Rosh Yeshiva Responds
Rabbi Linzer answers halakhic questions from rabbis and community members

10 12, 2010

Why Can My Pot Be Treif?

December 10th, 2010|Kashrut|

Previously we discussed the principle of ta’am lifgam – when the addition of a forbidden food to a mixture makes the mixture taste worse.  In such a case, the mixture may be eaten, because while the forbidden food itself, even if it has an off-taste, is forbidden, when we are only dealing with the taste of such food, and not the food itself, this bad taste is not forbidden.   As Rashba explains, this is because the taste – ta’am – is in a different category than the food itself.  Although we normally say
15 10, 2010

When Bacon Falls on the Food: How Treif is Taste?

October 15th, 2010|Kashrut|

While in our previous study of Kashrut we studied the concept of yavesh bi’yavesh – mixtures of distinct entities, here we address the more common case of lach bi’lach -mixtures in which the forbidden food is totally intermixed with, and whose taste is completely dispersed within, the permissible food.   Because the forbidden food is completely intermixed, it is easier to understand why bitul occurs – it becomes as if this food no longer exists (or, at least, that its halakhic status is defined by the rest of the mixture).  Thus, if some forbidden pork fat fell into my chicken