Mrs. Smith was so excited to find magnetic letters at the shekel store. “These are great,” she exclaimed. “I’ve been wanting Moshe to work on his English!”
When the letters arrived to the Smith house, all of the kids got busy making words out of the letters, especially Sarale, who really loved English. She enjoyed making all different kinds of creative phrases.
The children were playing with the letters on Shabbos morning, when Abba walked in the kitchen. “Wait, kids, I think this is not permissible on Shabbos.”
“But Abba,” said Moshe, “What is the problem? We quickly change the words. It’s not permanent.”
Sarale, also added, “It’s soooooo much fun, and gives us so much oneg Shabbos!”
Question: Who’s right, Abba or the kids?
Answer
Shemiras Shabbos Kehilchosa (16:24, new edition) writes: “On Shabbos, one should not place next to each other magnetic letters or picture puzzle pieces on a board that is designated for such purpose or on a refrigerator door.”
Note: Menucha’s answers are not to be taken as final decisions in halacha, but rather as a springboard for discussions, questions to a moreh hora’ah.
