4

Is a non-Jew allowed to prepare her own meals in a kosher kitchen, using kosher products, in the microwave or any plug in electric appliances i.e. waffle maker, panini maker, etc?

mbloch
  • 51,726
  • 9
  • 92
  • 240
Gitty
  • 41
  • 1
  • Why not? Bishul akum is assur for you, not her. – The GRAPKE Jan 28 '21 at 23:43
  • 4
    @TheGRAPKE the question is seemingly if that messes with the kashrut of the keilim – Double AA Jan 29 '21 at 01:00
  • There are poskim who say that microwaves weren't included in the decree of bishul akum. – robev Jan 29 '21 at 05:47
  • According to this shiur, if you have help at home you have to speak to a competent rav to make sure you are ok. https://www.torahanytime.com/#/lectures?v=101055 After 40 minute mark. – N.T. Oct 26 '21 at 04:40
  • @N.T. no need for a link, that's trivially true of everything in Judaism if not in life. If you don't know what you're doing, better ask someone who does. – Double AA Oct 26 '21 at 21:20
  • @DoubleAA There are plenty of things simple enough to research on your own; this isn't one of them. – N.T. Oct 27 '21 at 08:46
  • @N.T. for some people it is and for some people nothing is. Making generalizations here is unnecessary. – Double AA Oct 27 '21 at 13:09

2 Answers2

1

If the food she is cooking falls under the rules of Bishul Akum then it could be a problem, since food that is Bishul Akum is assur to eat. It makes the keilim assur by being bolah issar food. In Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De'ah Siman 113: Sief 16 it says

כלים שבשל בהם העובד כוכבים לפנינו דברים שיש בהם משום בישולי עובדי כוכבים צריכים הכשר ויש אומרים שאינם צריכים ואף לדברי המצריכים הכשר אם הוא כלי חרס מגעילו שלש פעמים ודיו מפני שאין לאיסור זה עיקר בדאורייתא:

Vessels in which a non-Jew has cooked in front of us things which are subject to the prohibition of non-Jewish cooking need to be made kosher. And there are those that say that this is not necessary. And even for those that require the dishes to be made kosher, if it is a clay vessel, it should be placed into boiling water three times, and that is sufficient, because there is nothing that is forbidden here according to the Torah.

The Shach Sief Kattan 20 says maybe you can be makel since a Yisroel for sure stoked the coals. In your case of a microwave, waffle maker, panini maker ect. their is no stoking the coals.

Efraym
  • 1,250
  • 8
  • 15
  • Is food prepared in a microwave served by "shulchan m'lachim"? – פרי זהב Jan 29 '21 at 02:46
  • @פריזהב Yes. why not? – Efraym Jan 29 '21 at 04:00
  • 1
    This assumes a microwave is considered bishul in the context of bishul akum. It happens to be a dispute. You should at least source your premise, otherwise this isn't a proper answer. – robev Jan 29 '21 at 05:48
  • 1
    @robev Technically he just says "if the food falls under the rules of Bishul Akum". He doesn't say what those rules are. – Double AA Jan 29 '21 at 05:57
  • 1
    @DoubleAA I thought the emphasis was the food, not the method of cooking. Any food wouldn't be an issue if a microwave is never an issue. – robev Jan 29 '21 at 07:32
  • 3
    @Efraym - Star-k does not consider it bishul Akum https://www.star-k.org/articles/kashrus-kurrents/2168/food-fit-for-a-king-reviewing-the-laws-of-bishul-akum-and-bishul-yisroel/, and OUKosher https://oukosher.org/faqs/are-there-kosher-concerns-of-bishul-akum-if-the-food-is-cooked-in-a-microwave-by-a-gentile/ says there are different opinions. – פרי זהב Jan 29 '21 at 18:32
1

You are seemingly asking whether a non-Jew cooking in a microwave would make the utensils non-kosher. There are sources that show this is not the case

  • R Yitzchak Yaakov Fuchs (in Hakashrut, p. 590) writes that food that was cooked by a non-Jew in a microwave oven is not included in the prohibition of food cooked by a non-Jew (Shevet Halevi 8:185; Prof Z. Lev in the name of R Shlomo Zalman Auerbach)
  • R Binyomin Forst (in The kosher kitchen, p. 426) writes that a housekeeper may warm pre-cooked food and make popcorn in a popcorn maker or microwave.
  • R Pinchas Cohen (in a practical guide to the laws of kashrut, p. 48) writes that, if a domestic worker prepared the food for an employer [only permitted in very specific cases under rabbinic guidance], one may be lenient and the utensils do not require kashering (Kaf Hachayim YD 113:90 and Taz YD 113:3)

If you follow the third reason, it would also apply to a waffle or panini maker. Even if you do not, a waffle or panini might not be food served to kings and therefore might not be included in the prohibition of bishul akum.

This being said, a non-Jew cooking in a kosher kitchen still raises issues of milk/meat mixups, especially with warm food.

Of course, consult your rabbi before implementing anything you learn here.

mbloch
  • 51,726
  • 9
  • 92
  • 240