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Can a person make seltzer on shobbos or yom tov with something like sodastream?

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While Sodastream says it does not operate on electricity or batteries, some models, like the Source and Revolution, do come with an LED display. For the Source, "the strength of carbonation is visible through an LED display, providing instant, visual feedback." – yuvilio yesterday

4 Answers

up vote 1 down vote

It is permissible to make seltzer on Shabbat, provided that no electricity is involved (and seltzer machines generally do not involve electricity), and that the seltzer is needed on Shabbat.

(from DailyHalacha.Com)

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up vote 12 down vote

According to the rulings of R' Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, yes.

From SodaStream's website:

Are your products kosher? SodaStream products are kosher (OU) certified (click to see OU certificate). SodaStream seltzer is kosher for passover (click to see OUP certificate). Also, please note that your home soda maker can be used on the Sabbath. For more information, please contact us send an email to info@sodastreamsupport.com or call 1-800-763-2258.

I contacted the company, and they pointed me to Shulchan Shlomo O"C II 313 (page 137). Shulchan Shlomo is a work put together by a student of R' Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, based on his rulings. (I am assuming the scanned page they sent me is legitimate.)

Scanned page from Shulchan Shlomo

In short:

  • Adding flavorings -- anyone who uses tea essence on Shabbos or chooses to mix wine with water does this. Not a problem.
  • Changing the gas cartridge -- when replacing the cartridge, you're not "fixing" a "broken" machine, as that's doing what it should. More akin to refilling a salt shaker with salt.
  • Carbonating the water -- doesn't seem to fall under any prohibited act. You could try to argue "uvda d'chol" ("it's a mundane-day activity, not Shabbos-like"), but we don't just make those up for every new situation.

So it appears R' Shlomo Zalman Auerbach allowed it. I haven't heard any other opinions on the matter. Though if you wanted to be thorough, you could ask a British Jew, as according to wikipedia, "In the UK (where it was first sold) the SodaStream machine is strongly associated with 1970s/1980s childhood nostalgia."

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3  
Great research! – Isaac Moses May 6 '10 at 20:54
1  
what about the problem (according to some poskim) about creating bubbles on shabbos? judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/741/bubbles-on-shabbos . Does that not apply here? – Menachem Jun 27 '11 at 23:43
up vote 4 down vote

The Beis Yitzchak (at the very end of Yoreh Deah part 2) writes that making soda water is forbidden on Shabbos due to molid. This view is cited in Minchas Shlomo

http://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=15096&st=&pgnum=112

who notes (as above) that people tend to be lenient.

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Can you point out where he talks about making soda water, I couldn't seem to find it. – Menachem Jun 29 '11 at 2:51
@Menachem: second column, top paragraph, towards the end of the paragraph – Curiouser Jun 29 '11 at 17:49
But the Beis Yitzchak is talking about adding bicarbonate of soda to water. This is different, as it's adding gas to water. – user864 Sep 6 '11 at 6:44
@Dave: All carbonation systems add gas to water -- C02 goes into solution in the water. That's how it works. So I'm not sure what your point is. Most poskim understand the Beis Yitzchak as opposing the making of seltzer generally. – Curiouser Sep 6 '11 at 14:55
up vote 6 down vote

Shmirat shabbat kehilchatah says it's okay as well.

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3  
SSK itself generally follows R' Shlomo Zalman's rulings, so this is not really a separate halachic opinion. – Alex Jan 31 '11 at 2:27
1  
David, Welcome to mi.yodeya, and thanks very much for your help here! We'd love to have you as a fully-registered member, which you can accomplish by clicking register/login, above. – Isaac Moses Jan 31 '11 at 3:27
A citation (chapter and paragraph) to SSK would be helpful. – msh210♦ Apr 23 '12 at 2:40

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