Shabbos Treasures 34-35: Wet Clothes

18/12/2022 19 min Temporada 11 Episodio 34

Listen "Shabbos Treasures 34-35: Wet Clothes"

Episode Synopsis

Question 1) Can you hang wet clothes to dry on Shabbos?
Question 2) Can you wet a garment with coloured wine or drink?
Question 3) Can you go for a walk on Shabbos in the rain, where you know your clothes will get wet?
Wet laundry is usually muktza, but if it became wet whilst it was being worn it's not muktza but you can't hang it out to dry due to the principle of "viewed by the eye" - any situation that can arouse suspicion to an onlooker, as he may feel they were washed on shabbos itself. 
Note, it's ok to hang it out washing done before shabbos even though it will be hanging out and drying over Shabbos.
It's also OK to hang out your wet clothing that got wet on Shabbos if either it isn't "that wet", or if you hang it in an *unusual way like on back of a chair etc.
And its always ok to hang out a wet raincoat as it's obvious it got wet on Shabbos, and as we saw a plastic coat can even be shaken out to remove moisture.
The reason wet laundry is muktza is 1 can be anxious to wear a wet garment and may forget himself and wring it out.
If you know with certainty that the washing will dry on Shabbos, eg you hang it out friday in your   house left overnight to dry and the house is hot, the clothes stop being muktza upon them becoming dry.
If washing is in your dryer, the only way to get the washing out is to open the door if there is no light. You then can't close the door unless it's in the way as it's muktza!
Once you remove your wet clothing that became wet on Shabbos from the rain, and put on dry ones, the wet ones shouldn't be moved anymore and considered muktza.
We have seen over past couple of sessions that under the melacha of melabain - scouring, one can't remove dirt from a material, even if done without a liquid.
The purpose of this melacha is to improve the appearance of the garment.
There is an exception where the soaking or wetting has a negative or spoiling effect on the appearance of the fabric. For example you can soak a fabric with dirty water because the dirty water doesn't cleanse the garment, but soils it more.
Similarly you can wet a garment with colored wine or drink has this has a detrimental effect on the appearance of the garment. Think spills!
Also, it's only a problem where you want the fabric to get wet, so is ok if you want to dry your hands on a towel or go for a walk in the rain whereby your clothes will get wet.