02 Apr PESACH QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS: WITH RABBI MOSHE ELEFANT FROM THE OU

GROUND COFFEE

What could be the issues with unflavored ground
coffee – regular or decaf – for Pesach?
Regular caffeinated and
unflavored coffee is kosher
for Pesach even without
special supervision. Decaffeinated coffee needs a Pesach supervision
because alcohol can be used in the decaffeination process which could be a question.
Flavored coffee, all year round and especially
Pesach, needs to have supervision.

ERUV TAVSHLIN
Eruv Tavshilin isn’t relevant to the first days; it’s relevant to the second days of
Yom Tov. To give a basic overview, you can never cook on Yom Tov for after
Yom Tov, nor can you cook on Yom Tov for the next day of Yom Tov. So you
can’t cook on the first day for the second day. The issue here is, when you have
yom tov on Friday/Shabbos and you have to put up food on Friday because
you can’t cook on Shabbos. The way that becomes permissible is by putting
an eruv tavshilin on erev yom tov, Thursday. The eruv should consist of one
baked food and one cooked food with a bracha to be said when you set it up.
You should have in mind that based on the eruv tavshilin you should be able
to cook and bake on Friday afternoon for Shabbos, and you should be able to
light candles on Friday afternoon for Friday evening. If you don’t put down an
eruv tavshilin, if you’ve only made that mistake once, you can rely on the fact
that the rabbonim, when they make their eruv tavshilin, have in mind that
people may have forgotten to make it. But that’s not something you can rely on
on a regular basis. You can’t say, I’m not going to pay attention. What you can
do is ask someone else to do it for you, but the best thing is to put down your
own eruv tavshilin and to have in mind that it’s for everyone in your family.
Particularly if you’re having guests that are coming to you on Yom Tov, they’re
not home so they’re not making their own eruv tavshilin.
You should have in mind that they can rely on your eruv tavshilin.
The mechanics of the Eruv Tavshilin are as follows. If you’re not allowed to
cook for after Yom Tov on Yom Tov, how does the eruv tavshilin work? The
way it works is, you’re not allowed to cook on Friday for Shabbos but you’re
allowed to cook on Friday for Friday.
Since guests may show up from Friday afternoon and of course you would
serve them food, it’s less serious and you can
rely on the eruv tavshilin.
One may not start preparing or cooking for
the seder already on the first day, which this
year would be on Shabbos for after Shabbos.
One shouldn’t even set the table Shabbos afternoon even though it doesn’t involve any
chilul Shabbos. You can’t do anything until
the time Shabbos is over; the same thing goes
on Yom Tov. You can only cook food on Yom
Tov that you’re going to eat on Yom Tov itself.

SUGAR
It would be best to buy sugar for Pesach
with a special Pesach supervision. In general, I strongly recommend buying all
foods with Pesach supervision. If you have
sugar without Pesach supervision, you can
use it, but it’s preferable to use sugar with
Pesach supervision because there is an enzyme that is used in sugar that could be a
problem. Even if it is used, there is such a
minuscule amount that would not make the product not kosher for
Pesach. But for us to label a product Kosher for Pesach, it has to be
100% without a question and that’s why we’re not labeling sugar as
kosher for Pesach if it doesn’t have all the “i’s dotted and “t’s crossed.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t use it, and it certainly doesn’t mean
that if you use sugar without a kosher supervision, you should discard the food.

COSMETICS ON PESACH
When we think about cosmetics, it’s not something edible, not even by a dog, and should not
be seen as a problem. Even if there’s something
with chametz in the product, as long as it’s not
edible it shouldn’t be a problem. Whenever we
speak about Pesach it’s good to be machmir, be
careful, and there are those that rely on different lists which list cosmetics that are chametz
free. If you can get such a cosmetic, it’s even
better! But a cosmetic that is totally inedible is not an issue. This is
aside from lipstick; lipstick is something you ingest so you should
be more careful.

What are the potential issues for Pesach regarding raw meat
or raw fish that has a regular hashgacha but is not specifically
certified for Pesach? This would be both for large pieces/filets,
as well as ground.
We tell people that raw meat and fish, even if
they don’t carry a special Pesach supervision,
is acceptable. But if you bought raw meat or
fish that isn’t certified for Pesach, you should
wash it. Any meat that’s processed, meaning
chopped meat or cold cuts or anything that
has spices added to it like pickled meat, needs
special hashgacha for Pesach.