Skip to main content

Thought for the Day: Halacha of Nullification -- You Need to Read All the Words

Everyone knows that even though a forbidden substance is nullified once it is less than one part in 60 (and the other nullification rules). Everyone also knows: אין מבטל איסור לכתחילה/you are not allowed to nullify; that is, to nullify the forbidden substance that is already in the mixture by adding more of the good stuff until the forbidden substance becomes nullified.

Here is something that a lot of people know: Whole bugs are never nullified, even if less than one part in 60. Breaking up the bugs to nullify them is just as bad as adding more good stuff... not permitted. However, if they get busted up as part of making a recipe -- such as blending frozen fruit to make a smoothie -- then it is permitted. That is because you are not busting them up to nullify them; you are busting them up to make the recipe, in the process of which they get busted up. Now you can drink your smoothie because it only has less than one part in 60 of bug bits. Bon appétit -- and don't go getting all squeamish on me; there's bug bits in lots of stuff. Deal with it.

Soo... I acquired a bottle of whiskey -- very nice whiskey -- that was aged in sherry casks. (See this TftD for an executive summary of the issues with using sherry casks to make whiskey.) Then I had an idea💡! Of course I can't just add more whiskey to nullify the sherry. But what if I used the whiskey to make a cocktail? Isn't that just like the buggy smoothie? I asked R' Fuerst about it the next time I had a chance. He said that is nullifying a forbidden substance and is not allowed. I said: but what about the smoothies? Then he looked at me like I was buggy. "No such thing," quoth the rabbi. He told me that cooking might work, but a blender does nothing. But everyone knows about this, I stammered. He asked who, I said I'd find a source. (He smiled at me and said that just because I find someone said doesn't make it right...) I was also given homework to review siman 84 in Yoreh De'ah.

So I found a nice write up about making smoothies on the Star K site. I read the article carefully before going back to the rabbi. The article makes a strong point: this only works if the infestation of the fruits is a miyut hamatzui – something that contains a significant percentage of infestation, although less than a rov. Ah... I hadn't realized that detail. They also stress that you have to buy the fruit with the intention of making smoothies. If you bought the fruit to eat and then realized the bug problem and now want to turn it into smoothies -- CYLOR.

When I took that information back to R' Fuerst, he stopped me after miyut hamatzui and said, "oh, of course, because it is doubt in the first place." I said they referenced the same siman 84 and the rabbi answered, again smiling, "Yes, we both have the same Shulchan Aruch."

Now back to my whiskey. My whiskey definitely has a sherry enhanced taste. Not a miyut hamatzui, not even rov/muchzuk; it is va'dai/certain. But, I had another idea💡! Shouldn't a makloches ha'poskim -- that is, some poskim allow sherry cask whiskey -- create the same sort of halachik doubt as miyut hamatzui? I asked, and we told, "It depends on the poskim." I told R' Fuerst the matir; the rabbi told me: no, that poseik won't create the halachik doubt you'd need.

One more question I asked -- the S'fardim do permit nullifying a substance that is forbidden "only" d'rabbonan. (I don't like the term "only" when applied to d'rabbonan, hence the quotes; but you know what I mean.)  For example, if one ounce of milk falls into 30 oz of chicken soup, the S'fardim would be allowed to add another 30 oz of chicken soup. I asked about that as well. Since sherry wine is only forbidden d'rabbonan, maybe my S'fardi friend can make himself a cocktail? On the other hand, because of the association with idol worship, maybe they would also be more strict? I asked and was told that, indeed, they are also strict when it comes to their ordinary wine.

Oh well... It's a pretty bottle.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Thought for the Day: אוושא מילתא Debases Yours Shabbos

My granddaughter came home with a list the girls and phone numbers in her first grade class.  It was cute because they had made it an arts and crafts project by pasting the list to piece of construction paper cut out to look like an old desk phone and a receiver attached by a pipe cleaner.  I realized, though, that the cuteness was entirely lost on her.  She, of course, has never seen a desk phone with a receiver.  When they pretend to talk on the phone, it is on any relatively flat, rectangular object they find.  (In fact, her 18 month old brother turns every  relatively flat, rectangular object into a phone and walks around babbling into it.  Not much different than the rest of us, except his train of thought is not interrupted by someone else babbling into his ear.) I was reminded of that when my chavrusa (who has children my grandchildrens age) and I were learning about אוושא מילתא.  It came up because of a quote from the Shulchan Aruch HaRav that referred to the noise of תקתוק
Post a Comment
Read more

Thought for the Day: Love in the Time of Corona Virus/Anxiously Awaiting the Mashiach

Two scenarios: Scenario I: A young boy awakened in the middle of the night, placed in the back of vehicle, told not to make any noise, and the vehicle speeds off down the highway. Scenario II: Young boy playing in park goes to see firetruck, turns around to see scary man in angry pursuit, poised to attack. I experienced and lived through both of those scenarios. Terrifying, no? Actually, no; and my picture was never on a milk carton. Here's the context: Scenario I: We addressed both set of our grandparents as "grandma" and "grandpa". How did we distinguish? One set lived less than a half hour's drive; those were there "close grandma and grandpa". The other set lived five hour drive away; they were the "way far away grandma and grandpa". To make the trip the most pleasant for all of us, Dad would wake up my brother and I at 4:00AM, we'd groggily -- but with excitement! -- wander out and down to the garage where we'd crawl
Post a Comment
Read more

Thought for the Day: What Category of Muktzeh are Our Candles?

As discussed in a recent TftD , a p'sak halacha quite surprising to many, that one may -- even לכתחילה -- decorate a birthday cake with (unlit, obviously) birthday candles on Shabbos. That p'sak is predicated on another p'sak halacha; namely, that our candles are muktzeh because they are a כלי שמלאכתו לאיסור and not  מוקצה מחמת גופו/intrinsically set aside from any use on Shabbos. They point there was that using the candle as a decoration qualifies as a need that allows one to utilize a כלי שמלאכתו לאיסור. Today we will discuss the issue of concluding that our candles are , in fact, a כלי שמלאכתו לאיסור and not מוקצה מחמת גופו. Along the way we'll also (again) how important it is to have personal relationship with your rav/posek, the importance of precision in vocabulary, and how to interpret the Mishna Brura.  Buckle up. After reviewing siman 308 and the Mishna Brura there, I concluded that it should be permissible to use birthday candles to decorate a cake on Shabbo
Post a Comment
Read more