Q&A: Eating Shawarma at a Place Without a Kosher Certificate
Eating Shawarma at a Place Without a Kosher Certificate
Question
Hello Honorable Rabbi,
Is there a problem with eating at a place that claims to have “kosher by choice” (there is a certificate for the meat), but the place itself does not have a kosher certificate because of gentile cooking?
I did a little digging and saw that one of the main qualifications for this law is the issue of “food that is not served on a king’s table.” In your opinion, is shawarma included in that definition?
On the one hand, I don’t eat shawarma every day, so for me it is a “special” food; on the other hand, it is hard to argue that shawarma (which is street food) is something served on “a king’s table.”
Thank you very much!
P.S. Needless to say, the place does not sell dairy items (that is, the menu does not contain non-kosher dishes, and there is also no mixing of meat and milk at the level of the utensils).
Answer
I didn’t understand the need for all the introduction. What you’re asking is whether shawarma is subject to the prohibition of gentile cooking.
In my opinion, this is not food that is served on a king’s table.
But even if it were served on a king’s table and there were a prohibition involved, there would still be room to be lenient in a restaurant setting (when it is not a private gentile cooking for you), for three reasons:
- Among the medieval authorities (Rishonim), there are views that if a gentile cooks in a Jew’s home, there is no prohibition.
- And some of the medieval authorities wrote that when it is a servant in a Jew’s home, there is no prohibition (because there is no concern of intermarriage).
- And Maharitatz wrote that when the cooking is for the public at large (not for a particular person), there is no prohibition. Bottom line: since this is a rabbinic prohibition, there is certainly room to be lenient.
Discussion on Answer
1. Tosafot, s.v. “Ela,” Avodah Zarah 38a. And in the Shulchan Arukh, Yoreh De’ah sec. 113, para. 1.
2. The responsa attributed to Nachmanides, sec. 284. And opposing him: Ra’avan sec. 303 and other medieval authorities.
3. Maharitatz sec. 161, and opposing him in Shiurei Berakhah (on Birkei Yosef), Yoreh De’ah sec. 112, se’if katan 9.
See Wikipedia: Gentile Cooking
There could be many other problems in a place like that beyond gentile cooking. And in general, how do you know that the meat itself is actually kosher? Are you relying on the seller’s word?
Rabbi, the subject of the question is general. True, A spelled out the issue of gentile cooking in the question, but it would be appropriate to draw his attention to other problems as well (including more serious ones) that can arise in a place like that.
Well, there you go, you drew his attention to them.
In this case I indeed did. I very much hope that in future cases the Rabbi will 🙂
A, how do you know that the place is careful about kashrut (beyond gentile cooking)? Not long ago there was a case in a meat restaurant where they mistakenly served a dessert with dairy whipped cream (in which a young woman with a milk allergy died), and that was in a place with a regular kosher certificate. There is so much room for problems and mishaps that I’m puzzled why only gentile cooking bothers you. I’d genuinely be happy to get an answer.
Hi Meir,
I saw with my own eyes the kosher certificate of the restaurant’s meat supplier. As for the additional issues—is there anything else that needs to be checked besides tithes separated from the vegetables?
In any case, we were wondering about gentile cooking because that was the initial thought: that even if the meat itself is kosher, it might still be forbidden to eat, and for that I got sources from the Rabbi that I’ll go check myself.
Thank you very much
Thank you very much,
Does the Rabbi have references for the views you mentioned in 1 and 2?