Soft vs. Frozen Snow

Q. Is there any difference in Halacha between shoveling soft snow or frozen snow that is stuck to the ground?

A. On Shabbos Rosh Chodesh Adar Alef 5717 (1957) Yerushalayim was struck by a major snowstorm. Rav Zvi Pesach Frank, zt”l, then the Rav of Yerushalayim, was asked if the freshly fallen snow could be removed from the flat roofs of the city so that they would not collapse. Was there a question of muktza? As mentioned in the previous Halacha Yomis, Rav Frank’s opinion was that there is no issue of muktza, even if the snow fell on Shabbos. He compares fresh snow to rain which has fallen on Shabbos, which is not muktza as noted in the previous Halacha Yomis (See Mishna Berura, OC 338:30). However, he writes in his Shu”t Har Tzvi (Kuntres Tal Harim – Meleches Sosair 1), “One could perhaps differentiate between snow which has not yet frozen and is still soft and not connected to the roof and snow which has already frozen and became attached to the roof, where there could be an issue of binyan (building) and sosair (destroying).” If the snow or ice is connected to the ground, perhaps one is demolishing when one removes the ice.

Based on the above, there is a greater basis to permit shoveling or sweeping soft snow which has just fallen on a walkway, as opposed to an already icy walkway where there may be a problem of sosair.

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The Gerald & Karin Feldhamer OU Kosher Halacha Yomis is dedicated to the memory of Rav Yisroel Belsky, zt"l, who served as halachic consultant for OU Kosher for more than 28 years; many of the responses in Halacha Yomis are based on the rulings of Rabbi Belsky. Subscribe to the Halacha Yomis daily email here.