Welcome to those who have joined the group. As a brief overview of how the group works, we have iyH daily posts of new material on Hilchos Shabbos which I aim on average to be around 150 words, which are then followed by a review of a summary of the material from one day, one week, one month and three months previously, to try and help us to retain and apply the material we have learned. Having just joined you can choose to ignore the review of the material from prior to you joining but feel free to read it if you wish!
As mentioned in the publicity, the halachos are normally based on the rulings of the Mishna Berura and Shmiras Shabbos Kehilchasa, reflecting Ashkenazi practice.
I align the halachos to these two sefarim as they are widely accepted and it means we can give clear cut guidance on the halachos. However, where issues are subject to very significant dispute amongst contemporary poskim I try to note this and refer people to their Rav for a final ruling. I will occasionally reference other Sefarim where needed to help clarify an issue, or raise other relevant practical issues not covered in the Sefarim above.
I will also iyH aim to start sending a recording of the day’s material as well as the scheduled reviews, though only of material starting from hilchos bishul (ie I won’t record reviews of halachos from prior melachos we have looked at).
The messages will be posted on the core halachos community announcement channel which only admins can post on, if you have any questions or would like clarification on the material, feel free to message me privately.
Acronyms
Acronyms for sources:
SA = Shulchan Aruch
R = Rema
MB = Mishna Berura; SHT = Sha’ar Hatziyun; BH”L = Biur Halacha (these are the 3 components of the Mishna Berura’s work)
SSK = Shmiras Shabbos Kehilchasa
OS = Orchos Shabbos
PT = Piskei Teshuvos
D = Dirshu comments on Mishna Berura
SH = Shone Halachos
Material to Date – Shehiya – Leaving Food on the Fire Before Shabbos
- Chazal (our Rabbis) made a decree forbidding one to leave partly cooked food on an exposed fire before Shabbos, known as shehiya, lest one come to stoke its coals on Shabbos (violating the melacha of ‘mavir’, making a fire), or in contemporary contexts, lest one come to adjust the stove[1] (SA 253:1, MB Introduction)
- Optimal practice: It is ideally recommended (though not strictly halachically mandated) to ensure that any food that one wishes to keep on the stove on Shabbos is already fully cooked before Shabbos and that the fire is covered, to avoid any halachic issues around shehiya and chazara (returning the pot to the fire after removing it on Shabbos – as we will iyH discuss soon, one of the conditions to permit doing so is that the fire be covered). We will discuss the strict halachic parameters next time iyH (SSK 1:72, BH”L 253:1 D”H Venahagu LeHakel).
- The prohibition of Shehiya: Whilst we mentioned last time that it is optimal to only leave food on a stovetop from Friday to Shabbos if the food is fully cooked and the fire is covered, strictly speaking under the prohibition of ‘shehiya’ it is only forbidden to leave a food which is cooked less than ‘Ma’achal ben Drusay’ (MBD) before Shabbos on an uncovered stove (R 253:1, MB 259:26 Ikkarei Shehiya, SSK 1:73).
- Ma’achal Ben Drusay: in his haste the bandit named Ben Drusay would eat a food even if it was minimally cooked. The poskim debate whether this is defined as half or one third cooked – in practice one should ensure that food one is leaving on an uncovered fire is at least half cooked but in extremis one can rely on the opinion that if it suffices if it is one third cooked (SA 253:1, MB 38, SSK 1:73).
- Defining half cooked: the default way to define ‘half’ or ‘one third’ cooked is based on the amount of cooking timethe food requires. However, it is not always the case that foods are even slightly edible after this amount of time; therefore one should at least ensure the food is minimally edible (or in the poskim’s language, ‘edible in extremis’) before leaving it on an uncovered fire[2] (see SSK 1 fn 223 OS 2fn7, Dirshu 253:46, PT 253:1)
- Liquids, urns: the equivalent measure by liquids is Yad Soledes Bo (‘YSB’, 45 celsius/113 farenheit) – ie if the water has already been heated to YSB before Shabbos, it may be left on an ‘uncovered fire,’. Given there is no obvious way to cover a modern urn, one should therefore ensure that water in it has reached at least YSB before Shabbos comes in. Note that until the water has fully boiled, one should not take any water out of the urn, as in reducing the volume of water one will increase the speed the remaining water is cooked to its full heat (SSK 1:73, OS 2:28).
- MBD by shkiah: it is technically permissible to leave the food on an uncovered fire if one knows it will reach the stage of MBD by shkiah (sunset), even if one accepts Shabbos earlier than this (as we do) (OS 2:5).
- A covered fire: as mentioned above, the prohibition of shehiya only applies if the fire is uncovered. However, if one covers one’s stovetop[4] with something one does not normally place there when one cooks one may leave a pot on the stove even if it has not yet reached the point of Ma’achal ben Drusay, as in doing so one shows one has no intention to adjust the fire. It therefore follows that one shouldn’t adjust the flame after one covers the stovetop (SA 253:1, SSK 1:72, fn 217)
- Blech: It is common to use a metal sheet (a ‘blech’) to cover a stovetop for this purpose; this needs to be a piece of metal, not merely a single layer of aluminium foil [though a number of layers of aluminimum foil/a piece folded over multiple types is valid if it will not be ruined by the fire]) to cover the fire.
- Knobs: it is insufficient to merely cover the knobs of the stove, without covering the fire itself and once the fire is covered, the knobs do not need to be covered, though some are strict to do so (SSK 1 fn 218).
- Hot plates A hot plate which only has one temperature setting is considered a covered fire[6] for these purposes (SA 253:1, MB 14, SSK 1:20, fn 63*).
- Entirely raw food: an exception to the prohibition of ‘shehiya’ is if one puts raw food on the fire immediately before bringing in Shabbos, such that it is still entirely raw when one brings Shabbos in, if it cannot feasibly be cooked in time to eat at the Friday night meal (ie so one plans to eat it on Shabbos day). In such circumstances, one does not pay attention to the food’s rate of cooking as it will not be ready for the evening meal so we aren’t concerned one may come to adjust the fire (SA 253:1, MB 9, Dirshu 17)
- In practice, given that modern ovens etc tend to be able to cook food quickly and given that Shabbos meals can be somewhat lengthy (so there is a relatively long amount of time available for food to cook to still be ready to consume at night), this leniency rarely applies. It is most likely to apply in the context of a slow-cooker/crock-pot (which we will iyH discuss more below in relation to the prohibition of hatmana-insulating) where it can indeed take several hours for the food to be cooked (see BH”L 253:1 D”H Masiach, Dirshu 253:30, PT 253:4, fn40)
