Cleaning Contact Lenses on Shabbos

In our previous installment, we said that we don't currently give tithes. Just to clarify, in Israel, tithes must still be separated from crops, it's just that many of these gifts cannot currently be eaten. See our series Hashoneh Halachos 2: Mishneh Torah for more information about tithes.

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Q. Can you put contact lenses in solution or is it a problem of libun (laundering)?

A. There are three types of libun: soaking in water, scrubbing, and squeezing out the liquid. The first type – soaking – only applies to fabrics, not to other materials like leather and plastic, which are not absorbent. (The other two types of libun do apply to all materials.)

Some poskim do not permit use of disinfectant contact lens solution on Shabbos. This is not because of soaking since it’s not a fabric, but because you can’t say it’s not libun if the entire purpose is to clean the lenses of accumulated dirt. Other poskim are lenient because the dirt being removed isn’t even visible and the lenses don’t absorb. According to all poskim, however, a simple saline solution would be okay.

Please note that even when using a saline solution, one should not rub the lenses because scrubbing is a form of libun that applies to all materials.

This Q&A originally appeared in video form on x.com/OrthodoxUnion

Rabbi Jack's book Ask Rabbi Jack is available from Kodesh Press and on Amazon.com.