14 Jul EATING FOOD WARMED IN AN OVEN ON SHABBOS

You shall not light a
fire in all of your
settlements on the
Shabbos day.
Shemos 35:3
Introduction
Occasionally, one may find himself as a
Shabbos guest in the home of someone who
is not particularly knowledgeable regarding
the proper manner in which to reheat food
on Shabbos. The guest might notice that the
host is removing heated food from the oven
on Shabbos, and it is clear that this food had
not been in the oven at the time that Shabbos
began.
The topic of ma’aseh Shabbos, benefiting
from a violation of Shabbos, is a major topic
that must be studied at length. In this
chapter, we will discuss specifically what
one should do with food that was heated in
an oven on Shabbos.
Benefiting From Food That Was Cooked
on Shabbos
The Shulchan Aruch (OC 318:1) rules that if
one purposely cooks food on Shabbos (or

does any other melachah), the food is assur
to him forever but permitted to others who
were not the intended beneficiaries
immediately after Shabbos. If the melachah
was done beshogeg – meaning that one did
not know that this melachah was forbidden
on Shabbos – it is assur to everyone until
after Shabbos, and it is then permitted to
everyone.
It is fair to assume that if someone is
otherwise fully shomer Shabbos but reheats
food in an oven on Shabbos, he must not
know that it is forbidden to do so; otherwise,
he would not have done it. The Shulchan
Aruch writes elsewhere (253:1) that the rule
that one cannot benefit from a ma’aseh
Shabbos is generally reserved for a case in
which one violates an issur d’oraysa. In the
case of reheating food, as long as the food
was sufficiently cooked before Shabbos,
reheating it is an issur derabbanan. However,
the Shulchan Aruch and the Rema rule, and
the Magen Avraham (11) clarifies, that one
who violates the issur derabbanan of
chazarah – putting food back on a fire (or
into an oven) on Shabbos – may not benefit
from the food.

Room for Leniency
One consideration is that, as noted above,
the Magen Avraham
(14) explains that the knas (penalty) that
prohibits the food applies only to the person
who reheated the food and whomever he
thought he was reheating the food for. In the
normal case of a Shabbos guest, this would
not prove helpful, but if one was invited
after the food had already been placed in the
oven, such that the host had no prior
knowledge that the guest would arrive, the
guest is permitted to eat the food based on
this.
The Beiur Halacha (253, s.v. v’im) cites the
opinion of the Kol Bo that if there is a
legitimate opinion among the poskim that
maintains that it is permitted to perform a
particular action with food on Shabbos, one
is permitted to eat the food, even if he would
have been told not to do that action had he
asked a halachic authority. Therefore, if one
finds himself in a situation in which his host
violates the accepted halacha, but there is an
opinion in the rishonim that permits such an
act, he is permitted to eat the food, even
though that shitah is not accepted
lehalacha.
Is There an Opinion that Permits
Reheating Food in an Oven?
It seems that the only option to permit
eating the food is thus to find a legitimate
opinion that permits reheating it in an
oven. Even though that opinion is not
accepted, and one may certainly not do
this lechatchilah, if the opinion exists, the
food can be eaten.
One possibility is that the Magen Avraham
writes (14) that if the food was sufficiently
cooked to the extent that it is mitztameik
vera lo – further heating causes it to shrink
and dry out – the knas does not apply to it.
The problem with relying on this is that a
guest has no idea as to what the state of the
food was when it was placed in the oven.
It is entirely possible that the quality of the
food was enhanced by staying in the oven
for a longer period of time.
Another possibility is to rely on a leniency
of Rav Aharon Kotler, who held that in
order to make an oven or stove considered
garuf vekatum (the fire is covered, such as
with a blech), it is sufficient to cover the
knobs or control panel. The main concern
for the issurim of shehiyah and chazarah,
leaving food on the fire from before
Shabbos or reheating food on a fire on
Shabbos, is that one might “stoke the
coals,” which nowadays means raising the

flame. Rav Kotler maintained that it is
therefore sufficient to cover the means of
raising the flame, which are the knobs of the
stove and oven.
Accordingly, if one finds himself in a
situation in which food was reheated in the
oven on Shabbos, and the knobs of the oven
are covered, one could rely on the opinion of
Rav Aharon Kotler to the extent that the
food is permitted to eat.
This solution is generally not viable either,
however, since most people who reheat food
in their ovens on Shabbos are unaware of
the halachos of how to reheat food and do
not cover the knobs.
A third possibility is to rely on the shitah of
the Ran. The Rema (253:2) cites the Ran’s
view that if the food was in the oven when
Shabbos began, it is permitted to return the
food to the oven on Shabbos. This is
impossible to rely on practically, however,
since one is generally unable to ascertain
whether the food that is currently in the
oven was in the oven at the onset of Shabbos.
Practical Advice
Although there does not seem to be any
viable solution that permits consuming the
food when it has been reheated, the guest is
not required to go completely hungry in this
case. Since the benefit he is receiving from
the food is the heat, he is permitted to eat it
once it has cooled down to room temperature.
Thus, the guests should engage their hosts in
conversation, sing zemiros, or share divrei
Torah until the food has cooled sufficiently,
and they are then permitted to eat the food,
as they are then not benefitting from the fact
that it was reheated on Shabbos.
The main concern that the guests have at
this point is whether to inform their hosts
that the food they have reheated is inedible,
and if they do inform them, what the best
method is to do so. It is generally best to
speak to the host’s rav for guidance.