What are the rules about setting and removing the cutlery on Shabbat?
Question
What are the rules about setting and removing the cutlery on Shabbat?
Answer
Shalom!
Thank you for your question.
Cutlery may not generally be sorted on Shabbat as doing so is a violation of “borer” the ban on “selecting.”
It is forbidden to pick out pieces of cutlery from a mixture and to put them is specific places unless one is doing so immediately prior to the meal. In other words, it is forbidden to take different types of cutlery from their various compartments into one’s hand and then to place at the different place setting. Again, this would be permitted if done immediately prior to the meal.
After a meal the cutlery may not be sorted but must be gathered and placed randomly. If placing in a dishwasher for storage until after Shabbat the cutlery must be placed into the cutlery bin at ransom and not separated from one’s hand to be placed in specific places in the cutlery bin. When washing by hand the cutlery must be washed at random and let to dry on a surface. They may not be sorted into their various compartments in the cutlery holder.
It is generally permitted to do the above if one handles only one piece of cutlery at a time, as no “sorting” is being performed because there is only one piece being handled.
A common “trick” to separate mixed cutlery is to throw it across some surface and let it separate on tis own in that way. The cutlery will not be considered mixed and then sorting them will be fine (as long as the cutlery is distinct from one another)