The title is not entirely accurate, but: (1) if I said "twice removed", I fear many would think כלי שני/second vessel; (2) c'mon... how cool is it to be able to use the word thrice?
Besides the opportunity to use the word thrice (thrice, in you include the title and not this one, or just not including this one) in one TftD, I have a more serious reason to write about this. Namely, my rush to incorrectly tell someone that, "Of course the Mishna Brura says you can make tea in a כלי שלישי! It's in that long paragraph where he describes how to make tea on Shabbos." I, in my arrogance did not bother to double check. My friend (still even after this), though, did. Thank goodness.
So... the Mishna Brura has a long paragraph (Siman 318, end of s.k. 39) starting by declaring as obvious to the poskim that making tea is a cooking process, for which one would transgress a capital offence if done on purpose and with intention. The Mishna Brura then decries the lax attitude and specious leniencies in which the general populace engages in making tea on Shabbos. Now comes the punch line: Even if one wants to use a כלי שני, it is still forbidden because anything that was not cooked before Shabbos may not be soaked in a כלי שני on Shabbos (emphasis mine). Tea, though, is even worse because many authorities hold that tea leaves are in the category of "easily cooked"; which means that even pouring hot water from a כלי שני onto tea leaves on Shabbos is forbidden.
Bottom line: we have the Mishna Brura saying that it is at least forbidden at a Rabbinic level to soak the fresh/uncooked tea leaves in hot water on Shabbos, but it might be a Torah prohibition to even pour hot water from a כלי שני onto the fresh/uncooked tea leaves.
Hmm... Now, if I were more interested in being right than honest, I could note that since the Mishna Brura only said it was forbidden to make tea in any fashion with a כלי שני, clearly he means to pasken that in a כלי שלישי there is no problem. Baruch HaShem, my arrogance knows some bounds. I did more investigation (thank you, R' Ribiat and Dirshu) and found that the Mishna Brura does, in fact, explicitly pasken that a כלי שלישי does not cook. (Which is to say, the מלאכה of cooking on Shabbos is not transgressed; not that the food does not become tastier/edible in a כלי שלישי.) However, the Mishna Brura doesn't make that point until s.k. 45; and even there is it only a qualified leniency. Igros Moshe (O. Ch. Vol 4, 74:15), however, paskens straight out and without qualification that one need not be stringent in using a כלי שלישי.
So I was not wrong that we pasken that a כלי שלישי does not cook (albeit with some conditions), and I wasn't even wrong that the Mishna Brura paskens that way (albeit, not explicitly, but by inference). I was, though quite mistaken in my citation of where that point is made and that there are other mitigating factors there. In fact, one is left to wonder why the Mishna Brura did not actually make that point in his long paragraph on making tea for Shabbos, preferring instead to give detailed instructions on making tea sense before Shabbos. I suspect it was because of the general lax attitude to which he was addressing his main focus and not because he meant to exclude tea making from the general leniency of using a כלי שלישי. Also, there are other issues with tea bags; selection and squeezing, for example.
Bottom line: The Mishna Brura is not clear on the issue of using tea bags in a כלי שלישי on Shabbos. Igros Moshe, however, is clear. Note also, the Aruch HaShulchan and the Chazon Ish are also quite clear that it is forbidden. R' Ribiat and the CRC pasken that one can be lenient. R' Fuerst, though, paskens stringently.
Besides the opportunity to use the word thrice (thrice, in you include the title and not this one, or just not including this one) in one TftD, I have a more serious reason to write about this. Namely, my rush to incorrectly tell someone that, "Of course the Mishna Brura says you can make tea in a כלי שלישי! It's in that long paragraph where he describes how to make tea on Shabbos." I, in my arrogance did not bother to double check. My friend (still even after this), though, did. Thank goodness.
So... the Mishna Brura has a long paragraph (Siman 318, end of s.k. 39) starting by declaring as obvious to the poskim that making tea is a cooking process, for which one would transgress a capital offence if done on purpose and with intention. The Mishna Brura then decries the lax attitude and specious leniencies in which the general populace engages in making tea on Shabbos. Now comes the punch line: Even if one wants to use a כלי שני, it is still forbidden because anything that was not cooked before Shabbos may not be soaked in a כלי שני on Shabbos (emphasis mine). Tea, though, is even worse because many authorities hold that tea leaves are in the category of "easily cooked"; which means that even pouring hot water from a כלי שני onto tea leaves on Shabbos is forbidden.
Bottom line: we have the Mishna Brura saying that it is at least forbidden at a Rabbinic level to soak the fresh/uncooked tea leaves in hot water on Shabbos, but it might be a Torah prohibition to even pour hot water from a כלי שני onto the fresh/uncooked tea leaves.
Hmm... Now, if I were more interested in being right than honest, I could note that since the Mishna Brura only said it was forbidden to make tea in any fashion with a כלי שני, clearly he means to pasken that in a כלי שלישי there is no problem. Baruch HaShem, my arrogance knows some bounds. I did more investigation (thank you, R' Ribiat and Dirshu) and found that the Mishna Brura does, in fact, explicitly pasken that a כלי שלישי does not cook. (Which is to say, the מלאכה of cooking on Shabbos is not transgressed; not that the food does not become tastier/edible in a כלי שלישי.) However, the Mishna Brura doesn't make that point until s.k. 45; and even there is it only a qualified leniency. Igros Moshe (O. Ch. Vol 4, 74:15), however, paskens straight out and without qualification that one need not be stringent in using a כלי שלישי.
So I was not wrong that we pasken that a כלי שלישי does not cook (albeit with some conditions), and I wasn't even wrong that the Mishna Brura paskens that way (albeit, not explicitly, but by inference). I was, though quite mistaken in my citation of where that point is made and that there are other mitigating factors there. In fact, one is left to wonder why the Mishna Brura did not actually make that point in his long paragraph on making tea for Shabbos, preferring instead to give detailed instructions on making tea sense before Shabbos. I suspect it was because of the general lax attitude to which he was addressing his main focus and not because he meant to exclude tea making from the general leniency of using a כלי שלישי. Also, there are other issues with tea bags; selection and squeezing, for example.
Bottom line: The Mishna Brura is not clear on the issue of using tea bags in a כלי שלישי on Shabbos. Igros Moshe, however, is clear. Note also, the Aruch HaShulchan and the Chazon Ish are also quite clear that it is forbidden. R' Ribiat and the CRC pasken that one can be lenient. R' Fuerst, though, paskens stringently.
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