Adding Bread to Hot Soup on Shabbos

Q. May one add matzah meal or pieces of bread to a bowl of hot soup on Shabbos?

A. A general principal in halacha is “ain bishul achar bishul” (a cooked food cannot be recooked) and it is permissible to reheat cooked food on Shabbos. Nonetheless, there are situations where this does not apply:

• Food may not be put on a stove top or in an oven on Shabbos, even if fully cooked, either because it has the appearance of cooking or because one might adjust the flame. This is known as chazara (returning).
• According to most opinions, ain bishul achar bishul applies only to solid food and not to liquids.
• To qualify for ain bishul achar bishul, the food must be fully cooked.
• According to some (Shulchan Aruch OC 318:5), ain bishul achar bishul does not apply to cooking (with liquid) a food that was previously baked or roasted (without liquid) or vice versa. This is because baking and cooking are different modes and doing one after the other may constitute bishul.

As such, matzah meal or bread should not be placed in a bowl of hot soup that is yad soldes. Yad soledes is a halachic term which refers to the temperature at which cooking occurs. The exact temperature of yad soledes is open to debate, but it is generally assumed to be higher than 113 F.

The Rema rules that one may not even put bread into a kli sheini, a second vessel. (Liquid that was heated on a fire is known as a kli rishon. If that liquid was transferred to another vessel it is referred to as a kli sheini- a second vessel.) However, the Mishnah Berurah (318:47) writes that one may add bread to a kli shelishi (liquid transferred to a third vessel) because the temperature is diminished. Moreover, the Mishnah Berurah (318:45) writes that if a ladle was used, the ladle may be viewed as the kli sheini, and the bowl is treated as a kli shelishi. As such, bread or matzah meal may be added to soup that was placed in a bowl with a ladle.

It should be noted that in general it is questionable if raw food may be added to a kli shelishi on Shabbos. Nonetheless, bread may be placed in a kli shelishi because there is a confluence of two uncertainties: a) does cooking occur in a kli shelishi and b) does ain bishul achar bishul apply to a baked food added to a kli rishon?

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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.