Several halachic shailas arose in the wake of the lottery the Western Wall Heritage Foundation carried out to determine who could daven at the Kosel for the neitz tefillah on Shavuos morning and the Kabbalas Shabbos tefillah on Motzei Shavuos, Kikar H’Shabbos reported.
In order to enter the Kosel for those tefillos, the winners of the lottery must present their ticket and their teduat zehut (identity card) or a copy of it to the security guards who will check it against the list of winners.
The Kosel Rav, Harav Shmuel Rabinowitz, was asked about the ticket and/or the teduat zehut being muktzah on Yom Tov and Shabbos. Rav Rabinowitz answered that regarding the ticket that perhaps it’s considered a “shtar hedyot” (a document for something forbidden on Shabbos such as bank account statements), there’s no issur since it’s being used for a devar mitzvah.
And regarding the teudat zehut there’s also no issur since according to the opinion of Harav Elyashiv, z’tl, a teduat zehut is muktzah due to it being something valuable (chesron kis) that the owner is careful to protect. Since on erev Shavuos, the owner intends to use the teudat zehut for something muttar, it’s not considered mutktzah, Rav Rabinowitz said.
However, carrying the teudat zehut after leaving the Kosel presents another shaila. However, it is similar to carrying a knife for a bris milah after the bris was already performed. And since the halacha allows the milah knife to be carried after it is used, the teudat zehut can also be carried after use, according to Hagaon Harav Avigdor Nebenzahl, the Rav of the Old City.
Nevertheless, it’s also possible to show a photocopy of one’s teudat zehut, which presents no issur according to all opinions since it was copied for something permissible and there’s also no need to carry it back.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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9 Responses
is the kosel rov a posek?
i thought he was more of a figurehead.
please clarify. thanks.
there’s no issur since it’s being used for a devar mitzvah. B’H in the זכות of יום-ירושלים fifty three years ago, we are such a fortunate Blessed People to merit this huge מצוה of going to the כותל.
@haros yes, he’s a rav, not a figurehead
Haros,
He paskens for the kosel plaza
Definitely a posek. The WoW rely on his assuring their davening every rosh chodesh to get press coverage. He also paskind several years ago that the Galach-in-Chief from Rome should not be allowed to wear a tzemel when he came to “daven” at the Kosel until he was overruled by the Foreign Ministry. Where do you bring down that a figurehead cannot also be a posek?
Does anyone understand this? A Teudat Zehut is not muktzeh. Only a k’li shemlach’to le’issur can be muktzeh due to chisron kis.
He actually has a written sefarim on halachic issues regarding the kosel.
I don’t know his abilities to pasken, but it very well be that he asked a posek.
Kollelman, maybe you should take some time to learn hilchos muktzeh. A keli shem’lachto le’isur CAN be carried if you have a use for it, or if you need the place where it is. The main category of muktzeh, which can NOT be carried, is something that is NOT a keli.