Using a Vegetable Spiralizer on Shabbat
QUESTION
Israel
May one use a spiralizer on Shabbat, assuming one is making vegetable noodles that include the vegetable’s peel (e.g. zucchini zoodles)?
ANSWER
I can’t see why this wouldn’t be permissible; it just cuts something up. I imagine the question here is whether it is uvda di’chol, but that would not be a problem, since this is something that is done in the home context. As I wrote elsewhere
Rav Moshe (Igrot Moshe OH 4:74, Tochein 4) was asked whether an egg- or cheese-cutter should be forbidden on the basis of uvda di’chol. He first points out the irony that a labor-saving device would be considered contrary to the spirit of Shabbat. Rav Moshe then analyzes all the cases that are defined as uvda di’chol and concludes that an uvda di’chol activity is one that is connected to professional work. However it is not a problem when the act is done דרך עראי, in an ad hoc fashion to address an immediate Shabbat need. The problem is when the act is done with close attention and on a scale that suggests weekday work, what the Gemara refers to as כדרך שהוא עושה בחול [the way that one does something during the week].
(https://library.yctorah.org/lindenbaum/uvda-dchol-on-shabbat/)
The other primary definition of uvda di’chol is that of Rav Shlomo Zalman Aurbach (Shulchan Shlomo 306:16.5, quoting from his article in Pninei HaMaor, vol. 2) who, basing himself on Rambam, says that it is activity that in some way connects to a melakhah.
There are other possible definitions, such as the implicit one associated with electricity, namely, bringing a person into the world of technology, noise, busyness etc., but that is not relevant here either.
Finally, this is certainly not nolad – it’s just cut-up zucchini.
Therefore, I see no reason why it should be a problem.
