Piece Of Cake

The next opinion is that of the Mishnah Berurah. He reasons that even though the destruction of letters is unintended, cutting through words is still forbidden since it is an inevitable consequence. Moreover, the Mishnah Berurah notes that some are even stringent regarding cutting through meaningful pictures on a cake. Cutting through lines and squiggles is permitted. However, the Mishnah Berurah would concede that if cutting through letters is not an inevitable consequence but merely likely, then it is permitted. If one is trying to open a wrapper on Shabbos but is afraid he may rip letters, he may open the wrapper if it is not definite that the letters will be ripped. The Mishnah Berurah says that if the words are carved out of the cake itself, it is permitted to cut through it on Shabbos. Similarly, one may break a tea biscuit into two pieces since the letters are ingrained in the biscuit itself and not comprised of an external medium. Finally, the Mishnah Berurah holds that even though one may not cut through letters written with frosting on a cake, he may still eat a piece of cake with writing on it and chew it. The Oreiach Yisrael suggests this is because an act of eating cannot be deemed to be erasing. Finally, we have the opinion of the Chazon Ish. He says one should not even bite or chew on a piece of cake that has writing on it. This is true even if the writing is baked into the cake itself and is not written with frosting.

Yet even the Chazon Ish would agree that if a cake is in the shape of a letter or picture, one may cut pieces of that cake on Shabbos. Therefore, even according to this most stringent opinion, one may cut a cake that is in the shape of a dreidel, for example, on Shabbos. Rav Yaakov Emden writes that this is learned out from the lechem ha’panim. At first glance this is perplexing, as the lechem ha’panim did not have any writing or pictures on it. However, the Mishnas Yehuda points out that according to Rebbe Chanina (Menachos 94b), the lechem ha’panim were in the shape of an upside-down ches. Yet, the kohanim cut it into pieces and ate it on Shabbos! It must be that on Shabbos one can cut through bread or cake that is baked into a meaningful shape or letter.

Getting back to the opening story, our friend was able to have his birthday cake—and eat it, too.