Rabbi Mendel Agranovich
In this issue, we will devote our article to two questions.
The first question: a method of leaving food on the stove called “kedeirah chayta”—literally, “a living pot.”
The essence of this method (and our first question) is this: may completely raw food be put on the heat just before Shabbat? The fact is that the Talmud (Shabbat, 18b) says that if a pot of raw food is put on the heat solely for the morning meal, with no intention of using it in the evening, it will be ready by morning even without touching it or stoking the coals. Even stoking the coals would not help the food become ready for the evening meal, so there is no concern that a person who puts raw food on the heat will want to stoke the coals. Notice that the Talmud explains this permission with the following phrase: “Since it is unsuitable for the evening, he puts it out of his mind.” Does this remind you of anything? Yes, you are right: this is the central theme we have been following throughout this subject—a person does not stoke the coals if he has “turned his attention away” from his roast. How does this happen?
There are two possibilities. The first is to accept that the food is on low heat. The second is to understand that, in any case, it will reach the required degree of doneness by the time it is to be eaten.
This is the idea of the “Magen Avraham” and the “Mishnah Berurah,” the Sages’ fundamental reasoning on this issue: we need to be certain that our cook has stopped thinking about his work of art. Then, if we apply this idea to our circumstances, it seems permissible, at first glance, to say that raw food may be put on the heat just before Shabbat.
But we had a reason for writing that this is only at first glance. The resemblance is merely one of form. In practice, we cannot say that, if food is put on the heat at the onset of Shabbat, we can be certain it will not be ready for the evening meal.
Let us do the calculation. We accept Shabbat half an hour before sunset, in Jerusalem 40 minutes before, and abroad 18 minutes before. At about this time, we put a pot on the heat and go off to Minchah, Kabbalat Shabbat, and Maariv. This whole process takes at least an hour. On returning home, we sing Shalom Aleichem and Eshet Chayil, bless the children, make Kiddush, and recite the blessing over bread. Then comes the first course, fish and salads—another half hour at least, if not more. In other words, we have about an hour and a half by the most conservative estimate. If the dish on the stove is cooked over high heat, it could easily be ready for the evening meal. We therefore lack the essential component of the permission for a “raw pot.” With our intervention, the dish could be ready by the evening as well, so given the realities of our everyday lives, we cannot rely on the Talmud’s permission.
A reasonable question is: why were the Sages in Talmudic times not concerned, while we are? Why do we understand this case as falling under the Sages’ decree when, at first glance, they excluded the “raw pot” from their concern and, accordingly, from the decree? In fact, it is quite straightforward. The Sages did not issue a decree about “raw” or “living” food or pots; they established a principle: when a person has put caring for and worrying about his food out of his mind, it is permitted, and we are not concerned that he will stoke the coals. Where there is no such certainty, additional conditions are required: a “covered flame,” and so on (see all our previous articles on this subject).
An illustrative example is a stove fueled with hay and straw. Since there is no point in stoking them (they already burn well and give off heat for as long as they last as fuel, and nothing more can be obtained from them), they too fall outside the decree. Although, on the surface, nothing unites these three cases—hay, a “raw pot,” and a covered flame—they share one detail: the person stops thinking about the food, or, more precisely, about intervening in its preparation.
Let us turn to practical conclusions.
1. According to the letter of the law, a pot of raw food may be placed on an uncovered flame (the “Mishnah Berurah,” 253, section 9, writes that this refers specifically to raw meat), if we are certain it will not be ready by the end of the evening meal, even if someone were to increase the heat.
2. In practice, it is virtually impossible to achieve this result in our everyday circumstances, so this permission remains purely theoretical and may not be relied upon (“Orchot Shabbat,” chapter 2, sections 21, 22, 23, notes 30, 33).
3. What, then, should you do? If you happen not to have been able to cook your food fully before Shabbat, or at least until it is half-cooked (according to the “Mishnah Berurah” and the Chazon Ish, respectively), place your raw food on a blech or a hotplate. The food will certainly cook perfectly well on a blech, and in most cases on a hotplate too, except for soups and dishes that require boiling..
4. One should not rely on this from the outset, since some authorities hold that raw food may not be placed even on a covered flame. Although, according to the Shulchan Aruch, this does help (meaning that food that has not yet reached the stage of “ma’achal ben Derusai” may be placed on a covered flame), the author of the “Mishnah Berurah,” our teacher the Chafetz Chaim, cites the opinion of Rabbi Akiva Eiger, who was wary of these leniencies. One must therefore be stringent in the first instance and may be lenient only when there is no alternative.
The second question, which we would like to discuss to conclude the topic of ways of leaving food for Shabbat: what should be done if someone violated this rabbinic decree and left food on the heat that was not permitted to be left there?
Our Sages established penalties for a person who violated Shabbat. If a Torah prohibition was violated unintentionally, then according to the Shulchan Aruch and the Rema, neither the person who cooked the food nor anyone else may use it throughout Shabbat. After Shabbat, the food is permitted both to the person who cooked it and to everyone else.
If, however, it was done deliberately, this food is permanently forbidden to the person who cooked it, while others are forbidden to use it until Shabbat ends.
According to the Vilna Gaon, if it was done unintentionally, the food is permitted both to the person who cooked it and to others; if it was done deliberately, it is forbidden to everyone until Shabbat ends. Either way, the Chafetz Chaim (“Mishnah Berurah”) held that one may rely on the Vilna Gaon’s more lenient opinion when necessary. But everything stated above applies when a Torah prohibition was violated! If a rabbinic prohibition relating to cooking was violated, the penalties are even stricter! Why? Because this concerns a rabbinic decree, and a person must not be able to say: “Oh, I forgot! I didn’t know! I didn’t mean to!” The Sages therefore said that even if a pot of food was unintentionally left in a prohibited manner out of forgetfulness, it must be removed from the heat, since at every moment the pot remains on the heat, there is a concern that the coals will be stoked. If the food reached the stage of “ma’achal ben Derusai” before sunset, it may be left on the heat. However, according to some opinions, food intended for the morning meal is permitted, and the author of the “Mishnah Berurah,” our teacher the Chafetz Chaim, is willing to be lenient after the fact in accordance with these opinions.
Practical conclusions:
1. Food intended for the evening meal that has not reached one-third doneness (the minimum for “ma’achal ben Derusai”), if left on the heat without a blech, simply on a gas burner, must be removed from the heat.
2. Such food is muktzeh and may not be moved after you have removed it from the heat, so think beforehand about where you want to put it.
3. If it becomes one-third cooked before sunset, it may be left on the heat.
4. When necessary, food at any stage of doneness may be left on a blech or a hotplate.
Shabbat Shalom!