[Avodah] Vegetable Peeler

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

R' Aryeh A. Frimer asked:

> I must admit that I never understood why there should ever be a
> problem with a peelr, since the peeler always remove the klipa
> (peel) with Ochel (food) - hence the peeler NEVER does borer.

I suspect that you are referring to the case of removing an insect from one's soup, where one inserts his spoon into the soup, and scoops out some soup, and the insect happens to be in the middle of that soup. A similar example is where some unwanted thing is on one's meat, and he cuts out that part of the meat, discarding the unwanted thing along with it.

I was taught that both of these are muttar, despite the fact that they clearly get rid of the garbage, and make real improvement to the original item. The question now is WHY this is allowed.

By my recollection, it is because the actual division is being made between ochel and ochel, and the bad stuff is removed incidentally. When one puts his spoon in the soup to remove the bug, both the inside and outside of the spoon are touching edible soup, and the bug simply "happens" to be floating in the middle. Thus one has not separated bad from good, but only good from good.

In contrast, when one uses a peeler, the exact opposite is happening. The actual cut of the blade is intended to remove the portions that he doesn't want, and that is exactly what happens. I concede that the fruit is curved, while the blade is straight, and this causes some fruit to be cut off together with the peel. But it is the fruit which is being separated incidentally, and is of no consequence. This is the exact opposite of the soup, where the insect was separated incidentally, and is of no consequence.

Akiva Miller

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