Weekly Halachos Series on
Hilchos Shabbos

Published by

A Project of
The Shema Yisrael Torah Network

Rabbi Dovid
Ostroff, shlita
developed from the Chabura of the
Pirchei Shoshanim Semicha Program

These Halachos were shown by Rabbi Ostroff to
HaGaon HaRav Moshe Sternbuch, shlita

If one did hatmana b’issur (enwrapped in a forbidden manner) is the food forbidden? For example, if I completely enwrapped the chalah while it was on the urn, am I permitted to eat it?

We find a machlokes between the Mechaber ¹ and the Rama in this case. The Mechaber holds that if through hatmana b’issur the food became warm ², it is forbidden to eat, and therefore one will have to wait until the food cools down so as not to benefit from the issur. The Rama holds that when done unintentionally ³, the food is permitted.

If food on the blech or hot plate is beginning to burn, may I stir the food?

This issue comes under the category of maigis – stirring. If the food is not yet fully cooked, it is forbidden to stir the food or even to remove food from the pot with a spoon, for stirring the food further cooks the food. Even if the food is fully cooked, we find that the poskim forbid stirring the food while it is on the fire. So if the food is burning, all you can do is move the pot further away from the heat source.

Then if the food is fully cooked, may one take food out of the pot with a spoon?

The Mishna Berura says that the Bais Yosef permits it, but many poskim say that as long as it is on the fire , one should not take food out of the pot with a spoon ⁴. If the hot food is needed for later as well, one should remove the pot from the blech or hot plate, take food out the pot, and return it to the fire, all the while keeping the laws of chazora. ⁵

Is there a difference between stirring food when it is on the fire and when it is off the fire?

If the food is not yet fully cooked, even when it is off the fire it may not be stirred. If fully cooked, the Mishna Berura (318:116) says that it is permitted to stir (off the fire), however due to the stringency of the Rama, he says (318:117) that there is room for stringency with regards to stirring, but as for taking food out with a spoon, there is no problem.

Can one put sea salt into hot soup?

Before one can answer this question, one has to know whether the particular salt in question was manufactured through sun evaporation, which is not considered cooked, or through a cooking process.

The Mechaber holds that one may add uncooked salt to a k’li rishon that is off the fire, and all the more so into a k’li shaini, but the Kaf HaChaim (318:106) writes that one who is stringent, merits a blessing.

The Rama holds that one should not add salt even into a k’li shaini. However the Mishna Berura (318:71) writes that if the salt is precooked, it may be added to a k’li shaini, but one should refrain from adding it to a k’li rishon.

[1] Simon 257:1
[2] The Mechaber does not say that it is ossur if food became warm; rather he says that if the food was fully cooked and mitstamek v’ra lo (condensing to its detriment), and it remained warm as before, then it is mutar. We can deduce that if it heated up, even if mitstamek v’ra lo, it is assur.
[3] Unintentionally, e.g. did not know that it was forbidden.
[4] M”B 113. Ohr Letsion vol.2 page 238.
[5] The Chazon Ish, however, held that when fully cooked, it is permitted to take food out with a spoon even when on the fire (taking care not to stir the food). In a case when the food is needed for later, and if removed from the fire it cannot be put back (because it is not on a blech or hot plate), there is room to be lenient and remove food from the pot while it is still on the fire. (Sh’miras Shabbos Kehilchasa 1-32).

In possuk 10-2 it says that Hashem is performing all these miracles so that we will relate to our children all that took place in Egypt – and you will know that I am Hashem. The question is that it should have said and they will know that I am Hashem, as we are relating what transpired to the children.

Rav Sternbuch shlita answers that a person has to be steadfast in his own beliefs and realizations in order to be able to impart them to others. As the Chofetz Chaim said that if (as it says in the Shema) “these things will be on your heart”, then “you shall teach your children”.

A stray child was once asked why he had left the Torah path since his father was such an esteemed Torah scholar. His reply was that when the family refurbished their kitchen, his father fingered and caressed the new ceramics much more than he ever seen him caress the sifrei kodesh!

It is not enough to talk about the importance of Torah; one has to live it in order to be able to impart it to one’s children. May Hashem help us all.