Cheres - Cold Food

QUESTION: I have a non-kosher ceramic bowl. I understand that it cannot be kashered. Must I throw it away, or may I continue to use it for cold food, such as to serve cold cereal?

ANSWER: The Rema (YD 121:5) writes that a utensil that was not kashered may be used for cold food, but only in an “occasional” manner. The Rema explains that “occasional” refers to someone who is temporarily staying at a non-Jew’s home and does not have access to kosher dishes, or other temporary difficult situations. Otherwise, one may not use the utensil even for cold food. This is because we are afraid that protracted use of this utensil will lead to forgetting its non-kosher status and eventually it will be used for hot food. Regarding ceramic utensils that cannot be kashered, there is a direct proof to this from the Gemara (Chullin 111b). The Gemara relates that Rebbi Ami smashed a ceramic plate that had been used to salt meat incorrectly. The Beis Yosef (YD 69) asks, why did Rebbi Ami smash the plate—couldn’t he have continued using it to serve cold food? He answers that if he would be allowed to use it for cold food, he would end up using it for hot food. To avoid this possibility, he broke the plate.

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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.