לעילוי נשמת

יואל אפרים בן אברהם עוזיאל זלצמן ז”ל

Question: For Shabbat dessert, my hosts served a very hot cake on a plate next to a scoop of pareve ice cream. Was it permitted for me to put the ice cream on top of the cake or is that bishul (cooking)?

Answer: We will start by analyzing the issue you raise—bishul. One is forbidden to put even already edible food near enough to a fire that it would cook if left there, despite his intention to remove it before that point (Shulchan Aruch and Rama, Orach Chayim 318:14). It is difficult to confidently assume that a given pareve ice cream is halachically already cooked.

Is the cake (if it is “yad soledet bo,” meaning around 45 degrees Celcius) a problematic heat source? Usually, the cake is removed from its heat source and put onto a plate, which makes it a kli sheni, where the rule is that bishul does not occur (Shabbat 40b). However, the cake is a solid food (davar gush), which might “cook” other foods even in a kli sheni (Mishna Berura 318:65) and it is also hard to know which foods are exceptional foods that can be cooked in a kli sheni (see ibid. 39). Therefore, we must find other grounds for leniency.

Bishul for solid foods is contingent on significant change (maachal ben drusai), which is unfathomable in this case. For liquids, it is forbidden to bring them to “yad soledet bo” (Shulchan Aruch ibid.). Is ice cream that will melt solid or liquid? The Magen Avraham (318:40) and Taz (318:20) debate the status of congealed food which the heat will melt regarding reheating cooked food, which is forbidden for liquids, and the simple ruling is lenient (Mishna Berura 318:100). Besides the fact that some are machmir (strict) (see sources in Piskei Teshuvot 318:32), it is not obvious that it is correct to follow only the starting state regarding uncooked foods (beyond our scope; see Mishna Acharona 318:149.) In any case, the cake is probably not hot enough to get significant amounts of ice cream to yad soledet bo.

There is an issue you did not raise, known as nolad, i.e., causing the change from solid to liquid. It is forbidden to smash ice to turn it into water (Shabbat 51b). While many understand that it is a problem only when it is accomplished by a direct action (see variations in Rashi ad loc. and Rambam, Shabbat 21:13), the Sefer Hateruma (335) views it as more result oriented and forbids putting the solid near a fire to melt. The Shulchan Aruch does not cite the Sefer Hateruma’s stringency; the Rama (Orach Chayim 318:16) cites both opinions and accepts leniency when there is need.

While some understand the Sefer Hateruma as treating the melted matter as objective muktzeh (set aside), it is more likely (see Shut Panim Meirot I:84) that the prohibition relates to a problematic semi-direct act of changing the phase (see Orchot Shabbat, volume one, pages 203-5). Therefore, it is not surprising that the context of the melting process can make a difference even according to the stringent opinion. After this introduction, we will see reasons for leniency by which even the machmirim regarding “nolad” can allow putting ice cream on warm cake.

According to most, the problem of “nolad” relates to putting something near a recognized heat source and not, for example, a warm room (see Orchot Shabbat 4:44, Shevet Halevi VII:40). If the cake is warm rather than really hot, it may not pass muster. A corollary of this idea is that intention in putting it in a place where it will melt will help determine whether it is an “act” of melting (see Mishna Acharona 318:153). In our case, most people prefer frozen ice cream and only would put it on the cake to more easily combine the tastes.

Also, Shemirat Shabbat Kehilchata (10:(24)) posits that nolad does not apply to ice cream because its function does not change whether it is frozen or melted. Finally, nolad is forbidden only with significant amounts of melting (Mishna Berura 318:105), and one who eats the ice cream quickly may do so without reaching that amount.

In summary, in most cases, it is permitted to put the ice cream on the hot piece of cake. (Our presentation shows that certain permutations are more likely to be problematic than others.)

Rabbi Mann is a dayan for Eretz Hemdah and a staff member of Yeshiva University’s Gruss Kollel in Israel. He is a senior member of the Eretz Hemdah responder staff, editor of Hemdat Yamim and the author of “Living the Halachic Process Volumes 1 and 2” and “A Glimpse of Greatness.”