Shortly after signing on to live a Torah lifestyle, my family made a birthday party for me. Very nice. They even invited our rabbi. Very nice. He even came to the party. Really very nice. He agreed to speak. Very nice and a z'chus. He started by saying, "Well, Michael, the only place in the Torah where we find a birthday being celebrated was for Paroh...." I don't remember anything he said after that; it was nice, he has always spoken very well... none the less I was sort of stuck on the implied comparison -- wholly unintentional, of course -- with Paroh. One may also consider: if a condemned man was on a train that had 70 stops from the court house to his final destination, he most certainly would not be celebrating the arrival at each new station with, "Yay! One more stop along the way!"
Anyways (sic), birthdays (if you don't think too deeply, anyway) are lots of fun. Each celebration, of course, must have a cake. And what, I ask you, is a birthday cake without candles? So... what to do on Shabbos? I mean, you could put if off, but what fun would that be? (Especially as we get older and become ever more cognizant of the fact that we never really know if we'll even make it to the next birthday, let alone celebrate it.)
So, what's the problem? Why, muktzeh, of course! Everyone knows that candles are muktzeh, so you can't use them on Shabbos... right? Not so fast. First, you need to know into which category of muktzeh candles fall, because whether and under what conditions muktzeh may be moved depends on that category. Some muktzeh may not be moved for any reason, whereas other may be moved in case of need. As long as we are on the topic, though, let's first talk about why Chazal instituted the concept of muktzeh in the first place.
Had you asked me, I would have said that muktzeh is obviously a halachic fence to prevent me from easily transgressing Shabbos. If you can't pick up a pen or pencil to write, then obviously I won't be able to write. Obvious. Well... writing stationery is also muktzeh and there doesn't seem to be any obvious transgression that is preventing. Hammers are muktzeh, but I am allowed to use them to crack nuts; couldn't I easily come to whack in a nail that I notice while I am having my snack? As is often the case, my logic just doesn't even begin to stack up against that of Chazal.
It is the obvious depth, breadth, and clarity of analysis that has made the Mishna Brura the absolute gold standard for normative Jewish practice today. The icing on the cake, though, is his clear and concise introduction to difficult topics. One such introduction precedes siman 308, which contains the main halachos regarding muktzah. There the Mishna Brura gives four reasons (three from the Rambam, one from the Ra'avad) that the concept of muktzeh was introduced by Chazal. First (and it seems to be foremost): since the prophets have exhorted us that our speech and even walking should be different on Shabbos than during the week, it is certain the meant that the way we move objects on Shabbos should be different than the way we do during the week. Shabbos is meant to be special, and every action -- in both word and deed -- we take on Shabbos should be taken only if it enhances the special character of Shabbos. The other three are: as a safeguard to doing actual work (so I didn't entirely miss the boat), so that even wealthy people who don't do physical labor during the week (most of us 'Mericans) will have a recognizable Shabbos experience, and as a safeguard to unwittingly carrying something outside in a locale that lacks an eiruv.
Now we need to determine that category of muktzeh into which the birthday candles fall. That same introduction delineates four main categories, plus two more that are more relevant to Yom Tov than Shabbos. When I first thought about writing this TftD, I had intended to explain those categories and then note as an obvious fact where our candles fall. It turns out that it is not quite so obvious into which category our candles fall, so we'll talk about that in another TftD, בעזרת השם. Bottom line, though our candles have roughly the same status as a hammer or screwdriver -- it is a כלי שמלאכתו לאיסור/tool/utensil whose main function is to perform an action that is forbidden on Shabbos (or YomTov).
As is well know, a כלי שמלאכתו לאיסור may be moved if you need it's place and it may be used for a permissible action. The classic example of that is using a hammer to crack nuts. There is a question about using a hammer to crack nuts if you have a regular nut cracker available. We pasken that is permissible, but it is a matter of dispute. That would seem to be clear, then: a birthday candle is a כלי שמלאכתו לאיסור, acting as a cake decoration is certainly a permitted action on Shabbos (and Yom Tov), and there is certainly nothing that can adequately take its place. It is therefore certainly permitted to use birthday candles as decorations on a birthday cake on Shabbos. You can even decorate the cake with said candles on Shabbos.
In case you think I sound awfully confident... I am, as I confirmed with R' Fuerst just last night (at the time of writing). There is, though, one last hurdle that you will need address yourself: you'll need to clarify if your wife will let you get away with it.
Anyways (sic), birthdays (if you don't think too deeply, anyway) are lots of fun. Each celebration, of course, must have a cake. And what, I ask you, is a birthday cake without candles? So... what to do on Shabbos? I mean, you could put if off, but what fun would that be? (Especially as we get older and become ever more cognizant of the fact that we never really know if we'll even make it to the next birthday, let alone celebrate it.)
So, what's the problem? Why, muktzeh, of course! Everyone knows that candles are muktzeh, so you can't use them on Shabbos... right? Not so fast. First, you need to know into which category of muktzeh candles fall, because whether and under what conditions muktzeh may be moved depends on that category. Some muktzeh may not be moved for any reason, whereas other may be moved in case of need. As long as we are on the topic, though, let's first talk about why Chazal instituted the concept of muktzeh in the first place.
Had you asked me, I would have said that muktzeh is obviously a halachic fence to prevent me from easily transgressing Shabbos. If you can't pick up a pen or pencil to write, then obviously I won't be able to write. Obvious. Well... writing stationery is also muktzeh and there doesn't seem to be any obvious transgression that is preventing. Hammers are muktzeh, but I am allowed to use them to crack nuts; couldn't I easily come to whack in a nail that I notice while I am having my snack? As is often the case, my logic just doesn't even begin to stack up against that of Chazal.
It is the obvious depth, breadth, and clarity of analysis that has made the Mishna Brura the absolute gold standard for normative Jewish practice today. The icing on the cake, though, is his clear and concise introduction to difficult topics. One such introduction precedes siman 308, which contains the main halachos regarding muktzah. There the Mishna Brura gives four reasons (three from the Rambam, one from the Ra'avad) that the concept of muktzeh was introduced by Chazal. First (and it seems to be foremost): since the prophets have exhorted us that our speech and even walking should be different on Shabbos than during the week, it is certain the meant that the way we move objects on Shabbos should be different than the way we do during the week. Shabbos is meant to be special, and every action -- in both word and deed -- we take on Shabbos should be taken only if it enhances the special character of Shabbos. The other three are: as a safeguard to doing actual work (so I didn't entirely miss the boat), so that even wealthy people who don't do physical labor during the week (most of us 'Mericans) will have a recognizable Shabbos experience, and as a safeguard to unwittingly carrying something outside in a locale that lacks an eiruv.
Now we need to determine that category of muktzeh into which the birthday candles fall. That same introduction delineates four main categories, plus two more that are more relevant to Yom Tov than Shabbos. When I first thought about writing this TftD, I had intended to explain those categories and then note as an obvious fact where our candles fall. It turns out that it is not quite so obvious into which category our candles fall, so we'll talk about that in another TftD, בעזרת השם. Bottom line, though our candles have roughly the same status as a hammer or screwdriver -- it is a כלי שמלאכתו לאיסור/tool/utensil whose main function is to perform an action that is forbidden on Shabbos (or YomTov).
As is well know, a כלי שמלאכתו לאיסור may be moved if you need it's place and it may be used for a permissible action. The classic example of that is using a hammer to crack nuts. There is a question about using a hammer to crack nuts if you have a regular nut cracker available. We pasken that is permissible, but it is a matter of dispute. That would seem to be clear, then: a birthday candle is a כלי שמלאכתו לאיסור, acting as a cake decoration is certainly a permitted action on Shabbos (and Yom Tov), and there is certainly nothing that can adequately take its place. It is therefore certainly permitted to use birthday candles as decorations on a birthday cake on Shabbos. You can even decorate the cake with said candles on Shabbos.
In case you think I sound awfully confident... I am, as I confirmed with R' Fuerst just last night (at the time of writing). There is, though, one last hurdle that you will need address yourself: you'll need to clarify if your wife will let you get away with it.
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