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

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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 [email protected] 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, 2010 at 20:54
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    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, 2011 at 23:43
  • @Menachem interestingly, Shemirath Shabbath (English edition) holds both ways. You may make "soda water" using a syphon, but adults should not blow soap bubbles (but need not stop children from doing so). See 11:35 and 16:30, respectively.
    – Seth J
    Jul 17, 2022 at 21:06
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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, 2011 at 2:51
  • @Menachem: second column, top paragraph, towards the end of the paragraph
    – Curiouser
    Jun 29, 2011 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, 2011 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, 2011 at 14:55
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Shmirat shabbat kehilchatah says it's okay as well.

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    SSK itself generally follows R' Shlomo Zalman's rulings, so this is not really a separate halachic opinion.
    – Alex
    Jan 31, 2011 at 2:27
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    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, 2011 at 3:27
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    A citation (chapter and paragraph) to SSK would be helpful.
    – msh210 ♦
    Apr 23, 2012 at 2:40
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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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Rabbi Dovid Ribiat ("The 39 Melochos" mleches makeh bpatish p. תתלב fn. 104) cites differing opinions as to whether making seltzer qualifies as the forbidden melocho of makeh b'patish (according to the Yerushalmi that includes food items in the prohibition). He cites the Shemiras Shabbas K'hilchasa (11:35) who is lenient. He doesn't explicitly mention why molid (ala e.g. infusing clothing with perfume) isn't an issue. Also, at least in the case of the SodaStream sodamaker, the instructions make explicit use of the sound created by the device to determine when the seltzer is ready (3 loud presses) which would seem to raise an additional issue of the Rabbinic prohibition of hashmaas kol.

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  • Is there any reason to think we paskin like that yerushalmi?
    – Double AA ♦
    Jan 4, 2015 at 1:02
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ילקוט יוסף קצוש"ע אורח חיים סימן שכב - דין נולד בשבת

ה. מותר לעשות מי - סודה בשבת על - ידי הכלי המיוחד לכך שנקרא "סיפולקוס" או "סודה סטרים", ואין בזה שום חשש לא של עובדין דחול, ולא משום נולד, ולא משום מכה בפטיש. ובלבד שיעשה זאת לצורך השבת. ואם הותיר לאחר השבת אין בכך כלום. [ילקוט יוסף שבת כרך ג' עמוד תי].

Chacham Ovadia allowed this as well.

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