Special Features ASK THE REBBE from the virtual desk of the OU Vebbe Rebbe Question: I wish to attend a prestigious cooking school. I have several issues to deal with. I would be dealing with non-kosher items on a daily basis. Am I allowed to taste a small amount? Also, I will need to cook milk and meat together. Is this permissible, or is non-monetary benefit (the grade) also forbidden? Answer: Tasting a small amount: Although the full punishment for eating forbidden food requires a certain amount (usually, the size of an olive), the Torah prohibits eating any amount (following R. Yochanan’s opinion in Yoma 73a – Rambam, Shvitat Asor 2:3). Tasting (without swallowing) forbidden foods is prohibited rabbinically (Pitchei Teshuva, Yoreh Deah 98:1). Possibility of eating: Although not a simple matter, a person in need may cook non-kosher food for non-Jews without fear he may eat from it (Yabia Omer, IV, YD 6). Cooking: The primary problem with cooking the milk and meat in your case is not the hana’ah (benefit) but the cooking itself. The prohibition of milk and meat is written in the Torah in terms of cooking and is repeated three times to teach us that the cooking itself and, subsequently, eating or benefiting from the cooked mixture are all forbidden. Thus, even cooking without eating or benefiting afterwards is forbidden. There are two pertinent areas of potential leniency: 1. Regarding fowl, which is considered meat only rabbinically, only eating was forbidden, whereas cooking and benefiting are permitted (Shulchan Aruch, YD 87:3). 2. The prohibitions of cooking and benefit apply only when the meat and the milk are from kosher animals (Chulin 113a). Thus, it is permitted to cook pork and milk even if you receive benefit. However, if the meat of a kosher species is forbidden because it wasn’t slaughtered according to halacha, then it may not be cooked in milk from a kosher animal (Rambam, Maachalot Asurot 9:6; Pitchei Teshuva, YD 87:6). There are complicating factors here, as well. The Rama (YD 87:4) seems to say that such cooking would be forbidden because of mar'it ayin (people won’t realize that it is pork or fowl). However, one who is in great need can rely on the Shulchan Aruch (YD 87:3) and Shach, (ad loc.), especially in a context where people won’t suspect that he will eat the meat and milk, that one can allow the cooking. A Sefardic Jew could certainly be lenient. According to many poskim, one cannot cook (even without eating) milk in a fleishig pot (or vice versa) which has been used within 24 hours (Yabia Omer, ibid.). Here too, there is some room for leniency in a case of significant need. If you could somehow provide your own pots and utensils and had different categories (kosher meat, kosher dairy, non-kosher meat, non-kosher dairy, pork and chicken), it would be much preferred. “Ask the Rabbi” Q&A is part of Hemdat Yamim, the weekly parsha sheet published by Eretz Hemdah. You can read this section or the entire Hemdat Yamim at
www.ou.org or www.eretzhemdah.org. If you would like to receive Hemdat Yamim by email, on a weekly basis, please send an email to lists@eretzhemdah.org with the message: Join Hemdatya - Please leave the subject blank. Conventional Wisdom considers it a sin to give disreputable peaple even a few measly coins of charity, and a praiseworthy act to grind them into dirt. Sorrow locks the gates of Heaven. Prayer opens locked gates. Joy has the power to tear down the walls. REASON (for Shulchan Aruch's opinion): If one washes before Kiddush, it (Kiddush) constitutes an interruption and a distraction between the washing and [reciting] the bracha HaMotzi. This opposes the principle in the Gemara (Brachot 52b) the the bracha on the meal should immediately follow the washing of one's hands (Magen Avraham). And... washing one's hands first indicates that he wishes to recite Kiddush on the Challot rather than on the wine. He may then no longer recite Kiddush over wine (Beit Yosef). REASON (for the Rama's opinion): To be consistent, one should always wash his hands before Kiddush, even when he recites Kiddush over wine. Otherwise, one might err [by not washing first] even when saying Kiddush over bread. And... the Sages instituted the practice of washing one's hands before Kiddush because we are concerned that one's hands might not be clean, in which case all would agree that washing precedes Kiddush. Because the people did not respond favorably to Kalev's call, the content of the Eicha pasuk came to pass. Both p'sukim have the same G'matriya, 2757 [The Shlach Homepage]
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