Yehuda likes to have everything in order. Even when something is off just by a little bit he gets disturbed. Well, guess what happened? Just as the family were singing “Menucha V’Simcha” at the leil Shabbos seuda, Yehuda noticed that their wall clock was hanging crooked. That really bothered him. As soon as they finished the song, he walked over to the clock, stretched out his hand and was about to straighten the clock, when he heard his older brother Yosef scream out, “Yehuda! What are you doing?!”
“What’s the problem,” answered back Yehuda. “I want to straighten the clock. Look how crooked it is hanging.”
“But if it’s hanging on a wall, it’s part of the wall!” said Yosef. “So fixing it would be like fixing the house!”
Then, the youngest brother Ephraim added, “And also, isn’t that clock muktza?”
Question: May Yehuda straighten the clock?
Hints & Answers
SHMIRAS SHABBOS: Two issues need to be considered when solving this challenge: (A) The melacha of building (due to the fact that a wall clock is hanging on the wall of the house) and (B) muktza. Rav Nissim Karelitz shlit”a teaches that a wall clock that operates on a battery does not present an issue with the melacha of building. It’s not part of the wall on a permanent basis since from time to time one needs to remove the clock from the wall to change its battery. (Chut Shoni, Laws of Shabbos part 2, pg 242). Regarding the muktza issue of a wall clock, Sefer Shemiras Shabbos Kehilchosa (20:22) writes the following: “Any object that a person sets a place for it due to its high value and is careful not to move it due to a concern that it may break—for example, a wall clock—...such an object is included in the category of Muktza Machmas Chesron Kis, and there is no permission to move it.”
RHYME: “wait”.
RIDDLES: The Ba’al HaTurim reveals the following insight: Sofei teivos (the last letters) of וּבַיּוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי שָׁבַת וַיִּנָׁפַש (when read in reverse order) spell out “שתים” (two), indicating that a person has two souls on Shabbos (i.e., neshama and neshama yiseira).
*Note: Menucha’s answer are not to be taken as final decisions in halacha.
