Rabbi Mendel Agranovich
The Prohibition Against Returning Food to the Flame. General Concepts and Definitions
We are beginning to examine a new topic related to the prohibition against cooking on Shabbat—the prohibition against returning food to the flame.
We have already written about this and given the following definition: Food may not be returned to the flame (placed back on the stove) if it was removed from the flame on Shabbat. This prohibition does not apply if the following five conditions are met:
1. The food is fully cooked.
2. The flame to which you wish to return the food has the status of being “banked.” In our circumstances, this means a blech or a hotplate (we remind you that Rav Elyashiv, of blessed memory, held that the hotplate must be covered with foil), while in the circumstances of the Sages of the Talmud, it meant coals covered with ashes.
3. The pot containing the food is being held by the person who removed it from the flame.
4. It was not placed on the ground.
5. When removing the pot, the person intended to return it to the flame.
We will now explain what these conditions are, what they mean, and where they come from.
Let us begin with the sources. The Talmud (Shabbat, 36b) says that a pot may be removed from the flame and returned to it. This refers to a stove called a “kirah.” We have written that its structure resembles an inverted earthenware pot with two openings made in its base so that pots can be placed on top of it or inside it.
In the illustration, we see a pot being returned to the top of the kirah, but clearly a pot with a small diameter can be lowered inside.
The Talmud stipulates that food may be returned only to the top of a kirah, not inside it, because placing it inside too closely resembles ordinary weekday cooking. The temperature there is much higher, so returning food there gives the impression that the person is cooking on Shabbat. As we have already written, and will repeat here, there are two aspects to this:
1. Anyone who sees this process thinks that the other person is cooking on Shabbat.
2. The person himself stops distinguishing between returning food to the heat and cooking, and may cook by mistake on Shabbat.
We have now come to the question: what, exactly, does the prohibition against returning food to the heat involve?
The primary, generally accepted explanation of the prohibition is the Rashba’s, but the “Mishnah Berurah” also mentions Rabbeinu Tam’s opinion in its references (“Mishnah Berurah,” 253, 1, section 37, note 37, as well as 2, section 52-58). Thus, the Rashba and the Ran held that returning food to the heat is prohibited because it looks like cooking. Rabbeinu Tam (Rabbi Yaakov ben Meir, head of the Tosafot school and Rashi’s grandson), however, says in his book “Sefer HaYashar” and in the Tosafot commentary on folio 38b that food may not be returned because of the concern that the coals will be stoked. Rabbeinu Tam explained that this concern arises because, if a person has removed food from the heat and now wants to return it, the food has already cooled somewhat and actually needs reheating, so the person may stoke the coals. All this applies even though the pot had been on the heat in full accordance with the laws of leaving food on the heat. Nevertheless, because the food has cooled, a new concern arises that the coals will be stoked, since the pot cooled after being removed from the heat.
According to Rabbeinu Tam, the rule that food may not be returned inside a kirah can be explained as follows: when returning it inside, it is impossible to prevent the pot from touching the coals, and this leads to two problems:
1. On contact, the coals go out and flare up.
2. This contact violates the prohibition against insulating food with heat-producing materials.
We have already written that there is no prohibition against returning food inside a Russian stove, since its entire structure is designed for food to be placed inside it. All the commentators held that wherever there is no fundamental difference between placing food on top and placing it inside, this prohibition does not apply. Food may therefore be returned both to an oven and to a gas stovetop, provided that the five conditions mentioned above are met. In the case of an oven, this means that there must be a metal box covering the upper heating elements, or a sheet covering the lower heating elements or the source of the flame. This fulfills only one condition: returning food to a covered flame. There are four more. We will discuss them in detail in the next issue, but for now, here are the practical conclusions:
1. Food removed from the heat on Shabbat—and all the more so food that was not on the heat on Shabbat—may not be returned to the heat (“Orchot Shabbat,” chapter 2, section 35).
2. Food may be returned if the five conditions are met (details to follow).
3. How to warm up food that was not on the heat is the subject of a separate article.
4. If all the conditions are met, food may be returned both to a gas stovetop and to an electric oven or oven compartment (“Orchot Shabbat,” citing Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, chapter 2, note 88). Without a special device, however, food may not be returned to an oven, since its heat source is not covered (ibid., section 53).