We are continuing in siman 6, discussing the case of closing a box where there might be flies in the box that get trapped inside when it is closed. The Chayei Adam is looking at this case from the vantage point of psik reisha. The question is that if there are flies in the box, when you close the box you are definitely trapping them. Even if that is not the person’s intention, we have learned that if there definitely are bugs in the box we consider it a psik reisha to close it, because it is considered that one is being mechaven to entrap the bugs. The question is whether this scenario follows the rules of davar she’eino miskaven, psik reisha, or maybe something potentially worse.
The Rema discusses the following case. When people would travel for business in Europe, they would travel with a pot so they could make their own kosher food. When they would come to an inn, which was not necessarily Jewish, there would always be a hearth where one could hang their pot and cook. If the Jew puts his pot up and the fire is dying down, they would want to stoke the coals. The problem is that if there is another pot hanging there which belongs to a non-Jew, he does not know what is in that pot, and it could be that there is basar b’chalav in that pot. Alternatively, maybe the non-Jew’s pot is no longer there now, but was there previously, and overflowed into the fire. If so, when stoking the coals, one would be performing the issur of bishul basar b’chalav.
On the one hand, if the issur is present, the Jew is certainly performing an issur. On the other hand, the Jew does not know if it is there. The question is whether we can apply the rules of davar she’eino miskaven to the situation.
We already learned that in a case where a person is intending to eat the piece in front of him, if he is not sure if it’s kosher or traif, he cannot be meikel. On the other hand, we learned that a person who is schlepping a chair can do so even if it may cause a ditch, because we look at the ditch as a separate action independent of the schlepping of the chair. However, if the ditch will certainly occur, it is assur, and is a psik reisha. This case of basar b’chalav is more similar to when a person has a piece of meat in front of them and its kashrus is unknown, in that the safeik is already present. When a person stokes the coals, they are certainly cooking any basar b’chalav that is present, we are just lacking the knowledge about whether there is basar b’chalav present or not.
So the question is do we say that this goes under davar she’eino miskaven because it’s a safek and it’s going to be mutar, or we say that this goes into what’s known as safek psik reisha?
The Mishnah Berurah quotes from Rebbi Akiva Eiger that there is a difference between a psik reisha le’she’avar and a psik reisha le’haba. Psik reisha le’she’avar means that the safeik is already on the ground and it already exists, but the person is lacking the information. Psik reisha le’haba means it might cause something else to happen. So the heter of davar she’eino miskaven could be only limited to a davar she’eino miskaven, which is causative in the future, as opposed to something which is on the ground already which would be considered a safek psik reisha.
We will clarify this point further in the upcoming shiurim, be’ezras Hashem.
Summary
There is a difference between psik reisha le’she’avar and a psik reisha le’haba. Psik reisha le’she’avar means that the safeik is already on the ground and it already exists, while psik reisha le’haba means something might happen in the future. We will discuss this point further, be’ezras Hashem
