The Questions (and Answers) of BDJ

View a printable version of this Q & A here.

Q: I noticed that there’s hot water at shul on Shabbat. Can we use hot water at our house during Shabbat?

A (RYK): Water in an urn that’s been heated before Shabbat can be used for a variety of purposes on Shabbat. The critical thing to avoid is using the hot water to cook something on Shabbat. In broad terms, this means that if you want to expose uncooked foods to hot water on Shabat, you need to first transfer that hot water from the urn into a kli sheni, i.e. container once removed from the urn, such as a bowl or a mug. Because some foods can cook even in a kli sheni, we often in practice actually use a kli shlishi, i.e a container twice-removed from the urn. There are more specifics and particulars to these laws, but the “Tea-Making Guide” that we put next to our urns in shul, reprinted below, is illustrative.

One related thing worth noting: In a private home, or in an apartment building most of whose residents are Jewish, it is not permissible to turn on the hot water tap on Shabbat. This is because when we do so we are instantaneously causing cold water to flow into the boiler, where that water instantly becomes cooked.

A reminder about the Halacha of making tea on Shabbat

Foods that have been cooked already, such as instant coffee, cannot be “cooked” a second time in halachik terms. This is why it is permissible to pour hot water directly from an urn directly onto instant coffee on Shabbat, although the general practice is to adopt the stringency of instead adding the instant coffee to your cup of hot water. Your cup is termed a kli sheni (a “second vessel”, with the urn being the “first vessel”) and is thus an even safer halachik option.

The tea leaves inside your tea bag have not been cooked during their manufacturing process. As such, to avoid the prohibition of cooking these on Shabbat, we may only place the tea bag into a kli shlishi, a “third vessel”. This process involves:

1. filling a cup from the urn (this is now your kli sheni),
2. pouring the hot water from that cup into another cup (a kli shlishi)
3. and then placing the tea bag into this cup.

Q: I have heard that we are allowed to drink tea on Shabbat if we use a kli sheni + shlishi and a teabag. I was wondering whether any methods for loose leaf tea drinking are allowed on Shabbat. Here are three loose leaf tea steeping devices: 1) A tea egg infuser. This is basically like a metal teabag. 2) A teapot with an infuser basket. This is a pot with a steel mesh basket inside. You put the tea leaves in the steel mesh basket, and then put water in the tea pot so that the leaves in the mesh are suspended in the water. 3) A teapot with a wire coil in the spout. You put the tea leaves in the teapot, and then put water in the teapot. After some time, you pour off the tea into cups, but the tea leaves stay behind in the teapot due to the coil.

A (RDS):  It can be difficult to read the tea leaves about how to prepare your drink of choice on shabbos (sorry, couldn’t resist! :))

The first major issue to consider when it comes to preparing tea is the question of cooking, which is a biblical prohibition that can take several forms, including cooking or boiling foods in hot water. The classic case of “cooking” with water would be a situation in which you heat a pot of water and add food to it (like with, say, a soup or when boiling corn). This is known as cooking in a kli rishon - a pot of water that has been directly heated by the fire. At the same time, however, there is a general rule that if you transfer water from a kli rishon to a kli sheni (a second pot), the water in the kli sheni no longer maintains its ability to cook.

There is an important exception to the inability of a kli sheni to “cook,” however: with foods that hadn’t been cooked before shabbos, or which are classified as food that are “easily cooked,” then even a kli sheni is strong enough to “cook” those foods. This is the essential issue when it comes to tea preparation, as the Mishna Berura (318:39) points out that tea leaves meet both criteria and therefore steeping them in hot water - even in a kli sheni - would be a direct prohibition of cooking those tea leaves.

So what is one to do? One commonly accepted solution is to transfer the water again - now into a third vessel (i.e. a kli shlishi). For all you tea makers out there, this would mean pouring from your urn (kli rishon) to a cup or kettle (kli sheni) into another cup (kli shlishi), and then steeping your teabag in there. While this is not a universally accepted method (notably, the Mishna Berura himself recommends preparing concentrated tea essence before shabbos instead), this would work for the first “tea divide” that you mentioned - the tea egg infuser.

As to the second device you asked about (the teapot with infuser basket), the question here would be how to classify the teapot - is it a kli rishon, sheni, or shlishi? Based on your description, it would seem that it is designed to be used as a kli rishon - a kettle that is heated on the fire, with a basket containing tea leaves that would infuse the water with flavor as you pour it into your cup. Based on our discussion above, this would obviously then be forbidden, with the only way to use such a kettle being to transfer from a kli rishon to a kli sheni and then into the kettle for serving.

Finally, as to the kettle with a wire coil to hold back the tea leaves. Here, the same issues discussed above apply regarding cooking. However, this device would introduce another issue as well: the prohibition of borer, or separating. In general, borer is only an issue when separating out items that are mixed together. As a result, the previous tea devices we’ve discussed don’t run into any issue of borer as the tea leaves (whether in a regular teabag or a metal basket) are never part of a “mixture” with the water. Instead, in those cases, you have two separate items (the water and the tea leaves) which remain separate after you’re done with them! With the third case you’ve described though, the tea leaves are mixed in with the water in the kettle from the get-go. Assuming you can overcome the issue of cooking by rendering the kettle a kli sheni, nevertheless by pouring the water out through the wire mesh in the spout, you thereby are “separating” the tea leaves from the water, which would be a prohibited act of borer.

Q: Can you share the halachot about using a frozen drink maker on shabbat? I'm thinking specifically about those slushie-dispenser machines that are constantly mixing the drink. If we plug it in before shabbat, would we be able to dispense drinks from a slushie machine? Could we add more ingredients into the top if we're running low?

A (RDS): There are three separate issues to consider here: first, the question of whether it is permissible to begin a prohibited activity before shabbos that will continue to function on shabbos itself. On this issue, the answer is yes - if a couple of criteria are met: first, it must be clear to any observer that the prohibited activity was begun before shabbos. Second, the prohibited activity must be on “autopilot” and not require any input or assistance from you. In addition to these criteria, the Rama (252:5) also forbids “autopilot” actions if they are particularly noisy or discernable. The bottom line on this issue is that activities that have clearly been started before shabbos, which require no user intervention, and which operate quietly in the background are permitted. With regards to a “slushie dispenser” that you’ve described here, if everything is set in advance and it just continues to mix on Shabbat, it is functionally and halakhically no different than leaving the fan on in your room over shabbat. Per the discussion above, though, actively adding ingredients to it on Shabbos - even though this doesn’t directly affect the function of the mixing, should be avoided.

Second, given that there is a biblical prohibition against coloring or dyeing things, is the question of whether “coloring” the ice by mixing it with slushie ingredients would constitute any halakhic issue. Here the answer is clear as well, which is that the prohibition against coloring and dyeing does not apply to foods (see Shulhan Arukh 320:19), such that preparing colored lemonade or other drinks from a powder is not prohibited.

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly is the question of the slushie dispenser. Without knowing exactly how the mechanism for the dispenser works, we can still describe two possibilities. The first is that pressing on the dispenser pushes a simple mechanical valve or creates an opening that allows the slushy to flow out. This would be permitted on Shabbat and is similar to the dispenser commonly found on many water coolers. The second possibility, however, is that pressing on the dispenser activates an electrical valve - which would be forbidden to use on shabbos. The easiest way of checking to see how your dispenser works would simply be to try dispensing some slushy liquid while the machine is unplugged and turned off. If it still works, then the dispenser is not electrical and can be used on shabbos. If not, though, then you have yourself an electrical dispenser that can’t be used on shabbos!

Q: What are the halachot of using makeup and creams on Shabbat? / I ask this with fear and trepidation: What am I allowed to apply on shabbat in terms of makeup? Are there in fact leniencies for unmarried women or is this just a rumour? And if it is true...does that apply to people who are single only?

A (RYK): I answer with a little bit of fear and trepidation as well, simply because I have no first-hand experience with these products. I’d encourage people who do, to share comments. For starters, here is a summary of the basic Halachik discussion (and I recommend this fine essay by Rabbi Chaim Jachter.) 

The question of applying a coloring agent to the skin on Shabat goes back to the Talmud. The Talmus forbids the application on Shabbat of a blue substance that was used to color the area around the eyes, on the grounds that this was a form of tzovea, the melacha (forbidden labor) of applying dye to wool.  Centuries of subsequent Talmudic commentaries worked on the questions as to (1) whether the Talmud considered the application of this eye make-up to be a violation of the Biblical prohibition of tzovea, or only a rabbinic extension of tzovea, and (2) whether the prohibition applied to all make-up categorically, or whether there might be some exceptions. 

The basic consensus is that the prohibition is rabbinic in nature (not Biblical, perhaps because make-up is never left on permanently), and there are many poskim who rule that this rabbinic prohibition applies to any and all forms of make-up, without exception. However, several prominent poskim, including Rav Ovadiah Yosef and Rav Moshe Feinstein did carve out a limited category of make-ups that would be permissible to use on Shabbat. They were motivated to do so through a recognition of how important the use of make-up can be to some women, depending upon their circumstances (and were willing to explore leniency because the prohibition is only rabbinic in nature.) They based their leniency on the Mishna’s permissible category of “melacha acts that have no lasting impact at all” (this, as opposed to “melacha acts which last temporarily”, which are prohibited by rabbinic law). 

What forms of make-up qualify for this leniency? To quote Rabbi Jachter’s summary of the lenient position, “The Sages prohibited only serek, which adheres to the skin. However, blush that is applied directly to the skin without a cosmetic base ("foundation"), does not adhere to the skin, and thus is not included in the rabbinic prohibition to apply serek to one's face. Rav Ovadia clarifies that this leniency applies only to powders that are not oil-based and contain no creams.” Rabbi Jachter notes as well that, “some commercially available lipstick powders made for Shabbat use are not long-lasting and meet Rav Moshe's criteria of “melacha acts that have no lasting impact at all” making them permissible for use on Shabbat.”
In short, the general rule is that make-up should not be applied on Shabbat. However, if your circumstances require make-up, and you can ensure that the make-up in question has no oil or cream foundation, then there is a reliable permissive school of thought to rely upon. I’ll add that one can also purchase specifically manufactured “Shabbat make-up”, which can be applied before Shabbat and is designed to last for 24 hours.

Q: As the head of my household, I light Shabbat candles before I head to Mincha/Kabbalat Shabbat, which makes it Shabbat for me as I leave the house. But the Mincha I daven at shul is chol, since it's still Friday afternoon. Should I have in mind not to bring in Shabbat until after Mincha? And if I am doing that, then would I be able to accept a spontaneous ride from a friend who is driving in the same direction, even if I didn't have in mind to get a ride? 

A (RYK): Great question. There is a classical debate concerning the relationship between lighting candles and formally accepting Shabbat. The Talmud speaks of lighting candles purely as a mitzva that is to be done on Friday afternoon and does not say anything about this act being equated with or implying an acceptance of Shabbat. However, the Gaonic work Ba’al Halachot Gedolot (BaHaG) does in fact draw this equation, ruling that the act of candle lighting is in and of itself an acceptance of Shabbat. Others, like Rav Alfasi (Rif, of 11th century Fez) disagreed with BaHaG. In later centuries a debate emerged as to whether according to BaHaG’s opinion, a candle lighter could state the condition that s/he is NOT yet accepting Shabbat. 

All of this gets processed in the Shulchan Aruch and Rama (263:10), where Rama concludes that we do not accept the BaHaG’s position in principle, however the custom is that women, in practice, DO accept Shabbat with the act of candle lighting. (The unusual practice of reciting the candle lighting bracha after the act rather than the usual before the act is actually connected to this). The Rama goes on to advise a woman who is planning on still doing melacha after she lights candles, to state - or at least to think to herself - that she is lighting candles with this condition. The same holds true if she is planning on davening Mincha after candle lighting, as Friday Mincha can’t be davened any longer by someone who has accepted Shabbat. 

It should be noted that the Rama adds that the custom that equates candle lighting with the acceptance of Shabbat pertains only to a woman who is lighting. It applies neither to the other members of her household, nor (because this is just how the custom developed) to a man who is lighting. 

So yes, you (the questioner) should be bearing in mind that you are not yet accepting Shabbat when you light, and then you can both daven Mincha, and even accept a ride to get there. 

Q: How should we view the “18 minutes” after candle lighting? Obviously one should be ready for Shabbat before this point but I find, with my busier life, I’m eating more into that time. Are the 18 mins bidi-eved okay to use for non-Shabbat activity or less than that?

A (RYK): This question is in many ways connected to the previous one, so please be sure to read that one first!

So the number 18 is an arbitrary, yet meaningful number. There is a Mitzvah to “add time to Shabbat”, both by accepting it earlier than technically necessary, and by ending it later than technically necessary. The latter “addition” is built-in to the Havdalah Time that you see in the bulletin every week. The former is achieved through lighting candles - and accepting Shabbat - prior to the actual time of sundown. Different customs developed as to how long this “additional” time at the beginning of Shabbat should be, with the most common and familiar one being 18 minutes. Thus:

1. A person who lights candles and accepts Shabbat at the official candle lighting time is fulfilling the Mitzvah of “adding to Shabbat”. 
2. The act of candle lighting only constitutes an acceptance of Shabbat for the woman who is doing the lighting (unless she lights on condition that he / she is not yet formally accepting Shabbat.) Other members of the household are certainly encouraged to also accept Shabbat at the same time through withdrawing from melacha. However if that’s not yet doable, the other members of the household can continue to do melacha, and can fulfill the Mitzvah of adding to Shabbat by stopping melacha even 2 or 3 minutes before sundown. 
3. In the final analysis, melacha may be performed up until sundown, but the mitzvah of adding to Shabbat will sadly have been forfeit that week.