Rabbi Mendel Agranovich
The Shabbat hot plate. A detailed rationale for its use
Shalom, dear readers! In today’s article, we will try to explain the details of the prohibition on leaving food on the fire from before Shabbat. As for returning it to the fire , we will discuss that later, with the Almighty’s help.
So, we have already written that the Sages imposed restrictions on the ways food may be left on the fire for Shabbat before it begins. This is connected with the concern that someone might “stoke the coals,” which arises whenever the homemaker worries about the state of her culinary creation. This concern ceases once an action has been taken that makes her accept the situation and stop thinking about it. Such an action is covering the fire with ash or raking the coals out of the oven. Once the coals have been completely raked out, it is clear why we have no concerns about anyone stoking them. But covering them with ash raises a reasonable question: why is there no concern that a person might stoke the coals even after covering them with ash?
There are two answers to this question.
1. For as long as the fire is dampened by ash, a person has a reminder that today is Shabbat and that this is why the fire has been reduced, and will therefore not stoke the coals. In other words, following this logic, there is no need to cover the fire with ash; one could simply put up a sign saying, “Caution: fire on Shabbat!” This is precisely the rationale for the law that we find in the works of many rishonim, such as the Ran and others.
2. But in the writings of the authors of Tosafot, we see that even if the fire flares up to its strength before we covered it with ash, one may still place food on the fire before Shabbat, and there is no need to remove it during Shabbat. Nor do we find a single mention that a sign bearing the wording above is sufficient. Why is this so? What is the reasoning behind this law and the opinion of the authors of Tosafot? We have already given the explanation above. It is what the “Magen Avraham” wrote: after covering the fire with ash, a person accepts the fate of the food, inwardly accepting that there is no longer any way to affect its condition during Shabbat. This happens precisely because the person takes an action that rules out increasing the fire. A sign will not help here!
This is not a “No Entry” sign saying that passage is prohibited; it is an action related to cooking, a decision consciously made by the person, after which there is no concern about stoking the coals.
This statement has several implications:
1. A sign saying “Today is Shabbat!” is not sufficient, and at the very least, further consultation with a rabbi is required.
2. There is no need to remove the food from the fire if it flares up after being covered with ash.
3. One may place food on a reduced flame from the outset if one is taking it off a stronger flame. This brings us to the concept of a “Shabbat hot plate,” since it, too, provides reduced heat compared with gas. This is precisely how Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach explained why it is customary to place food on a Shabbat hot plate without any additional conditions. In support of his position, he cited the opinion of the Rashba, who explained the Talmudic ruling that food requiring a fire covered with ash may be placed on smoldering coals. Why? The Rashba explained that placing food on smoldering coals is the behavior of someone who is not worried about the fate of the roast. Therefore, our Sages were not concerned that the person would subsequently stoke the coals (“Shemirat Shabbat Kehilchatah,” chapter 1, section 25, note 71).
When discussing the hot plate, we must mention that its heat cannot be increased. This argument was also one of the decisive considerations for Rav Auerbach. What, then, is the issue? Why should it be subject at all to the Sages’ decree, whose purpose is to protect a person from the danger of stoking the coals and increasing the fire? Why does Rav Shlomo Zalman need to prove anything at all? Why can we not simply say that the hot plate is outside the scope of the decree? (It should be noted that our teacher, Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, held that the hot plate must be covered with a sheet of foil so that the fire is considered “covered”!) Moreover, we see that the Sages defined the boundaries of the decree very clearly, permitting, for example, placing food on a fire fueled by hay and straw, which do not produce coals but burn down to dust and ash, while prohibiting placing food on a fire fueled by wood and olive pomace, which can be stoked and fanned into flame! Rav Shlomo Zalman also maintained that a hot plate is not ordinarily used for cooking on weekdays; it is intended only to keep food warm.
Why, then, did Rav Elyashiv hold that the hot plate must also be covered? Rav Shlomo Zalman disagrees with him only on the basis of the Rashba’s opinion, which means that there is something about the hot plate, too, that requires further explanation before it can be considered a covered heat source! Answering this question requires a little patience.
So, considering the decree against leaving food on the fire from before Shabbat out of concern that someone might stoke the coals, why does it apply to us today? After all, we do not ordinarily cook over coals, stoke coals, and so on. Here, however, we need to explore the subject of rabbinic enactments, both in general and in this particular case.
In this particular case (a person’s behavior while cooking), we too have a pattern of behavior similar to that of the Sages’ time: we approach a pot on the stove, lift the lid, and our hand instinctively reaches for the gas burner’s knob so that we can respond immediately to what we see under the lid. But if we are using a hot plate or a metal sheet, we clearly understand: “Shabbat”!
Anyone who wishes may object: after all, we have already written that a “Caution: Shabbat” sign is not needed on Shabbat. We would answer that in our situation, the hot plate and the blech serve as a kind of “prohibitory signs,” even though there is no halakhic need for this, while a different sign may not help; this is where our explanation applies. But the decree remains relevant for us too, because of our patterns of behavior. Moreover, it is possible that simply covering the fire with a sheet of metal is not enough for us—we need to cover the burner controls!
In any event, the Sages’ decree took the form of a law formulated as follows: every uncovered heat source, even a weak one, if it is steady, requires an action to eliminate the desire to increase it. Consequently: one may not place food on any steady heat source, including an electric one, but one may place food on a fire that will soon burn down to ash! Our hot plate, in terms of the steadiness and strength of its heat, falls within the scope of the decree. This is the basis for Rav Elyashiv’s opinion and the reason Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach needed additional arguments.
That addresses the particular case. Let us also recall the general question: how relevant are rabbinic decrees when the reasons for them belong to the past? On this point, the Vilna Gaon wrote that the laws of the Sages remain in force even when the reasons for these decrees no longer exist, because the Sages, of blessed memory, did not reveal all the reasons for their decrees to us, but only some of them, accessible at a simple level of understanding, while leaving other, hidden reasons concealed. We emphasize that in our case, the Gaon’s explanation is not needed; we have cited it only for general background.
Practical conclusions:
1. It is customary to follow the lenient ruling and place food on the Shabbat hot plate at any stage of cooking. Few have the custom of following Rav Elyashiv’s stricter halakhic opinion (besides Rav Shlomo Zalman, many of the greatest halakhic authorities held this view: Rav Moshe Feinstein—one of the leaders of the previous generation—and Rav Shmuel HaLevi Wosner—one of the living leaders of our generation, may the Almighty prolong his years). This practice has spread among the people, and a custom is a sign that the Almighty, too, considers the lenient opinion the primary one (this is certainly a subject for a separate, lengthy article!).
2. As a practical matter, the hot plate will stay clean if it is covered with a sheet of foil to prevent food from spilling onto it on Shabbat. When Shabbat ends, the foil can be removed. This is all the more relevant because it also allows us, out of respect for the Torah scholarship of the leader of the generation, to act in accordance with his opinion without great difficulty. This recommendation is not obligatory, but we can observe this kind of behavior among our teachers.
3. Before placing food that is not fully cooked on the hot plate before Shabbat, try doing so at a time other than Shabbat, so that you know whether its power is sufficient to finish cooking the food. Remember that ideally, you should strive to have everything ready before Shabbat!
4. To keep the temperature inside the pot higher, it is customary to place a towel over the lid, but only on top, rather than around all sides, so as not to violate the prohibition on “insulating” (only for Ashkenazi Jews, and not according to the opinion of the Chazon Ish).
Shabbat shalom!