Q&A: Since It Was Permitted for a Need, It Was Also Left Permitted for the Shank Bone
Originally published:
This is an English translation (via GPT-5.4). Read the original Hebrew version.
Since It Was Permitted for a Need, It Was Also Left Permitted for the Shank Bone
Question
A religious soldier arrived late to the Seder in his unit and had to start organizing everything for himself. He took the Seder plate and saw that the shank bones on the army plates were cooked rather than roasted. He came over to me, and I told him: here are some candles, roast it over them. He asked: but at night it is forbidden to eat it, so if so this is roasting not for a need. I answered him that since it was permitted for a need, it was also permitted even not for a need. He roasted it and conducted the Seder with songs, hymns, and praises. Was I right?
Answer
In my opinion, yes. It is for the sake of the commandment/custom.
The halakhic decisors did not write that way; rather, they wrote that if one roasts it on a Jewish holiday, one must eat the shank bone on the Jewish holiday. Similarly, regarding lighting a memorial candle on a Jewish holiday, it was not simple for the halakhic decisors to permit it.