Maris Ayin - Red Wine

QUESTION: I have red wine that looks just like blood. Is drinking this wine a problem of maris ayin?

ANSWER: Rav Yonasan Eybeschutz (1690-1764) notes in Kreisi U’Pleisi (YD 87:7) that Chazal did not forbid drinking red liquids that resemble blood. The only prohibition of maris ayin for blood recorded in the Talmud is that fish blood and human blood should not be consumed because they resemble animal blood. He explains that there is a distinction between fish and human blood, which are actual forms of blood, and other liquids which resemble blood. Chazal enacted maris ayin restrictions only in the cases of actual blood and not for liquids that resemble blood. Based on this analysis, Rav Yonasan expresses surprise that the Rema (Shulchan Aruch, YD 87:3) forbids cooking meat in almond milk because of maris ayin. This would indicate that maris ayin applies even to substances that merely resemble the actual forbidden substance. Why should red liquids be different than almond milk? Rav Yonasan does not resolve this question. Nonetheless, he indicates that since the Rema prohibits cooking almond milk with meat, we are bound by his ruling. However, we need not create our own stringencies in regard to other foods.  

____________________________________________________

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.