Snow Day Torah: Snow & Shabbos

By Tani Genack (with the help of Shai Kosowsky):

Rabbi Genack (my father) gave a shiur to his students by Google Hangouts on the topic of whether or not snowball fights were allowed on Shabbos. It was a very interesting shiur that really got everyone involved. In addition to the 8th graders on the call, two of Rabbi Genack's children and Rabbi Bernstein joined the call to learn about snow on Shabbos. We learned that there is a machlokes between Rav Moshe Feinstein and Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach if snow is muktza. Rav Moshe Feinstein said snow is muktza because it is like a stick which has no purpose. I argued and said snow has a purpose. I said that because I saw my brother Yaakov eat snow, and food has a purpose. We also discussed how making snowballs or snowmen is like creating a building (מלאכת בונה), because it also combines pieces (individual snowflakes) into one mass (the snowball). We stressed that the goal of Shabbos it to connect with Hashem, and we need to be careful to not get distracted.