28th of Cheshvan, 5771

Although it is forbidden to activate an electrical appliance on Shabbat it is permitted to use or have a benefit from an electrical appliance that has been activated before Shabbat or that has been programmed before Shabbat to be activated on Shabbat.

This ruling is learned from the Mishna (2nd century, CE) where the Rabbis discussed a similar principle. They discussed, for example, if one can water his by activating the irrigation system before Shabbat and letting the water irrigate the fields during Shabbat. They also discussed if on Friday, one is allowed to set traps to hunt animals or nets on the water to catch fish during Shabbat.

The question is: are these ‘personal’ prohibitions, a person is not allowed to activate a device during Shabbat, or is it a ‘device’ prohibition (shebitat kelim), an object cannot be ‘active’ on Shabbat, even if it was activated or programmed from before Shabbat?

The conclusion of the Talmud is that the prohibition is for a person to activate his appliances or devices on Shabbat, but if these objects are activated or programmed from before Shabbat then, it is permitted to benefit from them.

In modern days, this principle is probably more relevant than ever, because many of our appliances could be activated automatically from before Shabbat.

The simplest example is a light timer. It is completely permitted to activate a light timer from Friday to turn on and off the lights on Shabbat.

For other appliances, there might be other things to consider, like noise, etc.

So, B’H next week we will learn about automatic appliances and their use during Shabbat.

Shabbat Shalom!!!

Candle lighting for NY: 5:29

Shabbat ends in NY: 6:36

Rabbi Yosef Bitton. YMJC 130 Steamboat Rd. Great Neck NY 11024

21st of Cheshvan, 5771

There are a few conditions to allow warming food on Shabbat.

1. The source of heat. 2. The type of food. (see previous HOTD).

Our Rabbis distinguished between solid food (rice, bread, chicken, etc.) and a liquid food (water, soup, milk). While solid foods get cooked only one time, ‘cooked’ liquids, once cold will ‘boil’ over and over again.

So, it is permitted to place a solid cooked food from the fridge on the Electric Shabbat Plate (or Plata) but not a liquid food.

There are foods which belong to an intermediate status, like a stew (choresh, choulent, ma’ude) typical for Shabbat. These foods are composed of solids (meat, potatoes, vegetables, etc.) and liquids (soup, sauce, etc.).

For Sephardic Jews, including our community members, if you assess that the majority of that food is solid, then you can reheat it.

When the food or most of it, is liquid, like a soup, then you can place that food on the Plata only if that food is still hot (a liquid is defined as hot if it cannot be drank at once, but sip by sip).

For Ashkenazi Jews, to be considered solid, a food needs to be completely solid.

Ashkenazi Jews, however, are more lenient in the issue of liquids food (Ram’a follows Maimonides) and allow to reheat previously cooked liquids, if they are still warm.

However, if the liquid food is completely cold, it is forbidden.

Candle Lighting in NY: 5:37
Shabbat ends in NY: 6:44

SHABBAT SHALOM

Rabbi Yosef Bitton. YMJC 130 Steamboat Rd. Great Neck NY 11024

14th of Cheshvan, 5771

Last Friday I explained that in Shabbat we are forbidden to cook food . However, if the food is already cooked we are allowed to warm that food. There are a few conditions to allow warming food.

1. The source of heat. It cannot be a ‘live’ fire.You could use an electric heat like a Shabbat plate, activated before Shabbat or on Shabbat by an automatic timer. (See the link for last week’s HOTD).

Today I will explain a second element: the type of the food.

Our Rabbis distinguished between solid foods (rice, bread, chicken, etc. ) and liquid foods (water, soup, milk). They explain that since solid foods undergo the process of ‘cooking’ only one time , once a solid food is cooked, heat will not ‘cook’ it again, it will only warm it. (en bishul achar bishul beyabesh. Think about a hard-boiled egg…). ‘Cooked/boiled’ liquids, however, once cold, they will ‘boil’ once again in contact with heat: every time you reheat water, it boils again.

In principle then, if you have a bowl of rice in your refrigerator, cooked from before Shabbat, you are allowed to warm that rice in a Shabbat Plate, but you cannot take a soup, even though that soup was completely cooked before Shabbat, and place it on a Shabbat Plate, because it will ‘boil’ again.

Next week B’H I will clarify two points:

1. The status of ‘stew’, an intermediate category between solid and liquid and
2. What happens when the Shabbat Plate won’t reach a temperature that will ‘cook’
the foods.

IN THIS PARTICULAR SUBJECT I MUST ASK THE READER TO CONSIDER WHAT HE/SHE READS TODAY EXCLUSIVELY AS EDUCATIONAL MATERIAL, WHICH SHOULD NOT BE APPLIED UNTIL HE/SHE KNOWS ALL RELEVANT DETAILS, WHICH OBVIOUSLY CANNOT BE COVERED IN THESE FEW WORDS.
B’H I WILL EXPLAIN THE OTHER RULES OF ‘COOKING VS. WARMING’ IN THE COMING FRIDAYS.

Shabbat Shalom!
Candle Lighting in New York: 5:47.

Rabbi Yosef Bitton. YMJC 130 Steamboat Rd. Great Neck NY 11024

7th of Cheshvan, 5771

There are 39 melakhot (creative activities) which should not be done on Shabbat. One of them is cooking(bishul). ‘Bishul’ includes all related activities, such as: boiling water, baking bread, frying an egg; broiling meat ; cooking a stew, etc.

The prohibition of cooking is independent from the prohibition of lighting a fire or any other source of heat. So, even if you have a fire or another source of heat, active from before Shabbat , you still cannot use it to cook.

The most important distinction you need to bear in mind to understand the rules of ‘bishul’ is that you cannot cook on Shabbat, but you are allowed to warm up foodon Shabbat.

The Halakha deals extensively with all the casuistics of ‘cooking vs. warming’ food.
Today I will write a first principle, which is, the source of heat.

The source of heat.
You can’t light a fire or activate any other source of heat on Shabbat. But if you have a source of heat activated from before Shabbat, it is permitted to warm food on it. For example, you can use a Shabbat Plata (aka Shabbat hot plate, aka electric blech) to warm upcold cooked rice or a cold
bread on Shabbat.

However, the Rabbis forbade using a live and visiblefire, even if it was lid from before Shabbat, and even when intended to be used just to warm up food (mechaze kemebashel) and not for cooking.

Today, most people would use then a Shabbat Hot plate to warm up food. But before it was invented, people had to use a mecham (heater, with no visible fire); an oven or they had to a cover the live fire with a metal sheet, plate, etc.

Rabbi Yosef Bitton. YMJC 130 Steamboat Rd. Great Neck NY 11024

Today is the 19^th of Av, 5770

“A core predictor of which families produce children who grow up to be described as “mentchen” (decent and good) children is the amount and quality of time spent by parents with their children.

In a fascinating series of studies that have recently received media attention, researchers have found a direct correlation between the number of times a week parents eat dinner with their children and the risk of abusing drugs. Families that eat dinner together once a week have children with lower risk for drug-abuse than those that never do.

With each increasing night that parents and children eat together, drug abuse risk decreases to the point that there is virtually no risk for drug abuse in families in which parents and children dinner together every night.

The importance of eating dinner together is not the ‘eating’ or dinner; it’s the uninterrupted, focused interaction that seems to bear such valuable fruit” (from the book ‘Balanced Parenting’ by R. and D. Pelcovitz).

Shabbat dinner -among other things- creates a sense of belonging and responsibility: a young adult who spends quality time with his family will think twice before doing a wrong thing. Because he realizes that whatever negative action he might do, it will bear unwanted consequences to all his beloved relatives.

Shabbat dinner is a God-given gift -a night which enriches our souls and strengthens our family.

Shabbat Shalom!

Candle lighting 7:55 PM.

Today is the 15th of Sivan, 5770