Maris Ayin - Hospital Cafeteria

QUESTION: A hospital cafeteria sells many items, including a few that are certified kosher. Is there anything wrong with standing on line and buying something kosher? May I sit down at a table and eat my kosher lunch in the cafeteria?

ANSWER: Rav Schachter shlita ruled that one is permitted to buy food from the cafeteria and to eat at the tables, because it is well known that the cafeteria sells both kosher and non-kosher items and that people eat all types of food there. As we explained in a previous Halacha Yomis, if the action can be interpreted equally for good or ill, maris ayin does not apply.

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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.