Translated and adapted by Rav Eliezer Kwass

 

Question

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            We are looking for the most efficient way to reheat food on Shabbat morning.  Until now, if we wanted something reheated, we would place it on top of a pot that had been on the fire since the beginning of Shabbat.  Recently we heard that some authorities permit placing cold pre-cooked food directly on a hot plate Shabbat morning.  Is this really permissible?

Answer:

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            Though some authorities do permit reheating cold food on a hot plate (known commonly in Hebrew as a "plata") on Shabbat morning, I find this position difficult.

The Background Issues

Three principles are relevant to our question:

1.   Bishul achar bishul:  Recooking on Shabbat is not forbidden by the Torah under certain conditions:  First, the food must have been COMPLETELY cooked before Shabbat.  Thus, the reheating does not effect a transformation from raw to cooked.  Dry food can be reheated even if it has completely cooled down.  The Poskim differ about liquids:  The Shulchan Arukh forbids reheating, while the Rema permits it as long as they still retain some of their heat (Shulchan Arukh OC 318:4, Rema 318:15)

2.   Hachzara:  Returning something to a fire was prohibited by the Sages because of the likelihood of someone stirring up the coals (shema yechateh), which falls under the Biblical category of lighting a fire (hav'ara).  They did not prohibit returning a pot to a fire which it was on since before Shabbat under certain conditions: The coals must have been removed before Shabbat or the fire be covered (gerufa u-ketuma); the pot must still be in his hand and not laid on the floor; and the person must intend upon its removal to return it to the fire (Rav Sheshet on Shabbat 38b). 

3.   Mechzi ki-mevashel (Looks like cooking):  Placing something directly on a fire on Shabbat is always prohibited, even if it is dry and was totally cooked before Shabbat.  We fear that people will misinterpret this action and come to permit actual cooking.  This law flows directly out of principle #2 -- it is permissible only to RETURN a pot to the fire, but not to place it on the fire initially.

 

Our Case

            What should be the ruling in our situation - taking precooked dry food out of the refrigerator Shabbat morning and placing it directly on the hot plate?  Rav Ovadia Yosef takes a lenient stand and does not apply mechzi ki-mevashel.  Why not?  After all, placing food directly on the heat source without following the conditions of hachzara should be prohibited!

            Two issues must be dealt with to determine how to view the hot plate case:

A.              Under what conditions does mechzi ki-mevashel apply?  Obviously, placing food directly on a fire is prohibited; but what about a covered fire, near the fire, on another pot, or on top of an overturned pot?

B.              How does a hot plate compare to the situations dealt with in the classical halakhic works?

 

A.             How far does mechzi ki-mevashel go?

 

            Three passages in the Shulchan Arukh relate directly to our discussion, OC 253:3, 253:5 and 318:7.

*     Commentaries infer from 253:3 that the Shulchan Arukh prohibits putting a pot of food on top of an empty pot on the fire.  That passage relates to one who fears that his pot will burn on Shabbat morning but still wants to keep it hot.  He is permitted to place an empty pot under his boiling one only if all the conditions of hachzara  are fulfilled.  Apparently, if his pot of food was not on the fire when Shabbat came in, even though it is dry and precooked, it would be prohibited to place it on top of an empty pot on Shabbat.

*           253:5 explicitly permits placing a completely cooked "pandish" (meat pie) on top of a FULL pot on the fire "because this is not the normal way of cooking."  Hence, there is no problem of mechzi ki-mevashel.

*           In 318:7, he presents two opinions about whether one can place a pot of food on top of another that is already on the fire.

 

            These apparently contradictory halakhot pose a challenge to the Shulchan Arukh's commentators, who distinguish between an empty and a full pot, and dry food and liquids.  Placing a pot on an empty pot is prohibited because the fire then serves only the pot that we put on top on Shabbat, which appears like cooking.  The fire underneath a full pot, though, can be seen as basically serving the full bottom pot.  This permits us to place a pot on top of it without worrying about mechzi ki-mevashel.  No distinction is made between solids and liquids.  At this stage, putting food on the hotplate would seem comparable to putting it on top of an empty pot and be prohibited. 

            The Magen Avraham, in attempting to resolve the contradiction between 253:5 and 318:7 (i.e. is it clearly permissible, as in 253:5, or in dispute as in 318:7 to put food on top of a full pot on Shabbat?) distinguishes between solid foods and liquids.  Since if liquids cool down reheating them might lead to a problem of Biblical level cooking, the Sages were extra stringent; with solids, though, it is permissible.

            Rav Ovadia here makes a jump and assumes that Magen Avraham permits placing dry food on top of any pot.  The difficulty in this lies in 253:3, where placing on top of an empty pot seems to be prohibited for dry food also.  The text of the Shulchan Arukh in 318:8 seems to deny this possibility as well.  "Placing something cold yet fully cooked on a pot of boiling water on the fire: some say this is like placing it near a fireplace and permissible; and some say it is like placing it on an oven and prohibited."  Were it permissible to place food on a covered fire, that should have been clarified.  It seems to always be prohibited to place food on a fire, whether covered or uncovered; always permitted to place dry food on a full pot; and questionable whether a liquid on a full pot or a solid on an empty one is permissible.

 

B.        The Hot Plate vs. Ovens and Pots

 

            The hot plate became the subject of much discussion among the Acharonim.  They enumerate four distinguishing characteristics of a hot plate:

1.              The heat cannot be raised or lowered.

2.              The heat does not naturally decrease like coals, but remains static.

3.              It is made expressly for Shabbat.

4.              The heated electric wires, covered by metal, give it the status of a covered fire.

 

            Though the first two traits prevent the problem of shema yechateh (lest he will stir the coals), they are irrelevant to the problem of mechzi ki-mevashel.  A fire covered especially for Shabbat never gave any fire a special status beyond gerufa u-ketuma (coals shoveled out or covered with soot).  The fourth distinction is somewhat difficult to accept:  The covering here is simply pragmatic - one never places a pot directly on fire, but there is always some metal grating to be able to put pots on.  This does not give the hot plate the status of a "covered fire". 

            At best, the hot plate could be considered a covered fire, not a pot on top of a pot, and certainly not "near a bonfire" (a fire used primarily for heat, not cooking).

 

Conclusion

 

            Though those who have already adopted the lenient ruling could certainly continue to follow Rav Ovadia Yosef (I've heard that Sefaradim in Yerushalayim follow this), I would advise one who has been stringent until now to continue to do so.  However, even for one who is stringent, if food has already been heated up on a hot plate it is permissible.

 

(This article originally appeared in Daf Kesher No. 98, vol. 1, pp. 397-400)

 

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