Halacha of the Week: Warming up food on Shabbos

Posted on February 10th, 2010 by JewishByte

HALACHA OF THE WEEK: A FEATURE OF THE BJSZ DAILY HALACHA SHIUR

WARMING UP FOOD ON SHABBOS

We have discussed returning a food to the fire after it has been briefly off the fire. What about warming up cold food on Shabbos? There are two issues to consider here.

The first is whether warming up the food would constitute cooking. In this regard a distinction must be made between dry foods and liquids. Warming up dry foods that have been fully cooked or baked would not constitute cooking, whereas warming up liquids does constitute cooking.

As such, liquidy foods cannot be warmed up on Shabbos. The second issue to consider is the permissibility of placing something on the fire, even where it would not constitute cooking. As we have seen, while one may be permitted to return cooked items to a fire, one is not permitted to place items even on a covered fire on Shabbos.

As such, the method of warming would require placing the dry food indirectly on the fire, such as placing it atop another pot of food that is already on the fire, such as the Cholent or hot water urn.

Harav Moshe Feinstein also permitted placing such dry foods on Shabbos onto a non-adjustable warming tray, that is both non-adjustable and not suited for cooking.

Halacha of the Week is a feature of the BJSZ daily Halacha Shiur given by Rabbi Hauer after Maariv, and is republished with permission from Bnai Jacob Shaarei Zion and Courtesy of Rabbi Hauer.

Rabbi Moshe Hauer is the Spiritual Leader of Congregation Bnai Jacob Shaarei Zion, one of the leading Orthodox congregations in Baltimore, Maryland. Rabbi Hauer is active in the leadership of many of the Jewish private schools in the area, and serves as the Chairman of the Board of Education of the Talmudical Academy of Baltimore, a day school serving over 800 boys. He is also involved in the social service organizations serving the Jewish community, including charitable services, hospice and domestic and child sexual abuse prevention. Rabbi Hauer visits Israel frequently and is very involved in Israel-related activities. He lectures on a wide variety of topics in Jewish law and thought, including support groups for families and individuals facing traumatic illness, infertility and special needs.