DailyHalacha.com for Mobile Devices Now Available

Click Here to Sponsor Daily Halacha
"Delivered to Over 6000 Registered Recipients Each Day"

      
(File size: 602 KB)
Borer: Selecting from a Mixture of Two Foods

The Halacha establishes that the prohibition of Borer applies also to mixtures in which both components are edible, but one is not desired. The undesired component becomes "relative P’solet." This Halacha is brought by Tosafot (Shabbat 74), Rambam (Shabbat 8:13) and Maran (319:4).

The conventional understanding would be that such a mixture has the same Halacha as a mixture containing inedible P’solet (waste). That is, one must select and remove the food that he desires and leave the relative P’solet. However, careful analysis of the Rambam’s language reveals a big Chidush and leniency. He says "Borer Ha’ehad Min Ha’ehad," implying that it doesn’t matter which element is selected. This is how Rabbi David Aramah and the Meirat Sefer () understands the Rambam.

The Shulhan Aruch quotes the Rambam verbatim, but the Rema adds a gloss (listen to audio for exact citation), specifying that the undesired food must remain. The Mishna Berura (Rav Yisrael Meir Kagan of Radin, 1839-1933) explains that the Rema is teaching that one must always select the desired food. Thus there is a Machloket how to understand the Rambam. The Be’ur Halacha (Rav Yisrael Meir Kagan of Radin, 1839-1933) writes that because this Machloket touches on an Isur D’oraita (Torah prohibition), one must be stringent.

SUMMARY

Even when a mixture contains two foods, one must always select and remove the food which he desires.


 


Recent Daily Halachot...
Passover- Searching for Hametz in the Synagogue
Passover- Do Not Regard Meat As 'This Is For Pesach'
Passover- If A Hametz Pot Was Mistakenly Used For Pesach Cooking
Passover- The Laws regarding Glass Dishes On Passover and Throughout The Year
Passover- The Time To Start the Seder and Saying HALLEL At The End of The Seder
Passover- The Importance of MAGID In The Seder , and Leaning on the Night of Pesach
Passover- Is It Permissible To Drink Milk from A Non-Jew Owned Farm Cow Which Itself Consumed Chametz
Passover- Kashrut Questions and Answers Regarding Baby Formula, Sugar, Rice, and Food for Live Fish
Passover- Is It Permissable To Eat ROASTED Foods On Seder Nights
Passover- If A Tiny Amount of Hametz Falls Into A Pot & Cooking in Hametz Pots
May Two People Eat Meat and Milk at the Same Table?
Smelling Forbidden Foods; Heating Meat and Dairy Foods in a Microwave Oven
Drinking Non-Dairy Milk While or After Eating Meat
Serving at a Meat Meal Parve Foods That Were Served at a Dairy Meal
Is It Permissible to Use A Meat Pot To Cook A Parve Item That Will Be Mixed With A Dairy Item
Page of 239
3585 Halachot found