Massive Spider Killing

Question

My wife and I and our baby son spent last Shabbos at the home of a rebbi of mine. Late at night, I went to use the restroom and, to my great surprise, there was a massive spider on the wall. I tried to get it out of the house, but it quickly hid itself in between a cabinet and a wall.

Should I have killed this massive spider on Shabbos? If I were to try and kill it with a broom, would it make a difference if I held the broom in my left hand?

Thank you,

Rabbi Moshe Cohen

Maleh Adumim, Yerushalayim

Rav Auerbach 

In a situation where one finds a potential lethal insect, the best thing to do is to trap it. All opinions permit this, since the intention of the person trapping the spider is not to use it, but rather to keep it away from people (Mishnah Berurah 316:27).

It seems that in your case, trapping the spider was not an option, so considering that there is a possibility that this massive spider is poisonous, the next best thing to do would be to kill it. The reason for this leniency is because killing a spider is a melacha she’eina tzricha legufah, a melacha that is not done for its standard purpose, e.g., using its carcass and not for the sake of protecting oneself.

There is a famous machlokes Rishonim regarding melacha she’eina tzricha legufah. According to the Rambam, this is a Torah prohibition, while most Rishonim rule that this is derabbonon. Aside from the fact that this might have been a poisonous insect, the women and children of the house (and maybe even the men) will most likely be terrified when they see this massive spider, and this can be considered as sakanah in halacha. Therefore, in such a case, it would have been proper for you to kill this spider.

Killing it with a broom or mop in your left hand does not make it a shinui. Although there are some poskim who rule that erasing with your left hand is a shinui (Eliyahu Rabbah 340), the halacha is that only a melacha that is impacted significantly by using one’s left hand, e.g., writing, is derabbonon when done with one’s left hand.

Shalom Aleichem at the Bais Horaah

[When I walked into the bais hora’ah where I speak with Rav Azriel Auerbach, the rov greeted me with an extremely warm shalom alecheim. Then the rov asked me, “When was the last time someone said shalom aleichem to you [like this]?” I thought for a moment and said, “5778.” The rov proceeded to give us an impromptu shiur klali on the importance and halachos of the proper way to say shalom to others.]

“Chazal instituted a takanah to greet others with the word shalom in order to bestow on them a brocha from Hashem (Berachos 54a). If we really understood the profound implication of saying shalom to other Jews, we would greet them as I just greeted you. However, many people today do not understand what saying shalom is about, and they think that it is like saying hello, and it is only a nimus, i.e., a social grace.

“There are a number of ramifications that result from this lack of understanding. Mei’ikar hadin it should be permitted to say this type of shalom to an avel, since this is not the shalom that the halacha prohibited. In the same vein, my esteemed father-in-law, Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv zt”l, wrote that even though the halacha prohibits a man from saying shalom to a woman, today’s shalom, which is merely a social grace, is not included in that prohibition.

If one wishes to properly fulfill the intention of Chazal to greet other Jews with the name of Hashem, one should keep all of the above in mind when he meets other Jews. In doing so, he will bestow the brocha of Hashem upon them and will elevate everyone he meets with the special brocha of shalom.