Tag: pas paltur - RabbiKaganoff.com

Question
#1: For a Crust of Bread

“How
far must I travel to get pas Yisroel?”

Question
#2: Camp Bread

“When
camping in the Shenandoah Mountains, we happened upon another group of campers
who clearly were not Jewish. They invited us to join them for their meal, which
we obviously could not. However, I saw that they made their bread on
site by mixing only flour, water, yeast and salt, and baking it on a grill. If
we had koshered the grill before they baked, could we have eaten their bread?”

Question
#3: A Caring Host

“I
usually purchase bread only from Jewish bakeries. We have an out-of-town guest
visiting who brought a kosher specialty bread as a gift, which I am sure is not
pas Yisroel. I don’t want to offend him, but may I eat it?”

Based
on a posuk in this week’s parsha, the Gemara suggests that
the prohibition against non-Jewish cooked food is min haTorah. Although
this is not the halachic conclusion, it is certainly an appropriate time
to discuss the laws of kosher bread.

Basic
background

In
other articles, I have discussed the laws of pas akum and pas Yisroel.
Bread baked with Jewish participation, as described in those articles,
is called pas Yisroel, and may be eaten without any reservation. Pas
akum means bread baked by a non-Jew, without Jewish participation. Pas
akum is subdivided into two categories, pas baalei batim, bread baked
by a gentile for personal use, which is usually prohibited, and pas paltur,
bread baked for sale. We should note that pas baalei batim is
prohibited, even when there are no other kashrus concerns either about
the ingredients or about the equipment used to prepare the bread (Avodah
Zarah 36a). Furthermore, one may not sell this bread to a non-Jew, out of
concern that he will in turn sell it to a Jew, who is forbidden to eat it (Toras
Chatas 75:4, quoting Shaarei Dura).

However,
there is an instance when one is permitted to consume pas baalei batim.
If one is in a place where there is no bakery, and the only bread available is
homemade bread, one may eat even pas baalei batim, provided one can
assume that all the ingredients are kosher (Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh Deah 112:8).
Thus, we can now answer one of our opening questions:

Since
this bread was baked by a gentile for personal use and not for sale, it has the
status of pas baalei batim, and would usually be prohibited, even if we
are absolutely certain that all the ingredients and the equipment are kosher.
However, if indeed no other bread is available, it is permitted to eat this
bread.

By
the way, if a Jew was there while they were baking the bread, he could easily
make this bread into pas Yisroel by adding a charcoal or a piece of wood
to the fire. In the case of a gas grill, a Jew could simply turn the gas flow
down and immediately up again to make it pas Yisroel.

Must
one use only pas Yisroel?

In
the previous articles on the topic of pas Yisroel, we learned that,
according to the Shulchan Aruch and the Shach, one may not use pas
paltur unless comparable pas Yisroel is not available. However, the Rema
ruled that standard Ashkenazic practice is to permit use of pas
paltur, except for Shabbos and during the aseres yemei teshuvah.
Both opinions agree that using pas Yisroel when pas paltur is
permitted qualifies as a hiddur, observing halachah in a more
exemplary fashion.

As
I noted, most supervised, kosher commercially baked bread is pas paltur
and not pas Yisroel, particularly those produced in factories. One of
those articles also noted that it is very easy to make bread and rolls produced
in factories into pas Yisroel, and that the hechsherim would make
the appropriate arrangements if consumers would demand it.

How
available?

As
we just learned, all opinions agree that one may use pas paltur when pas
Yisroel is not available. At this point, we need to define: What do we mean
when we say that pas Yisroel bread is “not available”? If there is no
Jewish bakery in my neighborhood, but there is one relatively nearby, is this
called that pas Yisroel is “not available”? What if the nearest pas
Yisroel is a twenty-minute walk, and the nearest pas paltur can be
purchased at the supermarket next door; does the Shulchan Aruch require
me to walk twenty minutes to acquire pas Yisroel, or may I use the more
accessible pas paltur? Is the halachah affected by whether I have
access to an automobile, and now a bakery that is a forty-five-minute walk can
be reached in ten minutes by car?

How
far?

Neither
the Gemara nor the early rishonim discuss the question: What do we
mean when we say that pas Yisroel bread is “not available”? However, the
Gemara (Pesachim 46a) discusses a related issue. This passage
examines three situations in which one is usually obligated to observe a halachah,
but, under extenuating circumstances, Chazal relaxed the requirement. In
the first case, a baker, who at the time of the Gemara was required to
produce bread that is tahor, ritually pure, has only tamei equipment
available. Using this equipment to produce his bread will render it tamei,
which is not ideal in a situation when people are trying to be always tahor.

The
baker knows that, in the direction in which he is traveling, a mikveh is
available for him to purify his equipment, but it is four millin away
(roughly between two and three miles, see below). Is he permitted to produce
bread in the interim, knowing that what he produces will be tamei?

The
halachah requires him to travel ahead to the mikveh and immerse
his equipment, rather than manufacture tamei bread. If, however, the
nearest mikveh is more than four millin down the road, he may
stop now and prepare his bread.

A
second case of the Gemara: Someone is traveling and would like to stop
for the night. He knows that four millin ahead of him on the road there
is a minyan. Is he required to push onward the four millin, so
that he will be able to daven with a minyan, or may he stop,
knowing that he will be forced to daven without a minyan? The Gemara
concludes that he is required to travel up to four millin in order to daven
with a minyan. If, however, the nearest minyan is more than four millin
down the road, he may stop for the night where he is, even though that means
that he will be davening without a minyan.

A
third case: Someone is traveling and has no water with which to wash netilas
yadayim for eating bread. He knows that he will find water within four millin
of his travels. May he eat now, without washing, by wrapping his hands in cloth
or by wearing gloves, or is he required to wait until he reaches the water so
that he can wash netilas yadayim before he eats his bread (see Shulchan
Aruch, Orach Chayim 163:1)? The Gemara concludes that he is required
to travel ahead up to four millin in order to wash before eating.
However, if the nearest appropriate and available water is more than four millin
down the road, he may wrap his hands in cloth and eat his bread without first
washing netilas yadayim.

How
far is four millin?

A mil
is 2000 amos, or cubits, which means that four millin is more than
two miles, and probably less than three. This range of distance is because
there are different opinions as to the length of an amoh.

How
long does it take to walk a mil?

There
is a dispute among halachic authorities how long it takes for an
“average” individual to walk a mil. Some contend that walking a mil
takes the average person about 18 minutes, which means that it takes 72 minutes
to walk four millin. A second opinion contends that it takes 22.5
minutes to walk a mil and 90 minutes to walk four. A third opinion
maintains that it takes 24 minutes to walk a mil and 96 minutes to walk
four. The different opinions in this dispute represent three differing
approaches to explain a complicated passage of Gemara (Pesachim
95).

Many
halachos are dependent on this dispute, including such questions as:

When
does a fast begin?

How
long must meat be salted to kosher it?

When
does Shabbos end?

In
how much time does dough become chometz?

Most,
but by no means all, later authorities, conclude that the average person can
walk one mil in 18 minutes and four millin in 72 (Shulchan
Aruch, Orach Chayim 459:2 and Yoreh Deah 69:6).

Today

Of
the three cases mentioned in the Gemara Pesachim, two are still
relevant in our generation. Unfortunately, until we again have a parah
adumah, we are all tamei, and therefore, the first of the three
cases, the baker whose equipment is tamei, is not germane to us at the
moment. But the questions about someone traveling and seeking a minyan,
or water to wash for bread, are both very relevant and, indeed, are discussed
by the Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chayim 90:16 and163:1).

Out
of my way

Thus
far, we have quoted the part of the Gemara that discusses someone who
knows that there is a mikveh, minyan or water ahead of him
in the same direction in which he is traveling. What is the law when the
nearest mikveh, minyan or water is not located in the direction
in which I am traveling? Am I required to travel out of my way to
fulfill these mitzvos, and, if I am, how far out of my way must I go?

The
Gemara’s conclusion is that he is required to travel up to one mil
out of his way to reach a mikveh, minyan, or washing water,
whichever is relevant to the question. Thus, someone who would like to eat
bread, and who is in a place where he has no water with which to wash, is
required to travel up to one mil out of his direction to wash his hands.
However, if the nearest water is a mil or more distant and in a
direction that is out of his way, he is permitted to wrap his hands and eat
bread without washing netilas yadayim (Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim 163:1).
The same rules apply to someone needing a minyan with which to daven.

At
home

What
is the law if someone is at home, must he go to daven with a minyan.
The Pri Chodosh (Orach Chayim 163:28) concludes that he has the
same law as someone who would have to travel out of his way to find a mikveh,
minyan or water. In other words, he is required to leave his house, if
the minyan is located within a mil of where he is.

Pas
Yisroel at a distance

The
same question can be asked by someone at home wanting to know how far he is
required to travel to obtain pas Yisroel?

Although
the Gemara does not discuss how far one must travel to obtain pas
Yisroel, there are rishonim who compare the halachah regarding
pas Yisroel to the other three situations mentioned in the Gemara.
They reason that this Gemara provides a framework for understanding what
is considered a distance at which one is required to inconvenience oneself to
fulfill similar mitzvos. The Shulchan Aruch (Yoreh Deah 112:16)follows this interpretation, ruling that if someone is traveling and
there is pas Yisroel available further down the road, he is required to
travel for as long as four millin in order to eat pas Yisroel,
rather than pas paltur. If he would need to travel out of his way, he is
required to travel up to a distance of one mil to obtain pas Yisroel,
but no farther.

As
we noted before, the Shulchan Aruch rules that it is permitted to eat pas
paltur only when pas Yisroel is not available. The Rema is
more lenient, concluding that it is permitted to eat pas paltur even
when pas Yisroel is readily available. Thus, according to common Ashkenazic
practice, there is no requirement to travel at all to obtain pas Yisroel.
However, during the aseres yemei teshuvah and for Shabbos, when
most authorities require that we eat only pas Yisroel, the rules above
are appropriate. If pas Yisroel is available only by traveling a mil
out of one’s way, one is not required to get it.

How
far or how long?

At
this point, we need to discuss a very practical issue. When Chazal
required that I go one mil out of my way to get pas Yisroel, was
this requirement based on time or distance? What if someone is traveling in a way
swifter than by foot, be it horse, automobile, or camel? Is his requirement for
these mitzvos determined by the distance he must travel to fulfill the
mitzvah in its optimal way, or is it determined by the time it will take him to
get there? In other words, did they establish that within a one mil
radius of a Jewish bakery one may not use pas paltur, or did they rule
that one is required to travel eighteen minutes to obtain pas Yisroel?
The difference in practical halachah is major.

This
question is disputed by later authorities. Some contend that if pas Yisroel
is more than one mil distant from where I am, I may use pas paltur,
even though I could get there faster by riding a horse (Pischei Teshuvah,
Yoreh Deah 112:6, quoting the Beis Yaakov). Since, in my entire
life, I have never traveled on horseback to acquire bread, this opinion would
impact on me, regarding if I am required to drive an automobile this far when pas
paltur is more readily available.

On
the other hand, the Mishnah Berurah (Chapter 163, Biur Halachah s.v.
berichuk), writing germane to netilas yadayim, comments that it
is more likely that the concern is the amount of time the travel would take and
the physical distance should not make a difference.

Being
a good host

At
this point, let us discuss a different one of our opening questions:

“I
usually purchase bread only from Jewish bakeries. We have an out-of-town guest
visiting who brought us a gift of a kosher specialty bread, which I am sure is
not pas Yisroel. I don’t want to offend him, but may I eat it?”

This
question has an early source. Several early authorities discuss the following
case: Someone who is careful to use only pas Yisroel invited a guest who
brought with him quality pas paltur that he would like to share with his
host. The question here is that the guest would prefer to eat the bread that he
brought, yet the host would not usually eat this bread, because it is not pas
Yisroel. The halachic etiquette is for the host to be the one who
recites the brocha of hamotzi for everyone at the beginning of
the meal, and then he slices and serves the bread that will accompany the meal.
This accomplishes that, when the host distributes an ample amount of bread, the
guests feel comfortable eating their fill. Thus, to be a proper host, the host
should recite hamotzi and serve the guest the pas paltur bread
that he brought.

Now,
we add another halachah to the question: When one intends to serve two
types of bread at a meal, one should recite the hamotzi blessing over the
better quality bread and eat from it immediately after reciting hamotzi.

The
combination of all these halachos creates a conundrum for the host. If
he follows his own usual practice, he would make hamotzi on the pas
Yisroel, which is of lesser quality than the pas paltur that his
guest provided. On the other hand, his guest is under no requirement to refrain
from eating the better-quality pas paltur. Thus, the etiquette of being
a good host should have the host reciting hamotzi over the pas paltur,
something he would not usually eat.

The
halachah is that, indeed, the host should recite the hamotzi over
the guest’s pas paltur, and he is permitted to eat the pas paltur
for that entire meal in order to properly accommodate his guest (Mordechai,
Avodah Zarah #830; Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh Deah 112:13). This is
notwithstanding his usual practice not to eat pas paltur. Since the halachah
rules this way, in this situation, the host does not need to perform hataras
nedarim before he partakes of the pas paltur.

Conclusion

The
Gemara teaches that rabbinic laws are dearer to Hashem than the
Torah laws. We see that there is a vast halachic literature devoted to
the laws of pas akum, which was created by Chazal to protect the
Jewish people.

How Far for Bread?