Second, you need to have a rav with breadth and depth, who keeps up.
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