At the Cohen’s home everyone was enjoying the Shabbos day seuda. Everyone but Nissim. He was only 4 years old, and it was too hard for him to sit in his chair for such a long time. So he jumped down and went to his room. “Hmm...What should I play with?” thought Nissim, as he looked around the room.
His eyes landed on an inflatable toy guitar. When he pulled it out of the toy box he was saddened to see that almost all of the air was already out! “I hope someone will be able to help me,” thought Nissim as he walked to the dining room, dragging the flimsy guitar behind him.
“Mommy— please! Blow up this toy!” said Nissim. Mrs. Cohen looked at the guitar and then right away looked at Mr. Cohen. “Am I allowed to blow it up,” she asked him.
“Hmm...that’s a good question,” replied Mr. Cohen. “What do you kids think?” he asked everyone at the table. Chaim, his oldest son gave his answer in a second: “It would be Makeh Bepatish!” His brother Shimon nodded his head in agreement and said, “And it’s also muktza!”
Poor little Nissim looked at everyone and cried out: “No, no! It’s ok! It’s ok! We can blow it up!”
Question: Who is right - Chaim, Shimon or Nissim?
Hints & Answers
HALACHA CHALLENGE: Shemiras Shabbos Kehilchosa (17:7) teaches: “One may not inflate balls and balloons which are made to be tied (to keep the air inside.) And before they are inflated, they have a status of muktza. However, if they are not made to be tied, then it is permitted to inflate them. They same rule applies to inflatable toy animals and similar things, where the air is kept inside with a help of a special plug, rubber or similar things. Nevertheless, one should not inflate them unless they were inflated at least once before Shabbos.”