Duchka D'Sakina, Status Transfer (Cont'd)

QUESTION: I cut an onion with a fleishig knife. Then I cut it again with a milchig knife, what is the status of the onion?

ANSWER: The onion is non-kosher and should not be eaten. This is because the onion absorbed the taste of dairy from the milchig knife and the taste of meat from the fleishig knife. Although the milk and meat were not cooked together, it is still Rabbinically forbidden to eat the onion, since this would be like eating milk and meat together. One may not cook the onion even to feed it to an animal. This is because if one cooks the onion, the taste of milk and meat that was absorbed in the onion would then be cooked together. It is a Torah prohibition to cook meat and milk together even if they are only absorbed tastes in an onion. According to most opinions, the milchig knife would need to be kashered as well. However, Sefer Davar Charif (p. 57) writes that in cases of significant loss, there is room to be more lenient regarding the knife. This is because there are poskim who maintain that duchka d’sakina (the pressure of the knife) will not extract any absorbed tastes out of a food. A rabbi should be consulted.

___________________________________________________

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.