Q. If someone is davening outside and he dropped on Shabbos his siddur on some plants on the edge of the grass and can't pick it up without moving the leaves of the plant, can he pick it up? How tall can the plant be?
A. Remah (O.H. 336: 1) permits using soft plants attached to the ground, since there is no prohibition to use "yerek" or grass. (As when sitting, laying on it or carefully touching it). Mishna Berura (ibid 14), adds that the above only applies to plants that are not growing rigid and firm as trees and bushes do. He also mentions the height of three tefachim, as he prior (4) did. (aprox. 30 cm. or 1f.).
However, Shevet Halevi (7: 44) is lenient to pick up a taalis from a bush that did not and will not grow taller than ten tefachim, (aprox. 1m. or 40 in.).
Ohr Yehoshua Chezkiya quotes a similar opinion from Horav Shlomo Miller's Shlit'a, that one may be lenient in cases of need or kavod habriyos, such as picking up a hat, and certainly a siddur.
Rabbi A, Bartfeld as advised by Horav Shlomo and Horav Aharon Miller Shlit'a
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