Chazora
Last week we learned that in order
to do chazora
one has to comply with certain conditions. What if I did not
comply with all of them, may I still do
chazora?
It depends
which conditions were not adhered to. If you had in mind to
return the food to the blech
but placed the pot onto the counter and let go, the
Mishna B’rura
rules that, when necessary, since you intended to return it
you may return it provided you have complied with the other
three conditions. Namely, 1) the food is still warm, 2) the
fire is covered (either with a blech or you use a
hotplate) and 3) the food is fully cooked. .
Are there other cases where one may
return the food to the blech even though you did not fulfill
all five conditions?
If you are
still holding the pot of food, even if you did not have in
mind to return it to the fire and the food is needed, it may
be returned, again, provided the other conditions have been
fulfilled.
What if I forgot to cover the
flames with a blech?
Then you
cannot do chazora. One is only allowed to return food
to a covered fire or to a Shabbos hot plate and we learned a
couple of weeks ago that you may position a blech on
Shabbos. If this is not possible, you can return the food to
a neighbor's blech or hot plate, providing you comply
with all the other conditions.
Bishul
If the pot’s lid was removed, may I
cover the pot?
It depends;
if the food is not yet fully cooked you may not cover the
pot, as a covered pot cooks more rapidly than an uncovered
pot, and thereby you might be liable for the melacha
of Bishul – cooking.
If the food
is fully cooked – some poskim hold that it is
muter to cover the pot. Others hold that one must first
remove the pot from the fire, cover it, and then return it
to the fire.
Which foods may one heat up on Shabbos
itself, and how?
Foods
without liquid or gravy, e.g. kugel, schnitzel or rice, that
are fully cooked may be placed on top of a pot that is on
the fire.
One may also place dry foods on the Shabbos water urn.
What is the basis for this heter?
One may not
place fully cooked food directly onto an open flame because
it appears like cooking on Shabbos – mechzi kimvashel.
Several poskim permit placing cold, cooked
dry food directly onto a hotplate and others
disagree. One must ask one's rav as to the correct conduct.
The
Shulchan Aruch permits
placing cold, fully cooked dry food above another pot that
is already on the fire or above the water urn. The reason
for this is that it is not mechzi kimvashel, because
the heat source beneath is seen as heating the pot directly
above it and not the pot above that pot.
What if there is gravy also in the
dish?
If the
gravy is cold you are not allowed to heat it above the
temperature of yad soledes bo,
which (for hilchos Shabbos) is approx. 40°– 45°.
If by
placing the dish with gravy on the urn etc. it will not be
able to reach yad soledes bo, even if you leave it
there for a long period of time, you may put it there. But
if eventually it would reach yad soledes bo if left
there long enough, you may not place it there even if you
intend removing it before it reaches yad soledes bo.
If after covering a pot you
realized that the food was not yet fully cooked, may the
food be eaten?
As stated
above you may not place a lid on a pot on the fire
(according to all opinions) when the food is not fully
cooked. When this happens you should ask your Rav as to the
correct conduct, but in the event that a Rav cannot be
contacted on Shabbos, one should proceed as follows.
If the food
is more than half cooked, and when very necessary more than
a third cooked, it may be eaten.
The reason
behind this p'sak is that several Rishonim are of the
opinion that once an item is cooked to the degree of
ma'achal Ben Derosai, the prohibition of cooking no
longer applies. We do not pasken like these
Rishonim and one may not treat this lightly because it
involves the d'oraisso of cooking. However, in case
of a b'diavad, i.e. the action had already been done,
we can rely on these Rishonim and the food may be
eaten.
Should one do teshuva for such an
action?
Being it
chodesh Ellul one surely should, because according to
other Rishonim one has violated a d'oraisso.
åäåà øçåí éëôø òååï
