Borer - Utensils

QUESTION: I would like to set the table after the Friday night meal to be ready for tomorrow’s meal. However, the silverware is all mixed together (forks, spoons and knives). Is there a way that I can set the table?

ANSWER: One of the three basic rules of Borer (sorting) is that borer is only permitted if it is done for immediate use. Setting the table for the next day is not an immediate use. Even if you are separating only among the utensils that you need, in which case it would seem that there is no act of separating wanted from unwanted utensils because all are wanted, the Mishnah Berurah (see Beiur Halacha 319 s.v. Hayu) writes that this is not allowed. He explains that sorting a mixture into two desired piles is also a violation of borer, if the piles are left for later. If your sorting is achieving something, it is considered borer even if there is no unwanted pile.

However, Igros Moshe (OC 4:74 Hilchos Borer 11) offers the following suggestion. He writes that one may disperse the utensils such that they are no longer in close proximity to each other and will no longer form a mixture. For example, one can take a handful of silverware and spread it out across the table. Once the forks, spoons, and knives are dispersed, there is no prohibition against taking the utensils and putting each one in its place. The same can be applied to putting away toys. If black and red game pieces are in a mixture, they can be separated by dispersing the pieces and then collecting just one color.

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