Halacha Mastery: The Kitchen on Shabbat
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For all that it’s only one of thirty-nine, the prohibition against cooking looms larger in the Jewish experience of Shabbat than many of the others. Especially since halachah recognized that eating hot food was part of proper oneg Shabbat, the balance between enjoying the day and avoiding the prohibition created much stimulating halachic discussion. Join Rabbi Gidon Rothstein and study what qualifies as cooking, including what kinds of heat produce that cooking, when an item is considered cooked, when it cannot be cooked anymore, and then the ways Chazal tried to help us ensure that we did not slip into cooking accidentally.
Halacha Mastery: The Kitchen on Shabbat: Lesson 1
Tonight will be the first class for the Kitchen on Shabbat course.
I am attaching the source sheets for the entire course. We have 30 pages to cover in about 21 weeks (giving a week review for the midterm, two weeks for the final). After this week, I will update each week ahead of time to say where we got to and where we’ll pick up the next time. Click here for the Word document and here for the PDF file.
Please click here for the interactive video format
Halacha Mastery: The Kitchen on Shabbat: Lesson 2
Halacha Mastery: The Kitchen on Shabbat: Lesson 3
We’ll be continuing with basic concepts of cooking on Shabbat, including bishul achar bishul, whether for solid or liquid foods.
Halacha Mastery: The Kitchen on Shabbat: Lesson 4
We’re going to finish discussing keli rishon and keli sheini, kalei ha bishul, and get to a sense of what is considered bishul on a Torah level.
Halacha Mastery: The Kitchen on Shabbat: Lesson 5
We’ll begin mechzei ke-mevashel, and also our summary of bishul achar bishul, which will continue into next time.
Halacha Mastery: The Kitchen on Shabbat: Lesson 6
Be”H, we will finish bishul achar bishul (I mean it this time!) including the question of making tea, using a dud shemesh, cooking food further once it’s fully cooked (and what that means), and an Ashkenazi cooking for a Sephardi on Shabbat, in ways permitted the Ashkenazi but prohibited the Sephardi.
Halacha Mastery: The Kitchen on Shabbat: Lesson 7
We’ll start with how much liquid a food can have and still be considered a solid (for bishul achar bishul purposes), and then move on to whether cooking and baking are different operations for bishul achar bishul purposes. This means we’ll also use the handout for the next class.
Halacha Mastery: The Kitchen on Shabbat: Lesson 8
We’re going to finish up bishul achar afiyah and then discuss placing a pot on top of another pot.
Halacha Mastery: The Kitchen on Shabbat: Lesson 9
Halacha Mastery: The Kitchen on Shabbat: Lesson 13
The issues with stirring a pot of hot food, on the fire and off.
Halacha Mastery: The Kitchen on Shabbat: Lesson 14
Chart, as promised. And without an email reminder from anyone!
Halacha Mastery: The Kitchen on Shabbat: Lesson 15
We’re starting shehiya today, I tihnk it will take us a few classes, maybe three or more. Today’s attachment will take today and part of next time.
Halacha Mastery: The Kitchen on Shabbat: Lesson 16
We still have material to finish from last time, but R. Cohen already re-formatted this material, in case we get farther than I expect. It’s more on shehiyah, a bit of chazara thrown in.
Halacha Mastery: The Kitchen on Shabbat: Lesson 17
We’ll see how far we get with shehiya…
Halacha Mastery: The Kitchen on Shabbat: Lesson 18
Finishing shehiya today, even if I have to go a bit faster than I have been. Should be ok, we’ve set down good roots on the topics…
Halacha Mastery: The Kitchen on Shabbat: Lesson 19
I’m thinking this will take us 3 shiurim, but maybe 4. Chazarah, a big topic in Shabbat cooking…
Halacha Mastery: The Kitchen on Shabbat: Lesson 22
Pursuant to yesterday’s shiur, I did a quick check, and it is true that Sephardim apparently understand Shulchan Aruch Orach Chayyim 253;1 and 257;8 to mean even a covering on top of a pot on a hot plate might be enough to be hatmanah. I’m not convinced by the reading of SA, but it’s not for me to say. (SA discusses placing the pot directly on the coals, which R. Rimon and others understand to mean even partial hatmanah is a problem as well. Except in the coals is its own problem, because I am more likely to restoke the coals since the pot is in direct contact).
I would also point out SA 257;8 allows putting blankets on a wooden panel on top of a pot, since the blankets then don’t cover the sides. Anyway, that’s the quick update.
Halacha Mastery: The Kitchen on Shabbat: Lesson 24
Review for the final
This is the file I brought up during the course of the shiur when I realized I had left off main chazarah sources from the review sheet. It’s pp. 24-25 in the file (your welcome to look at the other sources as well, of course).
Rabbi Dr. Gidon Rothstein has semicha from YU (RIETS) and a PhD from Harvard. He has worked in shul rabbinate, high school and adult education. He is the author of both fiction and non-fiction, most recently "As If We Were There: Readings for a Transformative Passover Experience". He lives in Riverdale, NY.