[Avodah] Trying to understand the rationale for Pas Yisroel when e ating an Oreo

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

R' Avroham Yakov asked:
> The main point of Pas Yisroel is because of chasunos.
> Obviously, if I cook my cholent and other food in for example
> Mrs. O’Leary’s house, I will become quite friendly with them.
> But when eating an Oreo, or any other commercial type of
> product, what is the rationale that it should be Pas Yisroel?

(Minor point: Cholent is a cooked food, and would not be subject to the laws of Pas Yisroel. But it *would* be subject to the laws of Bishul Yisroel (a/k/a Bishul Akum), which is also because of chasunos, and so the question is still a good one.)

First, I have heard that there are indeed some poskim who exempt commercially manufactured items from the laws of Bishul Yisroel, for exactly the logic that RAY suggests. Romance is a more likely problem in a private kitchen than in a factory.

Unfortunately, I do not know which poskim say that. I presume that the argument of the other poskim (the ones who do NOT exempt commercial items) is that "lo plug" -- a general law was made, and exemptions are not granted for special cases.

However, isn't it true that this is precisely the distinction between Pas Akum and Pas Palter? Pas Akum - the bread that a non-Jew made at home - is always assur. But Pas Palter - bread made by a non-Jewish commercial bakery - is allowed by most poskim most of the year (Aseres Ymei Teshuva being different).

AIUI, Pas Palter was allowed for two reasons: Because chasunos is less likely to be a problem with a commercial bakery, and because bread is such an important food that restricting our ability to buy it was too difficult for most people. Thus, although Chazal initially tried to forbid all non-Jewish bread, the people ratified this law only for private bread, and not for commercial bread.

This leads me to a question that has bothered me for a long time, and which is hinted at in RAY's question: Why are Oreos exempted from being Pas Akum?

This time of year, various publications remind us to eat only Pas Yisroel. Many of them point of that these halachos apply to both Pas Lechem and also to Pas Habaa Bkisnin. The would indicate that the original gezera of Pas Yisroel applied to both categories. But it seems to me that cake and cookies are not an essential food the way bread is. And I can't imagine that they were *ever* such an essential food. So when the people put their foot down, and said, "No! This is going too far! We can't do it!", did they really reject this halacha for cookies too?

Akiva Miller