Torah · Halacha YomitBorer - Derech AchilaRabbi Uri Nahum · November 9, 2026 · 39 Melachot-15Play+30Position0:00—Save⌄ShareTranscript0:02Okay, so yesterday we gave part two of the conditions that a person needs in order to0:08do borer, three conditions of borer. So one of them is that the main one we've been discussing0:13till now, the melacha of borer means the issur of borer is when you have the mixture and you're0:18taking what you don't want out of the mixture. The classic we all like to use as an example, which is0:22very common, if you have a bowl of pistachios and there's cracked pieces, you know, like the0:29pistachio nut came out, there's empty shells. And especially if you're serving people, especially if it's, like, you know, it's0:33visible, so you want to clean it up. You're taking out the cracked, the shells that don't0:39have anything in there. That's classic case of borer de'oraita, that's0:43asur mid'oraita, that's what's asur. But sometimes there will be cases where a person will remove the unwanted,0:50which we call the psolet, from the mixture and will still be mutar. Okay? This is under the0:56umbrella known as derech achilah. What is derech achilah? That's the normal way people eat the food,1:02and since that's the normal way people eat it, even though you're going to take1:06out what is not wanted, it will still be mutar. Let's give you an example. You're peeling an1:11orange. What you don't want is the peel on the outside. What you want is the orange. So the way1:19to get to the orange is the only way to get to the orange, and that's the normal way people eat.1:23I hope that's not—if that's not your way, maybe you should think about what normal is.1:28Anyway, and that is to peel, take out the peel, and get to the orange itself on the inside. So1:33therefore, if you think about it, that is borer. I'm taking out what I don't want. Yes, but since1:39that's derech achilah, that's the way people normally eat, therefore it will be mutar.1:43Now you might argue and say, orange, technically it could be edible, and in Syria we used to1:53have orange peels; people still make it sometimes. Okay, eggs. Okay, you have an egg and you want to shell an egg. So how do you get to the egg? You have to crack the shell,2:00take out the shell. The shell is totally not edible. Sorry, doesn't work. Anyway,2:04there's no—you can't eat the shell of an egg, but still it would still be mutar to take off2:10the shell, even though you're not taking the egg from the shell, because2:14that's the normal way. I'll go even further. The Ben Ish Chai brings down2:20a very interesting heter. Today it's almost unheard of; you'll see why, but at least2:26understand the concept. So once upon a time, watermelons used to have seeds. Once upon a time.2:32Maybe it's time of creation, right? Today people have never heard of seeing that watermelon have2:37seeds. So if you've never seen it, that means you're very young watching this, but ask your2:41grandparents. In any case, so the watermelons were full of seeds. Those black dots were actually2:46seeds, right? So how do you eat the seeds? You can't eat. So normally a person would eat and2:51spit out, eat and spit out. Sometimes there's so much seeds, so Ben Ish Chai says during the week,2:58how would they used to eat it? They would have a slice of the watermelon with the big peel on the3:02bottom, the green part of the bottom, and then before they eat it, they'd take the slice and3:08bang it against a table or wall, knocking out about 70% of the seeds. And there, what are you3:15doing? You're removing the seeds from the watermelon. The seeds are what you don't want, the unwanted.3:20That's psolet. How is that mutar? Ben Ish Chai says that's mutar on Shabbat. Why? Derech3:27achilah. That's the normal way people eat. Now, somebody yelled out and said, What about chicken bones?3:32So the chicken bones is not simple, because not everybody—people don't come and they do3:37dissection and remove the bones. That's not the derech achilah. People eat the chicken and there's3:42bones in between, so they eat around it, whatever it is. If it would be normal maybe to take it out,3:47then that's a discussion maybe we could get into, but— For kids, maybe. Maybe for kids.3:53We'll get to that, maybe a different discussion. But for now, what is the normal way how people3:57normally eat? That is a heter. Even though you're taking out what you don't want, it will still be mutar.