Thursday, July 12, 2012
Ask the Raavad
9:55 PM | 
Posted by
Rabbi Chaim Coffman |
QUESTIONS
and ANSWERS
QA Responses to your halachic questions
from senior posek
RAV
MOSHE STERNBUCH
Raavad of Yerushalayim
QA Your questions in hashkafah and machshavah
By Rabbi Daniel
Travis based on divrei halacha heard from Rav Moshe Sternbuch, rosh av bais din
of Yerushalayim. Questions may be sent to editor@yated. com and selected
answers will be printed in this column. The answers given here are the general rule,
but each case has its merits and drawbacks and must be referred
to a posek.
Question: I understand that any food
that can be eaten raw does not present a problem of bishul akum. Today,
many people enjoy raw fish in the form of
sushi. Does this mean that the prohibition of bishul akum does not apply to fish?
Another question I have is regarding the halacha of nechal al shulchan
melachim,
i.e., bishul akum only
applies to a food that is served at a stately banquet. What if a food is cooked
in a place where a food is in this category and then brought to a place where
the food does not fit in this category? Does this remove the prohibition of bishul akum?
Thanks.
Asher Sebbag
Answer: In regard to your first
question about cooking fish, the vast majority of fish is not used for
this purpose, so the fact that fish is used
today for sushi does not remove the prohibition of bishul akum. If there is a fish whose
majority use is for sushi, then the prohibition of bishul akum would not apply to it.
As far as your second question is concerned,
if food is cooked by a non-Jew in a place where it is fit to be served at a
stately banquet, then it is considered bishul akum and is prohibited. However,
if that food is taken to a place where it
is not fit to be served at such an affair,
since it is no longer considered to be oleh al shulchan melachim, it is permitted to be
eaten.
The reason for this is that the prohibition of
bishul akum is
eating it, not cooking it, so it is permitted as long as one does not eat it in
a place where it is oleh al Shulchan melachim.
Question: I am a working mother and have
non-Jewish help in our home. I leave the house early in the morning and only
return later in the afternoon, and I would like my non-Jewish help to cook
lunch for my children. Is there anything I can do to avoid the problem of bishul akum?
Very grateful,
Lynn G.
Answer: The Rama (Yoreh Deah 113:7) mentions a number of
ways that Ashkenazim can
avoid the problem
of bishul akum. One way is for a Jew to participate in
making the fire. In this vein, Rav Yisroel Salanter would go to the non- Jewish
bakery and throw a cigarette into the fire.
Another option the Rama mentions is for the non-Jew
to take from a fire started by a Jew. If you have a gas stove with a pilot light
that a Jew lit, then every time you light the fire of the stove, it is as if
you are taking from the
fire lit by the Jew. This makes it as if a
Jew lit the fire. Some factories rely on a heter of putting the equipment on a timer that
turns it on every day.
While this leniency is acceptable for a
one-time use of an appliance, it cannot be relied upon on a daily basis, but
rather one must reset the timer every day that he wishes to use it, and this
way it is as if a Jew turned it on every day.
Some rabbonim, like Rav Eliyahu Falk, do not permit this
method, for they do not consider this to be as if the Jew lit the fire.
Some factories have the mashgiach light the machinery every day
via a cell phone. Since the mashgiach is restarting the equipment every day, this
is an acceptable way to avoid the prohibition of bishul akum. Therefore, this is
considered an acceptable way to avoid bishul akum. The Rama mentions another heter of throwing a small piece
of
wood into the oven. In this vein, some
factories have a light bulb in the oven that adds a minute amount of heat to
the oven. This is not an acceptable way to permit bishul akum, since a new action is not
being performed each day.
Question: Does the prohibition of bishul akum apply to cooking or heating
up food in a microwave oven?
Thank you.
Avraham Dovid
Michael Salasnik
Answer: The halacha of a microwave depends on
whether we consider it to be like kavush, pickling,
which is not considered cooking, or like
regular cooking. Since a microwave can cook food in a
similar and at times equal way as cooking on
a fire, the prohibition of bishul akum applies.
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