Torah · Halacha YomitFeeding Animals on ShabbatRabbi Uri Nahum · October 20, 2026 · 39 Melachot-15Play+30Position0:00—Save⌄ShareFeeding animals on ShabbatTranscript0:00Good morning, rabotai. We are continuing in halachot of0:06Chotzer. Since we're speaking about animals, we want to speak one more halacha about animals and Shabbat,0:10about pets and animals. We already spoke that you cannot move animals; that's0:16muktzeh. Today's halacha, we were focusing on feeding animals. Are you allowed to feed animals?0:20And this is a thing that's brought down in halacha.0:23The general rule is that you're not allowed to feed animals that you don't have the obligation to0:28feed. That means is that animals that could fetch their own food, then you cannot prepare food for them,0:36even something as simple. Remember, when hachamim made a0:38gezeirah, it's got to be a very clear, defined gezeirah. It's got to be like a clear boundary.0:43So therefore, if it's asur to prepare food, if it's asur to feed animals,0:48then even something that's not so hard to prepare, like opening up a package, putting it in their bowl,0:53whatever it is, that would be asur. Now, which animals are asur, which animals are not0:57asur? The answer is that animals that could get their own food, that don't need you to get their food.1:02For example, it could be you're in a farm. You have a farm, and animals have where to go, where to graze, where to eat.1:11So for that, you cannot go ahead and prepare the food for them and feed them on Shabbat.1:16Feeding them, we'll get to what that means in a second.1:20But animals that rely on you to eat, and they can't eat without you, and they need to eat also on Shabbat,1:27then you would be allowed to prepare food for them.1:31So for example, if a person has a pet, let's say a bird in the house,1:36okay? Birds in the house, you don't need to prepare anything for them on Shabbat,1:40because you put them in that little bowl, whatever they eat,1:42you put it from, I don't know, maybe Sunday, and it's good for a whole week.1:45So put it on Friday. Put it on Friday afternoon, and it will be good throughout the Shabbat.1:50So therefore, you can come and put it inside of1:53the house. When I, I remember when I did the mezuzah, shiloh hakan,1:57so the birds were very, very small, very, very small.2:00They were too small even to really slaughter; they were still very young.2:03I had to feed them.2:04But the way you feed them is different from what most people don't understand.2:08I had to take some, let's say, bread, soak it in water,2:11and then squeeze the mouth of the birds and stuff it all the way in.2:17That's the feeding. Everybody agrees that's called feeding in halacha.2:20And in that case, since the birds can't eat without me feeding them,2:24and they need to eat throughout Shabbat because they can't survive throughout Shabbat without feeding them,2:28it would be mutar on Shabbat.2:32However, to, what's it called, like you said, by other birds2:35where you can just put the food in front of them,2:37even if you have to put it on Shabbat, some2:39poskim—not everybody agrees with this halacha—but some poskim say2:42that's not the issur of feeding animals.2:45The issur of feeding animals is when you're actually stuffing it in their mouth.2:47Now, in halacha, we hold that even setting up the food for them is also2:52asur. But you could keep this in mind in case a person's misupak, is not sure if this animal could survive, cannot survive,2:59so you have that heter of feeding them.3:02So then you have to go think of every pet that people have:3:05dogs, cats, fish, birds. What's the most common pets that people have?3:13Snakes maybe people have also, yeah,3:15you know. So I think a snake is good if you feed it on Friday;3:19it'll be good for Shabbat. Monkeys maybe, thank you.3:22Okay, so—come on, not kids, we're talking about animals, not the pets, yeah, yeah.3:27Okay, so this, so basically that's a halacha.3:30You gotta know your pets.3:32Could you feed them on Friday and they're fine throughout Shabbat,3:36or you need to also give them on Shabbat?3:37Do you have to stuff it in their mouth, or could you just leave it for them3:40and they can eat by themselves? And if they can eat by themselves,3:42do you have to put it on Shabbat or can you do it3:45before? So the combinations are up to the customers to figure out.3:50We have about maybe another 40 seconds for today's halacha.3:53We're pretty much done. Talk about the animals, and3:56one last point of kotzer.3:58It's simple. I don't even know if I need to say this, but we'll say it anyway.4:02For a person to go on Shabbat, he has a fruit on a tree that's still hanging on a tree.4:07The guy says, you know, I'm not going to rip it off, but I'm going to shake the tree,4:11and it'll fall down on Shabbat.4:15That is4:17issur de'oraita. That's4:18asur min haTorah. It's also considered like kotzer,4:21and then it's considered one of the toldot of kotzer.4:23Not only that, also anything that falls out on Shabbat without you.4:27It's a big storm came, and you have an apple tree,4:29and all of a sudden you see on Shabbat a lot of apples now fell down from the tree.4:33You still can't benefit from it. It's4:35muktzeh. If it came in on Shabbat still connected to the tree,4:39even if they fall off on Shabbat, a person may not benefit from them on Shabbat.4:44They're considered muktzeh. They can't even be moved on Shabbat.