R’ Shlomah Zalman (Shemiras Shabbos, Perek 9, he’orah 61) paskened that if one first makes a whole in the lid, then there is no longer a problem of makeh bepatish. The problem of makeh bepatish is that by unscrewing the lid one is now making it into a keli [utensil], if however, the cap has a whole in it, then it can no longer be used as a cap, therefore, there is no problem. (One must make sure to make a whole which goes all the way through, some caps have metal and plastic, if one only makes a whole in the metal it doesn’t help, as it can still be used as a cap).
Although making a whole would seem to be a melachah of soser [demolition], R’ Shlomah Zalman explains, that a bottle cap is not considered a choshuva keli [important utensil] and it is like a mustaki [type of wake vessel] which one is allowed to break through in order to get to the food inside. Additionally, in the current status, it is not considered a keli as it can’t be used until it’s separated from the ring. However, this is not so simple, as if the reason for breaking the cap was to get to food, then we can compare it to the case of mustaki, however, the reason one breaks the cap in our case is simply to avoid the issue of makeh bepatish, therefore, perhaps in such a case there is no heter. If, however, one would make a whole big enough to pour the drink through, then it would be like a mustaki (see Orchas Shabbos, Perek 12, he’orah 30).
This week’s topic is one of the most complex topics in Hilchos Shabbos and it’s no surprise that we didn’t manage to cover it in one week. So far, we have scratched the surface, iy’H next week we will continue our discussion.
