Meat & Milk - Status Reminder

Q. I know I may not eat dairy at the same table as someone who is eating meat, unless there is a heker (reminder) at the table. If I just finished a fleishig lunch and would like to sit next to my friend who is eating pizza. do I also need to place an object in between the two of us as a heker so that I don’t absentmindedly eat some of his food?

A. Teshuvas Beis Yaakov (siman 12) writes that in this situation a heker is also required. However, the Pri Megadim (Mishbetzos Zahav 88:2) writes that the custom is to be lenient. Since the person did not sit down with the intention of eating, but rather just to speak to his friend, we are not concerned that he might forget himself and partake of the dairy food. Furthermore, Chazal prohibited eating dairy after meat because it might lead to eating them together. In this situation, the concern is simply that he will eat dairy after meat. The possibility of eating from the other person’s pizza and eating it together with meat (which is not on the table) is farfetched and is not included in the original Rabbinic decree.

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The Gerald & Karin Feldhamer OU Kosher Halacha Yomis is dedicated to the memory of Rav Yisroel Belsky, zt"l, who served as halachic consultant for OU Kosher for more than 28 years; many of the responses in Halacha Yomis are based on the rulings of Rabbi Belsky. Subscribe to the Halacha Yomis daily email here.