SBHC Beiyun: Beer Cans and Tuna Cans on Shabbos

MISHNA: A person may break a barrel on Shabbat in order to eat dried figs from it, provided he does not intend to make a vessel. And one may not perforate the plug of a barrel to extract wine from it; rather, one must remove the plug entirely to avoid creating a new opening for the barrel. This is the statement of Rabbi Yehuda. And the Rabbis permit puncturing the plug, but they too restrict this leniency and say that one may not perforate the plug of the barrel on its side. And if it was already perforated, one may not apply wax to it to seal the hole, because in doing so he spreads the wax evenly on the barrel and thereby violates the prohibited labor of smoothing. Rabbi Yehuda said: An incident of that kind came before Rabban Yoḥanan ben Zakkai in the city of Arav, and he said: I am concerned for him, because he may be liable to bring a sin-offering as a result of this.

1. Construction and demolishing do not apply to Keilim which are not themselves a complete construction, for example a barrel RAMA: (that does not hold 40-se’ah)made of pieces bonded together with pitch, may be broken in order to take out what is inside, provided that one does not intend to cut a fine hole that will be used as an opening, because then it is called making a Keili. If it is a perfect article it is forbidden to break it even if one does not transform it into a Keili. It is forbidden even to create a small hole and a new hole may not be widened. RAMA: provided that one intends it. (Mordechai) If a knife was wedged into the barrel before Shabbos it is permitted to withdraw it and replace it because one does not intend to widen it. RAMA: As long as it was extracted once before Shabbos, but if not it is forbidden because surely it will be creating a hole and an opening to the barrel. If one is permitted to break a piece off a broken Keili, see Siman 308:44.

8. The rope tying the lids of baskets filled with dates and figs may be untied, unraveled or cut even using a knife. Even the basket itself may be slashed because it is comparable to cracking open nuts or almonds in order to retrieve the food within.