Q&A: Giving Rabbinically Prohibited Food to a Minor
Giving Rabbinically Prohibited Food to a Minor
Question
Hello, Maimonides and the Rashba disagree about whether it is permitted to feed a minor foods prohibited by rabbinic law, even before the age of education. And the Rashba also agrees that there are cases where it is forbidden (when it is not for the minor’s benefit). It seems hard to me to say that there is some intrinsic problem with rabbinic prohibitions; if so, why is it forbidden to feed them to him? There is no issue here of habituation (that is, concern for the future), and also no present problem.
Thank you very much.
Answer
The age of education is not relevant to this issue. The law of education is itself rabbinic. Here we are dealing with the prohibition of directly causing a minor to consume something, which is a Torah prohibition (according to the overwhelming majority of opinions, and as the plain sense of the Talmud in Yevamot 113a indicates. I think the Terumat HaDeshen argues otherwise, and his words are puzzling).
Your reasoning is exactly the explanation for the Rashba’s view that with rabbinic prohibitions there is no prohibition of directly feeding them. Maimonides can say that this is a decree lest one come to directly feed something prohibited on a Torah level. In addition, the claim that rabbinic prohibitions have no intrinsic prohibition is by no means universally accepted. That is the view of Netivot HaMishpat, section 234, and some later authorities, but many disagreed with him.