08 Mar DIFFERENT STANDARDS

After the holiday of
Purim, many of us are
faced with Halachic
dilemmas concerning
the Kashrut status of
the many Mishlochei
Manot we have
received, as well as

those we give others.
Let us start with the food items we have
received and aren’t sure whether we are
permitted to eat them.
Are we permitted to eat all those cakes and
cookies received which are home baked, or do
we have to be concerned with the Kashrut of the
ingredients and the Kashrut of the oven etc.?
Another example is if we’ve received a salad
that we aren’t sure was properly inspected/
cleaned for infestation; is it Halachically fit for
consumption?
Food from people we trust and don’t trust.
The rule of thumb on this Halacha יו״ד ראה
קיט סימן ((is that we need to assess the level
of trust of the person who delivered the food
to us. If there is room for suspicion on his
observance of the various dietary laws of the
Torah (Kashrut), his keeping of the many basic
laws of the Torah, and surely if with regards to
Shabbat observance, we aren’t allowed to eat
anything he sent to us unless it’s packed bearing
the seal of a reliable Kashrut supervision. The
reason given is that such a person wouldn’t

mind giving others non-Kosher items, since
we see that he himself isn’t careful.
On the contrast, if he is known to us as a
person who keeps Kosher, learns Torah and is
generally scrupulous with Mitzvot, we can eat
the food delivered to us without a worry.
Food from people we aren’t sure
The doubts would be in the event we aren’t
sure, i.e., we don’t know him well enough.
This can translate into several different
concerns: first and foremost is this basic tenet
of how trustworthy he is. Furthermore, even if
we know that he is very “religious”, but maybe
he isn’t very knowledgeable in Jewish law
which would then manifest itself into many
Halachic concerns, such as whether his kitchen
is Kosher–his oven, utensils etc.–or maybe
something may have inadvertently become
treif.
Moreover, even if we trust that he used a
reliable Hechsher for the ingredients and he
maintains a Kosher kitchen; it is still possible
that we ourselves try to hold to higher standards
of Kashrut and therefore normally wouldn’t
eat food at his lower standards.
Not to mention the fact that we may adhere
to a different set of Halachot altogether, for
example the difference between Sefaradim
and Ashkenazim in Halacha. So, what must be
done?
There is a machloket Rishonim concerning the
first question, receiving food from someone

who we aren’t familiar with his Kashrut level.
The Tur (siman 119) writes that normally
every Jew is reliable unless we know he isn’t.
Based on that, one would be permitted to eat
the food he received, The Rambam however
argued, and wrote that we aren’t allowed to
rely on people unless they are known to us as
reliable.
The Rema ruled like the Rambam and forbids
eating the food unless we know the person
who gave it to us trustworthy.
But the Shulchan Aruch, who the Sefaradim
follow, wrote that one can rely on anyone who
we don’t have suspicion on. Le’maase today,
even Sefaradim are strict, especially after the
later Poskim made a decree not to eat from
anyone we don’t fully trust. .(סה ס״ס הלל בית
(וכן ערה״ש קיט ס״ט
Giving others food that you don’t eat.
Can I give others the Mishlochei Manot I
received which I don’t eat myself due to
Kashrut issues?
Sometimes we receive food items that we
wouldn’t eat because we follow higher Kashrut
standards. For example, some don’t eat dairy
products which aren’t Chalav Yisrael. If one
received such products, can they be given over
to a friend who does eat non-Chalav Yisrael?
There is a dispute amongst the poskim over this
issue. The argument is based on the question of
whether the prohibition of not to cause others to
cause to not means“ לפני עיור לא תתן מכשול“ sin

others to do what I’m not allowed to do, even
though their rabbis do permit eating it, thus, in
the example we brought before, if I don’t eat
non-Chalav Yisrael products, I wouldn’t be

permitted to serve it to those who do eat non-
Chalav Yisrael המלך שער .((Or conversely, some

poskim say otherwise, the above prohibition
only applies to that which would be a sin to
the other person, and therefore, since they are
permitted to eat those items, even though I’m
not, it’s not considered bringing them to sin.
כתב סופר יו״ד סי‘ עז. מבי״ט ח״א סי‘ כא
Lema’ase, Rabbi Aurbach ruled that there
is a difference between Torah prohibitions
and those of a Rabbinic origin; as normally
on a doubt of Biblical law we take the more
stringent approach, as by Rabbinical laws
we lean more towards the leniency. Thus,
when the food item raises a question of Torah
prohibition, one should be strict not to give
others what he wouldn’t eat himself (for
example non-Bet-Yosef meat according to
Sefaradim), but he can be lenient giving over
Rabbinically prohibited foods (for example
the non-Chalav Yisrael mentioned above).
מנחת שלמה ח״א סי‘ מד