Toveh

Source: Halachipedia: Toveh

Link: https://halachipedia.com/index.php?title=Toveh

Categories: Orach Chaim, Shabbat

Exported: 2025-12-30

Definition

1. The melacha of Toveh is spinning fibers or hairs into a thread to be used for weaving¹. There is a biblical violation of this melacha whether one spins the thread by hand or one uses a special utensil.²

Toladot

1. Some poskim consider pressing raw material into a sheet of cloth in which there are no threads to be a Toldah of Toveh.³ Others disagree.⁴

References

¹: Rambam Shabbos 9:15, Rabbi Ribiat (v.3, p. 759), Mishnah Brurahh 302:57

²: Chaye Adam (Shabbos 25:1)

³: Rambam Shabbos 9:15

⁴: The Raavad Shabbos 9:15, argues that pressing raw materials into a cloth is irrelevant to Toveh and cannot be considered a Toldah. He suggests that it could constitute a Toldah of Boneh though, since one is creating a new entity out of the fibers. The Minchat Chinuch 32:16 notes that even though the Rambam holds that pressing fibers into cloth is a Toldah of spinning, it wouldn’t necessarily be considered spinning for other areas of halacha, such as shatnez.