Borer - Coat Pile

QUESTION: I placed my coat on a couch at a Shalom Zachar. Now there is a pile of coats on the couch. Can I remove the top layers of coats to retrieve my coat from the bottom or is this a violation of borer (sorting)?

ANSWER: The Mishnah Berurah (319:15) writes that if one needs to search through a stack of clothing to find the right one and this requires removing the upper layers to reach the desired one underneath, this is permitted. Even though one of the primary rules of borer is that you are only permitted to remove the good from the bad and not the bad from the good—and removing the upper layers that you do not want is like removing bad from good—in this case it is permitted. He explains that a stack of clothing is not a real mixture, and therefore removing the “bad” clothing does not improve the pile. Sefer Shvisas HaShabbos (Borer 13:27) writes that the leniency of the Mishnah Berurah only holds true if one knows the location of the clothing that he wants and has immediate need for it. His only obstacle is that he cannot reach it because it is covered. In that scenario, he may remove the upper items to get to the desired item underneath. However, if the coats have been tossed around, and he does not know where in the pile his coat is, then indeed it would be forbidden. Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach zt”l (Shmiras Shabbos K’Hilchasa 3:3:{70}) disagrees. He writes that since the pile of coats is not a real mixture, even if one does not know where in the pile his coat is, he may remove the top layers until he finds his coat.

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