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Rav Eliyahu Reingold, Rosh Kollel in the Yeshiva of Greater Washington, spent many years learning in the Telshe Yeshiva and Kollel where he was recognized as one of their foremost talmidim. He taught in the Telshe Mechina before coming to the Yeshiva of Greater Washington. He is a noted Baal Halacha and Baal Mussar, serving as a well-respected posek for the Yeshiva and community. Besides his responsibility in leading the Kollel, he delivers a high level shiur to advanced students, and provides many halacha shiurim throughout the year. His heartfelt weekly mussar shmuess in an inspiration to all.
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Dosh 27 - Crushing Ice 1 (Klal 14 Siman 11) Hilchos Shabbos - S0389
We are beginning siman 11, and will begin with an introduction. The Gemara says that one cannot crush snow in order to thaw it and turn it into water. The Shulchan Aruch brings this as halacha lemaaseh in siman 320. We have to understand why it is assur, and the possible reasons will result in practical differences.
There are three possible reasons given in the rishonim:
It approximates the process of mefareik. Although it is not mefareik deoraysa, because there is no husk from which the “food” is being separated, the crushing the solid and ending up with a liquid approximates the process of mefareik, breaking something apart to extract its liquid. Thus, the Rambam understands it is assur as a gezeira that one may come to squeeze fruits.
Rashi understands that the issur has nothing to do with mefareik. We know that the primary reason behind the issurei melacha is the creation of something which did not previously exist. Thus, creating water on Shabbos looks as though one has created something, and he holds it is assur miderabanan due to the appearance of the creation of the water. This is known as the issur of molid.
The third explanation is that although there is nothing inherently wrong with crushing the ice, one cannot use the liquid produced due to nolad, so by default it is inappropriate to crush it.
To explain the concept of nolad, we know that in order to use something on Shabbos, it must have reached its state of preparedness before Shabbos (muchan). If something already existed for one purpose before Shabbos (a purpose which was not usable on Shabbos, and therefore such a usage does not generate preparedness) , and one wishes to redesignate it for another purpose on Shabbos, it is too late, as it wasn’t prepared for use from before Shabbos. This is the opposite of muchan and is known as muktzeh. Once the item is assur to use, it is assur to move the item as well.
The Gemara suggests that even if one does not hold of the issur of muktzah, maybe the issur of nolad is more stringent. Muktzah is an item which already exists and has a function (albeit a prohibited one), and the question is about changing its function to a permitted usage. For example, if one sells tallesim, their main purpose is for retail. If the person now wants to use one on Shabbos for personal non retail usage, the Gemara says that according to Rebbi Yehuda, it is assur because it was designated for selling, and therefore not muchan for the permitted usage, and Rebbi Shimon says that the owner always had in the back of his mind that he may need to use a tallis for such a use, so it is not muktzah. We pasken like Rebbi Shimon, and, in general, as long as one keeps an alternative designation of an item in the back of their mind, the item will be muttar.
Something which only came into being on Shabbos itself is more chamur. It never has a chance to become muchan by virtue of its non existence. You can’t prepare something which doesn’t exist yet. Arguably, even Rebbi Shimon could agree to that.
If so, one could argue that when the ice is crushed into water, it is creating something which was not previously in existence, so the water was never muchan and is assur to use
Summary
Crushing ice to create water is assur miderabanan, either because:
It approximates mefareik;
It is the issur of molid, the process of creating something
It is the issur of muktzah due to nolad, due to the fact that the water didnot exist before shabbos, so by definition it is not considered prepared for use on shabbos from before Shabbos.