{"id":7372,"date":"2016-01-12T08:00:53","date_gmt":"2016-01-12T06:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/?p=7372"},"modified":"2016-07-17T18:19:24","modified_gmt":"2016-07-17T15:19:24","slug":"01-12-08","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ph.yhb.org.il\/en\/01-12-08\/","title":{"rendered":"08. Squeezing Fruits"},"content":{"rendered":"
Juicing \u2013 that is, squeezing fruits in order to release their juice \u2013 is a violation of the prohibition of Mefarek<\/em>, a tolada<\/em> of the melakha<\/em> of Dash<\/em>. While Dash<\/em> involves separating wheat kernels from their husks, Mefarek<\/em> involves separating juice from its fruit. It is prohibited by Torah law to squeeze olives to produce oil or to squeeze grapes to produce wine. Wine and oil are important liquids, and the majority of olives and grapes are grown in order to produce these liquids. In contrast, the prohibition of juicing other fruits, which are not grown primarily for their juice, is rabbinic.[13]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n One may not juice a fruit for the purpose of extracting its juice in order to drink it. However, if the purpose is to add flavor to food, one may juice fruit directly into food, since in such a case the squeezing is never viewed as producing a discrete quantity of liquid. The juice that is considered part of one food is simply transferred to another food. Therefore, one may squeeze grapes into food, a lemon into a vegetable salad, or an orange into grated carrots. Similarly, a lemon may be squeezed onto fried fish, even though the juice is not absorbed by the fish. Since it is meant to flavor the fish, it is secondary to it and considered a part of it (SA 320:4; SSK ch. 5 n. 15).<\/p>\n If one wishes to squeeze a lemon in order to make lemonade, he should not squeeze it into an empty pitcher or into water. Rather, he should squeeze the lemon into the sugar in such a way that all the juice is absorbed by the sugar. This way, he is transferring the juice from one food to another, which is permitted.[14]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n One may squeeze out excess oil from fried foods, or excess liquid from pickled foods, in order to improve their taste. Similarly, these excess liquids may be squeezed into other food. However, if one wants the liquid that is being extracted, then squeezing these foods is prohibited (SA 320:7).<\/p>\n One may cut a grapefruit and eat it with a spoon, even though in the process juice will flow from it. Since most of the liquid remains in the grapefruit, it is not prohibited. One may also cut up fruit for fruit salad, even though cutting the fruit will cause a bit of juice to flow out. This is not prohibited because one does not intend to separate the juice from the fruit, and most of the juice remains inside the fruit. If there is some juice remaining when one has finished eating the fruit salad or grapefruit, one may drink the juice.[15]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n [13]<\/a>. In the past, some fruits were normally not juiced. Shabbat<\/em> 144b permits juicing such fruit: \u201cOne may squeeze plums, quinces, and sorb apples.\u201d Although according to a few Rishonim (Smak<\/em> and Rabbeinu Yeru\u0125am) one may never juice any fruit, and a few A\u0125aronim defer to their opinion (\u0124ayei Adam<\/em> 14:3; Ben Ish \u0124ai<\/em>, Year 2, Yitro 3), the majority of Rishonim and A\u0125aronim allow those fruit to be juiced (SA 320:1; BHL s.v. \u201cmutar\u201d). However, today there are no fruits that are not juiced. Therefore, one may not squeeze any fruit in order to release its juice.According to Ran, the Torah prohibition of juicing applies only to olives and grapes, because squeezing them creates important beverages \u2013 oil and wine. This is also implied by Rambam, and many A\u0125aronim rule this way as well, including AHS 320:10. However, Rashi, Rashba, and Ritva maintain that it is prohibited by Torah law to juice any fruit, if the majority of that fruit\u2019s crop is used to make juice.<\/p>\n One may not wring out clothing that has absorbed liquid if one wishes to use the liquid, because of the prohibition of Dash<\/em>. There is a disagreement whether this is prohibited rabbinically or by Torah law. If the wringing out will also clean the garment, then the Torah prohibition of laundering comes into play. (See above 11:17 and in Har\u0125avot<\/em>; below 13:5 and Har\u0125avot<\/em>.)<\/p>\n
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