Special Features The Orthodox Union via its website fields questions of all types in the areas of kashrut, Jewish law and values. Some of the questions are answered by Eretz Hemdah, the Institute for Advanced Jewish Studies, Jerusalem, founded by HaRav Shaul Yisraeli, zt"l to prepare rabbanim and dayanim to serve the National Religiouscommunity in Israel and abroad. The Ask the Rabbi project is a joint venture of the OU, Yerushalayim Network, Eretz Hemdah... and the Israel Center. The following is a Q&A from Eretz Hemdah... Question: We wait 6 hours between eating meat and milk. Some keep less. Where does this come from? Why can’t we eat them as long as they’re not cooked together, as the Torah says? Answer: You are correct that the Torah prohibition refers only to meat and milk that were cooked together in a way that their tastes merge (Chulin 108a). However, the Rabbis extended the prohibition to not eating together meat and milk which were prepared separately and gave guidelines as to what is considered eating together. Following eating milk products, one needs to take steps to ensure that his hands and mouth are clean before eating meat (see details in Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh Deah 89:2). Following eating meat products, one needs to wait before eating milk products. Two reasons are given: [1] Pieces of meat are likely to remain between the teeth, and the situation resembles eating meat and milk together (Rambam, Ma’achalot Asurot 9:28); [2] The taste of the meat remains in the system a significant amount of time (Tur, YD 89). The halacha in a few cases depends on which is the main reason. The gemara (Chulin 105a) tells of Amoraim who related that when they ate meat at one meal, they wouldn’t eat milk products until the next meal. Since the reason for waiting has to do with actual physical situations, the Rishonim understood that “the next meal” must refer to a set amount of time between the last eating of meat at one meal and the eating of milk at the next one. Several opinions and customs arose in applying the concept. The most prevalent ones relate to the Rambam’s (ibid.) statement that it is “like 6 hours” (which leads to opinions of a full 6 hours, 5˝ hours, or a bit more than 5 hours). A minority opinion gives a minimal break of 1 hour between meals (Dutch Jews) while a third approach compromises on 3 hours (German Jews). All should follow their family minhag. While some require waiting only after eating actual meat (not meat gravy alone), most wait 6 hours after eating a food cooked with meat (Rama, Yoreh Deah 89:2). However, after pareve food cooked in a fleishig pot one does not have to wait at all (ibid.) even if there may have been a small residue of gravy in the pot (Shach, ad loc.: 19). 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: JoinHemdatya - Please leave the subject blank. G'matriya Match The Midrash says that Moshe Rabeinu asked G-d if he could write the easier-to-understand phrase: Don't cook meat with milk, rather than the enigmatic LO T'VASHEIL G'DI BACHALEIV IMO. G-d said to Moshe: Write these very words, because based on these words, I have made a covenant with you and Israel. (Sh'mot 34:27 - the pasuk following LO T'VASHEIL). G'matriya of LO T'VASHEIL G'DI BACHALEIV IMO is 869 - same as EILEH DIVREI HABRIT (D'varim 28:69). [The Vayetzei Homepage]
|
