“Kids, I have a surprise for you!” said Abba once everyone finished bentching after their Shabbos day seuda.
All children looked at Abba with suspense. He walked over to a corner of the room and pulled a game out of a bag.
“This looks like the game of Scrabble,” said his daughter Miriam.
“Correct! And I made sure to open the package before Shabbos,” said Abba.
“But why are the letters in Hebrew?!” asked his son Shmuel.
“Well,” started explaining Abba, “Now that we made aliya, we need to start learning Hebrew. That’s why I thought it would be a great idea to buy you all a game of Scrabble with Hebrew letters!”
“I love your idea, Abba,” said his son Chaim, “But how can we play it on Shabbos?”
“Hmm...Are you saying that putting letters together to form words could be a melacha of Writing,” asked Abba.
“I think so,” said Chaim, “And also, in Scrabble, the players write down the score. Although we won’t be writing the score, maybe it’s a problem to play such a game on Shabbos.”
Question: Can they play the Scrabble now?
Hints & Answers
HALACHA CHALLENGE: Although putting words together in the game of Scrabble is not included in the actual melacha of Writing, (unless the pieces firmly snap into the frame), it is nevertheless forbidden to play Scrabble on Shabbos. This is due to the decree of “Maybe he will come to writing,” as scrabble is a type of game where the players keep the score and typically write the score down (see Shemiras Shabbos Kehilchosa 16:32).
RHYMES: “new”
RIDDLE: 1. “And the sky that’s above your head will be copper...” (Devorim 28:23) 2. “And you should raise your voice and say in front of Hashem: An Aramenian wanted to destroy my father...” (Devorim 26:5, based on Rashi’s commentary). 3. You might remember the fish head (as one of the simanim on Rosh Hashana) as you’ll read the verse “Hashem will make you a head and not a tail...” (Devorim 28:13)
*Menucha answers are not to be taken as final decisions in halacha.
