Thought for the Day: Learning Leniencies and Stringencies from One Area of Halacha to Another Is Fraught with Danger
Here's a rule: Never, ever -- not even once -- try to understand anything in halacha by comparing actions. Reasoning such as "Men count in a minyan, so therefore women should count in a minyan" is as ludicrous as "Salmon has scales, so cows should have scales." The correct approach is to consider the reasons for the actions and then asking if those reasons apply to the other situation. Why do fish have scales? Try Wikipedia or for more fun try mocomi for kids. Do those reasons apply to cows? Nope. Why do men count in a minyan? Start with this TftD; let me know if you want more. Does that apply to women? Nope.
A recent TftD an interesting leniency concerning bakery bread; namely that even if I am stringent to only eat פת ישראל, I am allowed to each regular bakery bread if I have guest who are not stringent about bakery bread and the bakery bread is better than the פת ישראל. (Note: Not all bakery bread is better than all פת ישראל; it just happened to be so in this case.) One might be tempted to conclude, "Aha! Whenever one Jew holds a stringency that another Jew does not, the stringent Jew can be lenient for the sake of socializing with the lenient Jew." If you are at all tempted to make such a statement, please see above about salmon, scales, and cows; then come back. I'll wait.
So now let's explore just why we do have this leniency regarding bakery bread. First, most restrictions interactions with non-Jews is based on some sort of worry that we could easily cross a line into something forbidden. חלב ישראל/milk that has been under Jewish supervision from cow to sealed bottle/carton, for example. When we got our milk from small farms, it was not uncommon for non-Jewish farmers to add milk from other animals (horses, pigs, etc) to the cow milk. Our sages therefore required strict supervision. בישול עכו''ם/foods cooked by a non-Jew. Obviously there would be a very real possibility of them using the wrong pot or adding something non-kosher (such as eating their non-kosher lunch then coming back to cook without washing their hands sufficiently well).
Wine has long been used in all sorts of religious ceremonies. Wine is also romantic/formal. Serving wine at a meal is different that having a brewsky or a shot. Because of those two reasons, we have very, very strict rules about wine from the time the grapes are pressed until bottled and sealed.
None of that is really relevant to bakery bread. Bakeries are easy places to manage as far as having only kosher ingredients. The leniency for bakery bread, by the way, does not extend to breads and cakes cooked by a non-Jew specifically to give you. That is forbidden. Bakery bread doesn't make a meal particularly special; it just make it a meal.
So why is there a stringency altogether? Because (as noted in that aforementioned TftD) eating has a degree of holiness to it, so we like to have an option to "step up our game", as it were. Once I have accepted that stringency on myself, when can I be lenient? There are authorities who say anytime the bakery bread is better quality than the פת ישראל, then you are allowed to have the bakery bread. The Mishna Brura says we do not pasken like those authorities. To be allowed to eat the bakery bread, the stringent fellow needs to be eating with non-stringent Jews. There are two reasons given for that. One is that the non-stringent Jews may feel like the stringent Jew is acting a bit "holier than thou" and feel irritated/rankled. The Mishna Brura brings that opinion in the Biur Halacha.
The main reason, though, is when the stringent Jew is the host and he is hosting Jews who are not stringent in this matter. In that case, as host he has an obligation to start the meal by cutting from a loaf of bread for everyone. We give him that obligation so the guests will see that he cuts very generous slices and they will immediately be put at ease that he really does want them to eat all they want and to enjoy themselves fully. In that same vein, he will want to serve them the best bread; which in this case is the bakery bread. Once he is allowed to cut that for them while making the bracha to begin the meal, he is allowed to eat from that bread for the entire meal. (This is the main reason because it is the one brought in the Mishna Brura, and not just in the Biur Halacha).
Pretty clear that all of this reasoning is unique to the bakery bread/פת ישראל discussion, and therefore has essentially no application to other areas.
A recent TftD an interesting leniency concerning bakery bread; namely that even if I am stringent to only eat פת ישראל, I am allowed to each regular bakery bread if I have guest who are not stringent about bakery bread and the bakery bread is better than the פת ישראל. (Note: Not all bakery bread is better than all פת ישראל; it just happened to be so in this case.) One might be tempted to conclude, "Aha! Whenever one Jew holds a stringency that another Jew does not, the stringent Jew can be lenient for the sake of socializing with the lenient Jew." If you are at all tempted to make such a statement, please see above about salmon, scales, and cows; then come back. I'll wait.
So now let's explore just why we do have this leniency regarding bakery bread. First, most restrictions interactions with non-Jews is based on some sort of worry that we could easily cross a line into something forbidden. חלב ישראל/milk that has been under Jewish supervision from cow to sealed bottle/carton, for example. When we got our milk from small farms, it was not uncommon for non-Jewish farmers to add milk from other animals (horses, pigs, etc) to the cow milk. Our sages therefore required strict supervision. בישול עכו''ם/foods cooked by a non-Jew. Obviously there would be a very real possibility of them using the wrong pot or adding something non-kosher (such as eating their non-kosher lunch then coming back to cook without washing their hands sufficiently well).
Wine has long been used in all sorts of religious ceremonies. Wine is also romantic/formal. Serving wine at a meal is different that having a brewsky or a shot. Because of those two reasons, we have very, very strict rules about wine from the time the grapes are pressed until bottled and sealed.
None of that is really relevant to bakery bread. Bakeries are easy places to manage as far as having only kosher ingredients. The leniency for bakery bread, by the way, does not extend to breads and cakes cooked by a non-Jew specifically to give you. That is forbidden. Bakery bread doesn't make a meal particularly special; it just make it a meal.
So why is there a stringency altogether? Because (as noted in that aforementioned TftD) eating has a degree of holiness to it, so we like to have an option to "step up our game", as it were. Once I have accepted that stringency on myself, when can I be lenient? There are authorities who say anytime the bakery bread is better quality than the פת ישראל, then you are allowed to have the bakery bread. The Mishna Brura says we do not pasken like those authorities. To be allowed to eat the bakery bread, the stringent fellow needs to be eating with non-stringent Jews. There are two reasons given for that. One is that the non-stringent Jews may feel like the stringent Jew is acting a bit "holier than thou" and feel irritated/rankled. The Mishna Brura brings that opinion in the Biur Halacha.
The main reason, though, is when the stringent Jew is the host and he is hosting Jews who are not stringent in this matter. In that case, as host he has an obligation to start the meal by cutting from a loaf of bread for everyone. We give him that obligation so the guests will see that he cuts very generous slices and they will immediately be put at ease that he really does want them to eat all they want and to enjoy themselves fully. In that same vein, he will want to serve them the best bread; which in this case is the bakery bread. Once he is allowed to cut that for them while making the bracha to begin the meal, he is allowed to eat from that bread for the entire meal. (This is the main reason because it is the one brought in the Mishna Brura, and not just in the Biur Halacha).
Pretty clear that all of this reasoning is unique to the bakery bread/פת ישראל discussion, and therefore has essentially no application to other areas.
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