For Whom The Bell Tolls
‘Royal Children May Go Out With Bells’
(Shabbos 66b)
The Mishnah states that princes may go out on Shabbos with ornamental bells on their clothing. Since these bells are common among princes, the Sages were not concerned that they would remove them to show their friends and then accidentally carry them in the street.
The Gemara (Eruvin 104) states that the Sages prohibited playing musical instruments on Shabbos (lest one mistakenly fix them when they break). The Rema (Orach Chayim 338:1) rules that included in this prohibition – referred to as hashma’as kol (lit. giving forth a sound) – is using any device that is designed to make noise, such as a door-knocker.
Noise, Melody, or Ornament
The Shiltei Gibborim (to the Rif, 30b; also cited by the Rema, Orach Chayim 301:23) comments that a person may not wear bells on his clothes unless the clappers are removed because bells are designed to make noise.
The Magen Avraham (Orach Chayim 301:35) distinguishes between children and adults. He asserts that the Shiltei Gibborim requires removing clappers only from bells on children’s clothing because children shake bells to produce a melodious sound. However, adults who are not interested in the sound of the bells (they wear them only for ornamental purposes) are permitted to wear bells with clappers.
Eliyahu Rabbah (Orach Chayim, ad loc. and cited by Biur Halacha ad loc.) takes issue with the Magen Avraham’s lenient ruling and asserts that regardless of intent, one may not produce sounds with a bell because it is an instrument that is designed to make a melodious sound.
The Taz (Orach Chayim 338:1, Yoreh De’ah 282: 2) maintains that bells attached to the curtain of an aron kodesh or the crown of a Sefer Torah must have their clappers removed since the bells are designed to produce noise to signal the congregation to rise when the aron kodesh is open and when the Sefer Torah is carried.
The Magen Avraham (ad loc. sk5), however, claims there is no need to remove the clappers since these bells are not made with the intent to emit a melodious sound, and the individual who opens the aron kodesh does not intend to shake the bells and make noise.
Mitzvah Purposes
The Shach (Yoreh De’ah 282:4, citing Rabbeinu Manoach, found in the Beis Yosef commentary to the Tur, Yoreh De’ah, ad loc. s.v. “Ve’kasav Horav Manoach”) also permits carrying a Sefer Torah with bells and clappers on Shabbos, but on different grounds. The rabbinic issur against making music was lifted for mitzvah purposes, he writes.
The bells on a Sefer Torah serve an important function; they signal to everyone that the Sefer Torah is passing by so that they rise in its honor. They are like the footsteps for R. Yosef’s mother (see Kiddushin 31b). When R’ Yosef would hear them, he would say, “Let me rise before the Shechinah.”
The Mishnah Berurah (Orach Chayim 338:6) rules that one should follow the Taz and remove the clappers from the bells of a Sefer Torah before Shabbos or stuff the bells with cotton. If for some reason doing so is not possible, or if one forgot to do so, one may rely on the lenient view, writes the Mishnah Berurah.
Let’s see What People Do
The Shulchan Aruch HaRav (Orach Chayim 338:1) and Aruch HaShulchan (ad loc sk 3) maintain that one need not act stringently and note that the bells serve an important purpose. Acting in accordance with the lenient position is the common custom, writes the Aruch HaShulchan.