Rosh Hashana - Shofar on Shabbos

QUESTION: This year the first day of Rosh Hashanah is Shabbos. If I place a shofar in my tallis bag before Shabbos, will my talis bag be muktzah on Shabbos?

ANSWER: Shulchan Aruch (OC 588:5) writes that if Rosh Hashanah falls on Shabbos, we do not blow Shofar. The Rema adds that it is forbidden to move a shofar on Shabbos, except to use the shofar (for example, to draw water – M.B. 588:15) or to free up the space where the mukzah object is resting. If a shofar is muktzah, why may it be moved for use or space? There are different categories of muktzah, and each group has unique sets of halachos. A shofar is a kli she’melachto l’issur (a utensil whose primary function involves melacha), and for that reason it may be moved for a permissible use or to clear a space. According to this opinion, a shofar in a talis bag on Shabbos may be moved to access the talis, as this is similar to moving the object for it’s space. (Interestingly, when Rosh Hashanah is on a weekday, one may move the shofar, but it may not be used to draw water, since it is huktza limitzvoso-set aside for mitzvah use.)

However, Sefer Pischei Teshuva (308, footnote 195) quotes the view of some poskim that today a shofar is more valuable and would not be used to draw water. In the opinion of these poskim, a shofar is categorized as muktzah machmas chisaron kis (an expensive or delicate item that is generally stored in a safe location). The restrictions for this type of muktzah are more stringent than for kli she’melachto l’issur, and muktzah machmas chisaron kis may not be moved for any reason. According to this view, a shofar may not be moved at all on Shabbos, and the tallis bag would be muktzah as well because it supports a muktzah item.

Rav Shmuel Wosner zt”l (Shevet HaLevi 9:127) ruled the status of shofar remains the same even at the present time.

Rav Shlomo Zalman Aurbach (Shmiras Shabbos Kihilchoso, footnote 82) has a middle position. He maintains that ordinarily, a shofar is muktzah machmas chisaron kis, because it is kept in a safe place. However, during the month of Elul, when the shofar is used for practice in preparation of Rosh Hashanah, a shofar is a kli she’melachto l’issur.

____________________________________________________

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.