[Avodah] Hot Cheese for Shabbat Lunch

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

R' Micha Berger wrote:
> I think this conversation went off on a tangent rather
> than discussing whether cheese makes it a davar lach
> because people had instinctive "kavod Shabbos" reactions
> to the concept of mac-n-cheese. I wonder if you had
> called it pasta con formaggi if the conversation would
> have gone more on the intended course.

Maybe, but I don't think so. The thread could easily have gone in both directions, if there was a sustained interest in the Davar Lach question.

I did do some research into what counts as a Davar Lach and Davar Yavesh as regards reheating on Shabbos, and I could not find any examples which were even close to the consistency of gooey cheese.

Ooops! I'm glad I took another look! Here's what Rabbi Dovid Ribiat writes on page 594 of The 39 Melachos:

> According to some Poskim, congealed fat, margarine, butter
> etc. are not classified as Davar Yavaish because they melt
> when heated into a liquid form. According to this view,
> they are more properly classified as Davar Lach which may
> not be reheated when cold. (Levush, Taz. And see the
> Chayei Adam 20:7 and Nishmas Adam 5.) ...
>
> However, most Poskim rule that congealed fat, margarine,
> etc. am nevertheless regarded as a Davar Yavaish because
> the *current* *state* of a substance determines its
> Halachic status, not what it will convert to during the
> cooking. Since congealed fat, margarine, etc., are solid,
> dry substances at room temperature, they maintain that
> status throughout the Bishul.
>
> The Halacha is in accordance with these Poskim. It is
> therefore permitted to reheat congealed fat, margarine,
> butter, and the like. (SA 318:16 and MB 100 and Shaar
> Hatziun 122)
>
> Examples:
> 1) One may reheat a piece of cold roasted chicken by
> placing it on top of a hot pot which is on the blech
> (see Hefsek Kedeira, Chapter IV; B/e-2) or by placing it
> near the blech (but not directly on the blech). This is
> permitted even if the chicken has a layer of congealed
> fat (schmaltz) that will melt.

It seems reasonable to me to say that room-temperature macaroni and cheese is no wetter than room-temperature margarine. Neither of them can be poured (without having the macaroni or chicken fall out with it) and both of them would make one's hand yucky upon touching it. But I'm no rabbi, and this seems (to me) like a clear case of where a Shikul HaDaas is called for, where the rav could be Medameh Milsa L'Milsa. So ask your rav how he holds on this halacha, and what he feels about this comparison.

(By the way, I see an inconsistency in what Rabbi Ribiat wrote in the second of the paragraphs which I quoted. First he spoke about "current state", which he put in italics (and I approximated that emphasis with asterisks). But then he referred to the food's state "at room temperature". Why did he change that? When I take the mac-n-cheese, or chicken, out of the refrigerator on Shabbos morning, intending to put it near the heat right away, the cheese or margarine is even more solid than if I would allow it to come to room temperature first.)

Akiva Miller
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