DailyHalacha.com for Mobile Devices Now Available

Halacha is For Refuah Shelemah for
 R. Yosef ben Neshla

Dedicated By
Simon Masri and Ezra Cattan

Click Here to Sponsor Daily Halacha
      
(File size: 892 KB)
Foods and Substances One Must Avoid Due to Potential Risks

The Ben Ish Chai (Rabbi Yosef Chayim of Baghdad, 1833-1909), in Parashat Pinchas, mentions a number of types of foods and other substances that one must not ingest, due to the potential risks posed by these items (listen to audio for precise citation):

1) One should not eat an onion or garlic if an entire night had passed since it was peeled. This applies only if it was entirely peeled; if a piece of the peel remained, then one need not be concerned. Furthermore, this danger does not arise if the onion or garlic was mixed with other foods, such as in a salad, or if had been cooked or pickled.

2) One should ensure that no human sweat ever enters his mouth, with the exception of the sweat on one's face. The Ben Ish Chai writes that ingested sweat is "poison" to the body.

3) A person should never place money in his mouth.

4) If a person salivates upon seeing food and experiences a craving to partake of it, he should ensure not to swallow that saliva; he should rather expel it from his mouth so as to avoid the harm it could cause.

5) The Talmud Yerushalmi mentions that partaking of hot bread can cause fever, Heaven forbid, and one must therefore avoid hot bread. The Ben Ish Chai records that the practice in Jerusalem was to avoid even mildly warm bread, but in his view this concern arises only with regard to bread that is exceedingly hot, as suggested by the Yerushalmi's formulation ("Chamimei De'chamimei").

 


Recent Daily Halachot...
Speaking Words of Torah and Other Matters During a Meal
Reciting "Le'Shem Yichud" Before Performing a Mitzva
Is It Permissible or Required To Donate A Kidney To Save A Life
Recommended Procedures After Experiencing a Dream
Cutting Down Fruit-Bearing Trees
May a Yeshiva Accept a Child Born to a Jewish Mother and Non-Jewish Father?
Teaching Complex Matters of Halacha to Students Who Might Misunderstand
Announcing the New Month on the Shabbat Preceding Rosh Chodesh
Reciting Birkat Ha'levana Before Seven Complete Days Have Passed Since the Molad; Reciting Birkat Ha'levana Indoors
Some Halachot Concerning Hallel
Avoiding Items That Causes One To Forget His Learning
From The Concept of Havilot Havilot- Is it Permissible To Have One Sedua for 2 Siyumim
Eating or Drinking in a Synagogue or Beit Midrash
The Requirement of Mechitza During Prayer and Other Events
Foods and Substances One Must Avoid Due to Potential Risks
Page of 239
3585 Halachot found