“Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you...” sang Mrs. Appelstein and the kids as they were bringing the birthday cake into the dining room. They placed it on the table and told Abba that he can open up his eyes. Abba moved his hands away from his face and was astonished at the beautiful cake that his wife made for him in honor of his 47th birthday.
When the time came to eat the cake, Abba took the knife and was getting ready to make the slices. Suspense filled the air. “Wait a second!” he stopped himself. “I cannot cut through the letters on the cake, since that would be the melacha of Mochek (erasing)!” Kids were not happy to hear that, but they waited for Abba to come up with a plan.
Then, Yossi had an idea. “Abba, what if you cut between the letters?” Since the letters of the “HAPPY BIRTHDAY” writing are written in print and not in script, you won’t be destroying the letters when you’ll cut between them. “Hmm...that’s an interesting idea, Yossi. But I am not sure if that’s okay since I would be breaking the word,” replied Abba.
Question: Can Abba make the slices by cutting between the letters?
Hints & Answers
HALACHA CHALLENGE: Sefer The 39 Melachos by Rabbi Dovid Ribiat (p. 988) writes the following: “One may cut around or between the letters of a cake even if a word is broken, as long as none of the individual letters or symbols becomes obliterated or broken.”
RHYMES: “show”
RIDDLE: 1. HaKadosh Boruch Hu! He said to Moshe: דַּבֶּר נָא בְּאָזְּנֵי הָעָם. Rashi comments that the word נָא means “please”. 2. Moshe. He said that the plague of the firstborn will be כחצות (around midnight) instead of saying that it will be בחצות (exactly at midnight). In explanation of Moshe’s reasoning, Gemorah Brachos (4a) tells us that a person should train his tongue to say “I don’t know”.
*Menucha answers are not to be taken as final decisions in halacha.