Borer - Similar Items

QUESTION: I would like to set up my clothes on Friday night to have them ready for Shabbos morning. Can I choose a shirt and pants or a dress from the closet and hang them on the doorknob even though I do not need them until tomorrow?

ANSWER: Igros Moshe (OC 4:74 Hilchos Borer 12) writes that if one does not know where in the closet the clothes are and he needs to pull them out one by one to check what they are, this is borer (since it is not for immediate use). He writes that you can take a shirt out of the closet and bring it to the light and check to see if this is the desired item. In the event that it is not the right shirt, you may not put it back. Instead, you should leave it on the side and take another shirt and repeat the process. Since it is not discernible that the wrong shirt is unwanted, this is not a violation of borer. However, if all the shirts and pants are clearly recognizable in the closet, then choosing from the closet is not borer since there is no mixture.

Similarly, Sefer Piskei Teshuvos (319:24) cites many poskim, including the Chazon Ish, who write that seforim arranged on a shelf such that one can clearly distinguish each sefer are not a mixture, and therefore there in no issue with taking a sefer out even if one does not need it until later. However, Sefer Az Nidberu (1:25) points out that if there are rows behind rows of seforim and you need to move some seforim out of the way to get to other seforim, then one can only take seforim out that are needed for immediate use. If you want to take out a sefer for later, Shmiras Shabbos K’Hilchasa (3:69) suggests that you learn something from the sefer immediately. In this way, the taking of the sefer from the mixture is for immediate use and not a violation of borer.

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The Gerald & Karin Feldhamer OU Kosher Halacha Yomis is dedicated to the memory of Rav Yisroel Belsky, zt"l, who served as halachic consultant for OU Kosher for more than 28 years; many of the responses in Halacha Yomis are based on the rulings of Rabbi Belsky. Subscribe to the Halacha Yomis daily email here.