QUESTION

Oregon

Question re: induction stove tops and bishul akum—what is the minimum a mashgiach in a commercial-scale kitchen would need to do? Turning on the burner doesn’t actually turn on any heat—does that still work to avoid bishul akum?

Would this also be the psak for a domestic/non-commercial context?

ANSWER

I’ve discussed induction stovetops on Yom Tov in the past. There, I stated that since there is no fire, one could go so far as to argue that it is not bishul at all (just chama or tolodat ha’chama—solar heat or secondary solar heat). I wouldn’t go that far, though, since the experience is identical.

So how does this transfer over to bishul akum? Either it isn’t considered fire/cooking, so you don’t need any halakhic intervention at all, or it is, and we will need the mashgiach to be involved somehow.

I would be comfortable ruling that it is sufficient that the mashgiach turn on the electricity to magnetize the coil. Then it becomes like all other cases—the Jew did everything prior to putting on the pot, and the non-Jew put on the pot. Meaning that we will consider what the mashgiach did, turning on the electricity, akin to lighting the fire. (Rema, SA YD 113:7)

In this case, if the strength needs to be adjusted, you should make sure that this does not entail turning off the magnet and turning it back on.

However, it was shared with me that Rav Zushe Blech z”l, who was a major kashrut authority, ruled that induction stovetops are totally out of the category of bishul akum, and I believe that this is really the only psak that makes sense here.

Regarding the status of an induction stove top vis a vis bishul, whether regarding Shabbat/Yom Tov or Kashrut
The reason an induction stove top is not considered bishul is because there is no fire, and not because it starts as a magnetic force. The force itself is not relevant; rather, it is because this particular force does not create a fire. (NOTE: for Shabbat this is still assur (SA OH 318:3). It falls in the category of toldot hachama, which I’m defining here as cooking through something heated by a non-fire source).

This is in contradistinction to an electric stove top. Electricity runs through the element, heats it up, and now we have a fire—a “gachelet shel matechet”—something that both gives off light and heat (Pesachim 75a). So that stove top does create bishul akum and is bishul d’oraitta (biblically forbidden cooking) for Shabbat (and havarah d’oraitta).

Would this also be the psak for a domestic/non-commercial context?
I don’t see why should it be different. If you’re thinking about greater concern of socializing, etc., not an anonymous distant company? (Shiyurei Bracha YD 112:9, Rav Moshe Feinstein quoted in Mesorah 1:94). That type of combining of reasons is necessary when the argument does not fully stand by itself. Here it does. Plain and simple, it’s not bishul. While I hesitated initially to straight-out pasken this way, this was only because it would be/would seem radical on a communal norm level. Therefore, from a halakhic perspective I don’t see a need to bolster this position with those other reasons/circumstances.

From a communal/policy perspective—I think that should be left to each community Rabbi to decide. I will say that for those who are makpid on bishul akum, it can often prove difficult, and there are a non-trivial amount of people who just aren’t makpid on this in general, and those who are offended by it, so the more we use induction stovetops, the easier things will be—both from a bishul akum and a Yom Tov perspective.