Summary of Laws Governing Shi’ah & Hatmanah According to Accepted Practices in These Countries

A Summary of the Laws Governing Shi’ah [Leaving Food on a Cooking Surface] and Hatmanah [Insulating It] According to the Accepted Practices in These Countries

The general practice1 at present is that we leave pots uncovered in the oven and we do not place any insulation around their walls or over their openings. As such, only the laws of shi’ah – and not those of hatmanah – apply.2 Accordingly, if food is cooked to the stage of maachal ben Derusai’i while it is still day [on Friday], it is permitted to leave it in the oven, even though its coals were neither removed nor covered.3

[There is a further leniency:] It is permitted to place raw meat in a pot directly before nightfall [and allow it to cook so that it will be ready for the next day].4

Nevertheless, the fact that dough products – whether baked5 or cooked,6 [all] types of kitniyos,7water,8 and [meat] to be roasted on a spit9 are totally uncooked is of no consequence. [For permission to be granted for them to be left in or on a range or an oven,] they must have reached the stage of maachal ben Derusai’i before [the onset of] Shabbos.

When the oven is sealed closed with mud, it is permitted [to leave food in it to stay warm] in all instances.10 If there are burning coals in the oven, it should be opened only by a non-Jew.11

If coals surround a pot, a Jew should not remove the pot from [the oven], only a non-Jew.12 If, however, the pot is [merely] resting on the coals,13 it is permitted [for a Jew to remove it]14 if it is impossible to have a non-Jew do so. (This law also applies to pots [left to keep warm] for the night [meal]. If they were placed on the coals, [it is permitted for] one to remove them from the coals during Shabbos. One must, however, be careful not to cover them with clothes from above when they are placed on coals, even if the coals have already burned out.)15

It is permitted to place a warm, fully cooked food next to an oven that has already been kindled and fire is burning inside of it.16 [One may] even [place it] on the border surrounding the oven. If, however, [one desires to place a pot] on top of an oven that has already been kindled and fire is burning within it, one must place a brick or another entity under the pot,17 even when [the place on which the pot is set down] is not hot enough to cause a hand to recoil. If, however, the oven has not yet been kindled, it is customary to rule leniently [and allow a pot to be placed on it], even though one desires that it be kindled immediately afterwards.

If, by contrast, the food is cold, it is forbidden [to place it on] or even close [to an oven], even before it was kindled,18 unless it was done so by a non-Jew.19 In that instance, it is permitted even [for the non-Jew] to place it on top of [the oven if the oven] has not yet been kindled.20 After [the oven] has been kindled, by contrast, it is forbidden even for a non-Jew to place [cold food] on it,21 except for the sake of a sick person or a child who has nothing else to eat.22

When cooked food does not contain liquid, even if it is entirely cold, it is considered as if it was hot.23 If [the food] has not cooled entirely, even if it contains liquid, it is customary to rule leniently and [consider it] as if it was totally warm.24

It is permitted to place [food], even if it has cooled entirely, next to an oven in a place where it would not become so hot that a hand would recoil from it.25 Nevertheless, [if one places it] on [top of] the oven, even if a hand would not recoil from that place, there must be an intervening substance between it and the oven. [This measure must be taken] even if the food is entirely warm. Similarly, [if one placed food] in kochlin,26 an intervening substance is required.

Uncooked fruit27 [or vegetables] and beverages are governed by the same laws – with regard to both prohibitions and leniencies – as cooked food that contains liquid that has cooled entirely.28

The laws governing placing food on top of a pot that is permanently fixed in an oven are the same as those applying to [placing food] next to an oven.29 It is, however, forbidden to place a container with beverages into the water of that pot. [Moreover,] it is forbidden to place water in that pot even before the oven was kindled, unless it was placed there by a non-Jew.30 If the non-Jew placed the water there before the oven was kindled, it is permitted to benefit from it on Shabbos. If it was placed there by a Jew, it is forbidden to benefit from it until Saturday night after waiting the time it would take for it to warm.31 Even if one places it there after the oven was kindled Friday directly before nightfall, it is forbidden to benefit from it until Saturday night after waiting the time it would take for it to warm.

On Shabbos, it is forbidden to cover a pot of (hot) food with pillows, blankets, or other clothes32 if it is insulated in them entirely. If one transferred the food to another pot, it is permitted to cover it there.33

This concludes the summary of the laws governing shi’ah and hatmanah.