Dairy Bread Exceptions

Q. Chazal forbade baking Milchig or Fleishig bread. Are there any circumstances under which this is permissible?

A. The Gemara (Pesachim 36a) relates that Rebbi Yehoshua asked his son to bake dairy bread for him. The Gemara asks, how can this be? Isn’t dairy bread forbidden? The Gemara responds that it was baked “k’ein tura”, which is permissible. There is a disagreement among Rishonim what is the definition of the words “k’ein tura”. Rashi translates “k’ein tura” as the eye of an ox. This means that one may bake a small amount of dairy bread, the size of the eye of an ox, since it will be eaten immediately, and one will not forget that it is dairy. The Rif writes that “k’ein tura” means like the shape of an ox. You may bake dairy bread, so long as it is baked in an unusual shape, that will remind you that it is dairy. Shulchan Aruch (YD 97:1) rules that both explanations are correct. One may bake either a very small quantity of dairy bread or bake it in an unusual shape. The Rema writes it was customary to bake dairy bread in honor of (the first day of) Shavuos. He writes that this is permitted, since only a small amount of bread was baked, and it was baked in a special shape. From the wording of Rema, it seems that if one can accommodate both explanations of “ke’ein tura” then it is proper to do so.

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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.