Denatured Alcohol

Q. In a previous Halacha Yomis, it was mentioned that one may not benefit from non-kosher wine alcohol. If I know that the alcohol was denatured, such that it was made completely unfit for drinking, would that change the ruling?

A. Isurai achila (prohibitions of consumption) only apply to eating. Consuming a non-edible item is permissible (at least on a Biblical level) because such actions cannot be characterized as eating. In contrast, when dealing with an item that is assur bihan’ah (prohibited to derive benefit), it is irrelevant if the item is edible. As such, denaturing alcohol does not change its forbidden status with respect to deriving benefit. Even if wine was burned and reduced to ashes, those ashes would continue to be assur bihan’ah (see Shach YD 123:26). Similarly, Rav Ovadia Yosef zt”l writes in Yabia Omer (YD 7:11) that chemically changing non-kosher wine into a completely different substance, would not alter its status, and it would still be forbidden to benefit from it. However, if wine alcohol was mixed with other ingredients in a ratio of less than one to sixty, bitul bishishim (nullification in sixty parts) would apply. One may drink the mixture and derive benefit as well.

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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.