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Sponsorships for the upcoming Klalim, which discuss the 39 melachos of Shabbos, are available. Please contact Rabbi Reingold for more information at rabbireingold@gmail.com or 301.996.5910
We are continuing in siman 11, discussing the concept of maaseh Shabbos. We learned that the issur of maaseh Shabbos does not apply to an issur derabanan b’shogeig, and the item can be used on Shabbos itself, even by the individual who performed the maaseh Shabbos. We mentioned that there are some exceptions, including the din of shehiya and chazarah.
Shehiya is the halacha of one who leaves food cooking from before Shabbos going into Shabbos. Mideoraysa, it is completely muttar. Chazal enacted an issur out of concern that a person would perform melacha to try and hasten the cooking process in order to eat the food on Friday night. They made such a food assur unless one follows specific protocols; namely, it must be cooked to maachal ben derusai before Shabbos, the fire is covered, or the food is totally raw at the onset of Shabbos. There is also an opinion that if the food is specifically for Shabbos day, there is no concern that a person will spontaneously decide to eat it on Friday night.
If a person does not follow these protocols, and accidentally puts food on the fire in a way which is assur miderabanan, one has a chiyuv to remove the food from the fire immediately when they realize their mistake. If one does not remove the food, and continues to cook it, it is assur to eat from it until Motzei Shabbos, even if it was beshogeig. We do not say that since the maaseh Shabbos was done b’shogeig, there is no issur.
Chazarah refers to one who has taken food off of the fire and wishes to return it on Shabbos. There are conditions which allow for a person to perform chazarah. The food has to be fully cooked, still hot, and the fire must be covered. If one returns food to the fire and these conditions are not met, and the food improves because it has been returned to the fire (known as mitztameik veyafeh lo), it is assur to benefit from the food over Shabbos. The benefit is maaseh Shabbos on a din derabanan, and even when it was done b’shogeig, it is assur until after Shabbos.
If the benefit is only that the food warmed up, and it did not cook any further, if one lets the food sit and cool down back to its original temperature, the Chazon Ish holds the food is still assur. Since the action performed created a benefit for the food, the food inherently remains assur until after Shabbos. The Biur Halacha brings a Pri Megadim which holds that the food will be muttar when it returns to room temperature. Thus, if one is eating at someone’s house, and they realize the host is performing an assur form of chazarah, they can wait until the food has cooled down to room temperature and eat it.
Summary
- When it comes to maaseh Shabbos of an issur derabanan, if it was done b’shogeig, it is muttar to everyone even on Shabbos.
- Two exceptions to this halacha are shehiya and chazarah, where, even if shehiya or chazarah were performed b’shogeig, the food is assur until after Shabbos.
- Regarding chazarah, if the only benefit gained by the food is that it is warmed up, one can wait until the food cools down to room temperature and eat it.
- If it was done b’meizid, it is muttar to everyone immediately after Shabbos is over. The Mishnah Berurah disagrees with this, and prohibits it for the individual who did the melacha forever.
