Did you forget to open your soda bottles before Shabbos? Not to worry–the Shabbos Bottle Opener can be used to open plastic soda bottles on Shabbos! It allows you to remove the plastic cap including the plastic ring, without tearing it. Forget forgetting to open the soda, you can open them whenever you want! There’s nothing like a freshly opened bottle of fizzy soda!
Please note: the Shabbos Bottle Opener fits only for the North American soda bottles and seltzer bottles (It is not fit to Israel).
Rabbinical Approvals:
Plastic soda bottle caps are sealed with a perforated ring called a “Tamper Evident Band”. The purpose of this ring is to show consumers that their beverage was properly sealed during manufacture and it is safe to drink.
Normally, the action of unscrewing the bottle cap causes the perforated ring to tear. This is fine for during the week but on Shabbos/Yom Tov, falls under the category of the melacha of Makeh B’Patish (Act of Completion). By separating the ring from the cap, it finishes the cap, allowing it to be removed from the bottle.
The Shabbos Bottle Opener grips the bottle cap and removes both the cap and the perforated plastic ring at the same time, without tearing the ring. Thus it avoids the melacha of Makeh B’Patish. In fact, one can still replace the cap with the perforated ring still attached, back onto the bottle. One would just need to use the Shabbos Bottle Opener a second time to remove it again.
It is recommended to try opening a bottle before Shabbos to make sure that brand works properly with the Shabbos Bottle Opener.
TIP: If you finish a soda bottle during the week, keep the opened cap for use on Shabbos. Then you can use it on a bottle opened by the Shabbos Bottle Opener.
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- What is the Shabbos bottle opener?
The Shabbos Bottle Opener is a device that was created to enable one to open soda bottles on Shabbos. - Why can’t one normally open a bottle cap on Shabbos?
For many years, opening bottle caps on Shabbos (even plastic) has been a great dispute among the leading poskim. The question is, if upon opening a sealed bottle cap on Shabbos, one transgresses the מאלכה דאורייתא of מכה בפטיש and מחתך.
The majority of poskim, paskined that it is אסור - Who are some of the poskim that paskined that it’s אסור?
R’ Moshe Feinstein ztz”l,
R’ Eliashiv ztz”l,
R’ Wosner ztz”l,
R’ Weiss ztz”l (The Minchas Yitzchok),
R’ Sheinberg ztz”l
R’ Karelitz shlit”a,
R’ Falk shlit”a - According to the above poskim why is the act of opening a soda bottle בפטיש? מכה
When one opens a bottle, the ring detaches from the cap. The poskim believe that act is a מאלכה of מכה בפטיש which means “the finishing act”. (ע רש”י שבת עג)Specific examples of what constitutes a מאלכה of מכה בפטיש (finalizing a product), includes, but is not limited to: opening the neck hole of an article of clothing, fashioning a hook from a wire hanger, or bending a safety pin back into its correct original shape, so that it is ready for use.This is also true for a bottle cap. When the ring is attached to the bottle cap, it is not a functioning cap, because it cannot be screwed on or off of a bottle. Therefore, cracking the ring from the cap is the finishing act of the bottle cap.
Another explanation is:
Including in the מאלכה of מכה בפטיש is that one may not do יפו כלי which means even if one has an existing functioning כלי one may not enhance it. For example, the Gemara says in שבת the following:
“אמר ר’ שמעון בן קיסמא אמר ר’ שמעון בן לקיש הצר צורה בכלי חייב משום מכה בפטיש”
that one may not paint a picture on a cup because by painting the cup, one is enhancing the cup. So too, when one removes the ring from the cap, it enhances the cap. It can now function better because with the ring attached,a) the cap can’t be removed from the bottle.
b) Even if one manages to free the cap off the bottle with the ring attached, the ring has teeth sticking inwards that don’t allow the cap to glide on and off the bottle smoothly.Therefore, when one removes the ring from the cap, one is enhancing the cap. Without the ring, the cap can now be removed easily and glide nicely on and off bottle.
- Why is the act of opening a soda bottle מחתך? (According to R’ Eliashiv, zatz”l)
מחתך means cutting an item with the intention to modify it to a specific size. Normally, when one opens a soda bottle, one has to separate the ring from the cap. Some Poskim viewed that as an act to modify the size of the cap. (A cap with a ring attached is longer in size then a cap without a ring). - How does the Shabbos Bottle Opener solve the problem?
When one opens a bottle with the Shabbos bottle opener, the cap comes off with the ring intact, no מאלכה has occurred. - If a partial separation of the ring occurs while opening a bottle with the Shabbos Bottle Opener, is there any Halachic issue?
No. One only violates theמלאכה of מכה בפטיש or מחתך if through the act one has achieved an enhancement to the object.
By מכה בפטיש the item is now finished and ready for use.(ע רש”י שבת עג)
By מחתך the item is now a new size and ready for use. (רמב”ם בפי”א הל שבת ה”ז וח) - I always opened Bottles on Shabbos. Is the Shabbos Bottle Opener for me?
Yes! Many people took on the more lenient opinion because of the difficulty of not being able to open bottles on Shabbos. Now that a solution has been created, it’s definitely recommended to follow the majority of the Poskim that Paskined that its אסור.
The Rambam writes:
וכל השומר את השבת כהלכתה ומכבדה ומענגה כפי כחו כבר מפורש בקבלה שכרו בעולם הזה יתר על השכר הצפון לעולם הבא, שנאמר אז תתענג על ה’ והרכבתיך על במותי ארץ והאכלתיך נחלת יעקב אביך כי פי ה’ דיברFrom the words of the Rambam we see what a great Mitzvah Shabbos is. Any hiddur (beautification of a mitzvah) a person takes in Shmiras Shabbos will certainly be a great schar (reward) to him in this world and in עולם הבא.
- What was the response of the Rabbonim upon seeing the Shabbos Bottle Opener?
As evident in the beautiful letters written by the Rabbonim, their excitement lit up their faces upon seeing the Shabbos bottle opener. “Finally a solution to the Bottle cap problem.”One very respectable Rav from Boro Park said he “strongly recommended” to use it.One prominent Rav from Monsey seeing the Shabbos Bottle Opener said that he finally can relax on knowing that there is a solution to opening bottles on Shabbos, a problem that has been bothering him for years.
A very respectable Posek from Eretz Yisroel said “Make lots of them so Yidden all over world can use it.”
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