Torah · Halacha YomitTochen - Defining a MelachaRabbi Uri Nahum · November 12, 2026 · 39 Melachot-15Play+30Position0:00—Save⌄ShareTranscript0:00Okay, so we've been discussing borer for a long while.0:04The reason is because the halachot of borer are very, very0:10complex, probably more than any other0:12melacha. It comes up a lot, as we showed some of the examples,0:15but there's so much more. There's really so much more.0:18This was just only to hopefully kind of inspire us, at least to be aware that there's the concept0:24and to bring up the questions that are very, very relevant.0:27We want to move on now to the next0:30melacha. So we did really the melachot of six, seven, and0:33nine. We skipped0:34eight. So eight is the melacha of tochen.0:37What is tochen? Tochen means grinding.0:40That's a translation.0:41The definition of tochen is to take an entity and to turn it into many small parts.0:46That's the melacha of tochen.0:48As we'll see in the next melacha after tochen, which is lash, is the exact opposite.0:52This tochen is taking one entity, making it into many, many small pieces.0:55What happened in the times of the Mishkan when they made the bread,1:00the simple process was after getting the kernels and sifting out all the bad,1:05now you have the kernels. They ground the kernels and they turned it into flour,1:10right? That's the kernel turned into many small parts.1:12That's the melacha of tochen.1:14So this is not only by kernels and things, food.1:19The Rambam brings as a toldah of tochen,1:22he says that if a person takes wood and shaves off the wood to get the1:28sawdust—remember, you got to1:29want it, because if you don't want it, it's a different1:31question—but to shave off the wood to get the sawdust, according to the1:35Rambam, it's a toldah of tochen,1:37which means it's an issur d'oraita as well under the category of tochen.1:42So you see it's not only things that you're planning to eat,1:45because if you think about it, flour is also not edible at that moment.1:48You have to do some other steps to it.1:50So therefore, tochen applies to other areas as well,1:53where a person is grinding something, he gets more.1:55There's, again, like we said, this is in this course of halachot,1:58we're trying to bring out a few cases here and there for a person to be aware of them.2:05One nice and good leniency that we want to know, that you should know about tochen is that2:11ein tochen achar tochen.2:13That once the melacha was done on a certain particular food,2:18matzah, it was ground up already, there is no issue to grind it up again.2:21That's it. It was already2:23nithan. There's no such thing as grinding again,2:24even though the guy did techiyat hameitim, put it back.2:27What does that mean?2:28Let's take this example. Let's talk about bread.2:30So you took the2:31kernels, you ground it,2:33you have flour,2:34you made bread, or you bought bread.2:37The guy also in the bakery did the same thing, right?2:39It was flour before,2:40he made it into bread.2:41Now you come home and you want to take the bread2:44and take it into small little pieces,2:46grind it again into small pieces for whatever.2:48You need it as a spice for your food,2:50you want to give it to the little kids,2:52whatever it may be, but you're basically grinding the bread into small pieces.2:56That would be totally mutar on Shabbat.2:59Why?3:00Ein tochen achar tochen,3:02because the rule is once something was ground,3:05there's no problem to grind it again.3:07The bread came from flour and water that was mixed together,3:11and the flour was something that was nithan already,3:13so there was no issue to do the same.3:16A more common example probably people would want to know is3:19regarding, let's say people like to have, want to take a cookie3:23and to break up the cookie to put on their ice cream.3:26I never thought about that one.3:27You don't need to spend3:29seven dollars. You can also take a cookie for 25 cents and grind it up,3:32and that's your toppings over there on your ice cream.3:35That would be also mutar on Shabbat.3:38Why?3:38Ein tochen achar tochen.3:39I know you're used to hearing what's asur,3:41so it's good to hear sometimes what's mutar on Shabbat.3:44There's no issue of tochen in such an area.3:46But there is, like we said, an issue of tochen in other areas.3:50Tomorrow, not to talk about some halachot, but to learn this in depth.3:55We did start our halachot of Shabbat from the3:59Ben Ish Chai, on Friday4:01nights, and this is the subject that we're learning this year,4:03the melacha of tochen.4:04Please join us.