May cutlery be sorted on Shabbos?

Separating Cutlery on Shabbos

Setting the Table

• One is permitted to separate out relevant cutlery to prepare for a meal, following the conditions of permitted borer.
• It is allowed to separate forks, knives, and spoons immediately before a meal for meal preparation. [1]
• One may also separate cutlery for nonstandard use, such as:
  • Using utensils to designate seating (e.g., placing cutlery on a plate to “save a spot”).
  • Using cutlery as a heker (a sign to avoid accidental halachic transgression, such as in kashrus or niddah observance).
• If the goal is to ensure that the table looks beautiful and organized, one may engage in permissible borer even long before the meal, as the goal is achieved l’alter (immediately after setting the table). [2]

Avoiding Mixing Cutlery

• If different types of cutlery are already separated in compartments, one should avoid mixing them when setting the table. Instead, they should be placed out one type at a time. [3]

Putting Away Cutlery

• If the utensils are already sorted (each in its designated place), they may be removed from the table without restriction.
• If there is a mixture of keilim and one wants to separate dirty from clean utensils:
  • One should first remove the clean cutlery, setting them aside for later use.
  • Only afterward should the dirty cutlery be removed. [4]

Sorting Cutlery When Putting It Away

• General Rule: It is forbidden to separate cutlery into their correct sections on Shabbos.
• Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach [5] permits selecting one random piece of cutlery and returning it to its place only if:
  • There is no intent to select a specific type.
  • The utensil is washed and dried before returning it.
  • Since the washing/drying serves an independent purpose, it is not considered borer. [6]
• Rav Nissim Karelitz [7] rules more strictly:
  • If one is bothered by the cutlery being mixed and intends both to dry and separate, even selecting randomly is forbidden.
  • If the only intent is to dry, then one may select one piece at a time and return it to the correct place.
  • Rav Elyashiv [8] agrees with this stricter ruling.

Washing Cutlery on Shabbos

• Shabbos K’halachah [9] states:
  • Separating dirty cutlery for washing is a permitted case of borer if one intends to wash it l’alter (immediately).
  • However, this is only permitted if one intends to use the utensil immediately for eating. [10]

[1] Shabbos K’halachah 12:102.
[2] Shabbos K’halachah 12:104, citing Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach in
his letter B’pninei Ha’maor cited at the end of the work Maor Hashabbos
vol. 1, 8:2.
[3] Shabbos K’halachah 12:103 citing Shemiras Shabbos K’hilchasah
3n213.
[4] Shabbos K’halachah 12:106.
[5] Shemiras Shabbos K’hilchasah 3:85
[6] Rav Wosner [Kovetz M’beis Levi v. 6 p. 42] agrees. However, Chut
Shani [v. 2 p. 76] argues that picking out something at random to then
put it away in its proper place is borer. It is only permitted to pick up an
רא˘ י˘יב˙נו הרב מנחם מענדל פרעס˜אט רב ומו”ı בניו הייבן
item at random if he does not care at all about the fact they got
separated. Shabbos Kitchen [p. 121 fn. 8] explains that Rav Shlomo
Zalman Auerbach holds that it is forbidden to pick out one item at
random and put it away. But picking up one piece of silverware at a time
to dry it is considered taking it for a purpose, and once it is separated he
does not need to put it back into the mixture.
[7] Chut Shani [v. 2 p. 71]
[8] Ayil Meshulash [ch. 11 fn. 20*]
[9] 12:107 and 12n210 there.
[10] See extensive discussion of this issue in Shabbbos K’halachah
12:108-109.