May one clean dirty fingernails on Shabbos?
Dirt often appears under fingernails, leaving an ugly appearance.
Obviously there is no prohibition against cleaning such dirt on Shabbos;
one should be careful not to scrape away part of the inside of the
fingernail, which would be a problem of 'gozez' .
As
we know, one’s hands and fingernails must be clean when washing for
bread and when necessary one could use a wooden toothpick that will
scrape away the dirt but will not scrape the nail.
A fingernail has partially separated from the
nail, may it be removed?
We
have learnt that removing a fingernail involves the melacha of
'gozez'
–
shearing.
The halacha regarding a semidetached fingernail varies.
If
a minor part of the fingernail is detached, it is the same as a fully
attached fingernail and may not be removed. If a major part of the
fingernail has detached, mid’oraisso it is viewed as if it has
totally detached, but mid’rabanan it may only be removed – by
hand or teeth – if causing distress. The leniency is due to the fact
that Chazal did not institute this g’zeira (decree) in
occurrences of distress.
May a woman remove nail varnish on Shabbos?
Removing nail varnish is not similar to removing dirt from one’s skin
etc. The problem in this case is that removing nail varnish paves the
way for a fresh painting which is a problem of “erasing in order to
repaint”, which can be an issur d’oraisso.
Normally a woman only removes varnish that has started to peel or is
damaged. Doing so on Shabbos is not seen as mekalkel (destroying
or spoiling) which is only a d’rabanan,
because in this case the nails are being cleaned in order to be
repainted.
How is a woman supposed to wash her hands for
bread on Shabbos when the nail varnish is peeling?
This is a major problem because it is a state which is known as being
makpidah, which means being particular. Anything that a person does
not want on one’s hands constitutes a 'chatzitza' – a
barrier between the person’s hands and the water and in this case it
invalidates the 'netilas yadayim' .
It
is similar to any case of dirt on one’s hands that must be removed
before washing for bread. Although one may remove ‘normal’ dirt from
one’s hands on Shabbos in order to do
'netilas yadayim',
removing varnish is far more problematic, as explained. One should
therefore make sure that the fingernails are either well varnished or
clean before Shabbos.
The Shulchan Aruch says that one may peel scabs on Shabbos. The
'Ketzos
HaChoshen'
explains that since scabs eventually fall off the skin, they are in a
better halachik position than skin peelings (cuticles), and
therefore they may be removed even when they do not cause distress. One
must not remove or peel scabs when it will cause bleeding because that
is prohibited.
What about removing or cutting a wart?
Warts are part of one’s skin and may therefore not be removed or cut
from one’s body on Shabbos.
Warts share the same rule as regular pieces of skin that may not be
pulled or yanked off one’s skin.
May a girl braid her hair on Shabbos?
Aside from the issue of pulling out hair on Shabbos, which is a problem
of âåææ, there is a problem of making
plaits. Chazal tell us that making plaits or braiding hair on
Shabbos is associated with Boneh. Chazal learnt this from
the fact that Hashem presented Chava to Adam Harishon
with her hair in plaits, because it says 'Vayiven es hatzela'
– He built the Tzela. A girl may also not unravel plaits because
that would be a problem of dismantling – Soter. Nevertheless it
is only an issur d’rabanan as it only appears like
Boneh.
