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    10 Jun KASHRUS QUESTIONS OF THE WEEK WITH RABBI MOSHE ELEFANT

    Posted at 17:18h in by
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    What is Pas Yisrael and why do people
    specifically observe it during Aseres Yemei
    Teshuva? What is and what isn’t included in Pas
    Yisrael?

    During Aseres Yemei Teshuva,
    where all of us are trying to do
    better and be better and be more
    careful, we are careful about Pas
    Yisrael. Pas Yisrael means bread,
    bread that was baked by a Jew.
    So if you have an oven that was
    turned on by a Jew, even though
    the Jew is not the baker, the Jew
    wasn’t even there when the bread was baked, the Jew doesn’t own the
    bread, that’s enough for it to be Pas Yisrael.
    Furthermore, Pas Yisrael is not limited to bread. Pas Yisrael includes cookies,
    cakes, pretzels, all of the foods that need to be baked. That’s where you
    will have an issue of Pas Yisrael, and that’s where during the Aseres Yemei
    Teshuva you should try to be careful to only eat foods that are Pas Yisrael.
    The OU on its website has an extensive list of all the products that we certify
    as Pas Yisrael.

    Minhagim like waiting
    6 hours between eating
    meat & milk. Can they be
    changed?
    Minhagim should not be changed.
    Once you start changing family
    customs, you are on a slippery
    slope. What really protects klal
    Yisroel and is the beauty of our
    people is Mesoros Avoseinu. We
    keep the customs of our forefathers under all circumstances. Keeping our customs
    is critical to our destiny. Of course, regarding a woman who marries a man, the
    halacha is very clear, she should accept her husband’s minhagim.
    If you come from a family that did not wait six hours between meat and dairy and
    your husband’s family does wait, you should wait.
    If there is a pressing need why you feel that you cannot follow the established
    custom, you need to go to a rav to be matir neder. This is the only way to do it. All
    minhagim have the halachic status of a neder (a vow) and must be brought to a Rav
    with a good reason to be matir the neder. Just to decide that my family until now
    always waited 6 hours between meat and dairy and now I am changing that minhag
    is not permissible. You can go to the opposite side and be machmir, but you cannot
    be meikil (lenient) without consulting a Rav.