Is It Permitted To Use A Magnet On Shabbat?

Greetings,

It is permitted to attach things by means of a magnet on Shabbat, as long as they are not muktzeh. However, this is specifically when the magnet is a complete shape. Two parts of a shape, or letters, or parts of letters, are forbidden.

Sources: This was also ruled by Rabbi Nissim Karelitz, zt"l, in Chut Shani, Shabbat, Part 1 (p. 138), that it is permitted on Shabbat to attach a magnet to metal, or one magnet to another [when they are not muktzeh], even if it is not intended to be opened and closed at all times, and there is no prohibition of sewing, because this connection is not considered a connection; rather, the magnet is drawn by the force of attraction within it. A brief version of this appears in Yalkut Yosef, Yamim Noraim (p. 380, s.v. ve-al).

Similarly, it is written in Orchot Shabbat, Part 1 (chapter 8, halacha 13 and in the note there) that a magnet attached to a refrigerator, with papers placed beneath it, may be removed or returned, and there is no prohibition of building, because it is not considered part of the refrigerator but merely hanging from it. However, one must be careful not to move papers that are muktzeh.

However, it is written in Shulchan Shlomo, Shabbat, Part 3 (siman 340, note 35), in the name of Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, zt"l, that specifically a magnet that is a complete shape may be attached, but two parts of a shape, and all the more so letters or parts of letters, are forbidden.

With blessings,

Hillel Meirs