[Avodah] Office Coffee machine

[Micha Berger]

On Sat, 24 May 2008 22:04:30 +0300 R "Michael Makovi" <mikewinddale at gmail.com>
wrote:
: Transcript of a talk given by my rabbi at Machon Meir...
:> The tea-cups may present a problem, as they may have been used
:> withnon-Jewish milk, "chalav akum". For those who are lenient and
: drink chalav akum in countries that have government supervision to
: ensure that only cows' milk is sold as standard milk, based on the
: opinion of Rav Feinstein, this difficulty would be eliminated. Even
: those who are strict may perhaps rely on that ruling when it is only a
: question of a doubt - "perhaps non-Jewish milk was used in the last
: twenty-four hours in the cup". ... (see Yechave Da'at, ibid., and also the
: Nodah Bi'Yehudah, Yoreh De'ah, 36).

What about the question of whether the cup was used for hot chocolate
with marshmallows? Okay, marshmallows probably only raises questions
of gelatin, so you could add that safeiq to the mix instead of that for
chalav hacompanies.

And, how does this doubt differ from the one on the subject line? (Which
is why I'm replying on this thread.) I'll continue this question after
quoting myself.

On Tue, 27 May 2008 16:02:36 EDT I made life difficult for myself by
asking:
: My office has a one-cup coffee machine. All the flavors are kosher.
: However, it also can be used to dispense hot water, and packets of hot
: chocolate with marshmallow mix are right next to the coffee.
: Do I have to worry about someone making hot chocolate and the hevel
: treifing up the machine?
: It's not washed with a nosein ta'am lifgam with any regularity, if ever.

I see, though, that washing was not invoked in the coffee-shop mug
question. So, does that mean that when RHS worries about hevel in my
case (as posted here by RJR) it is implying he would also tell you not
to use that mug -- perhaps, unless washed with nosein taam lifgam?

Also, why does RHS assume there is hevel? How much steam qualifies? The
office machine doesn't actually cause boiling. But even breathing on
a cold day makes a cloud, so does 180deg water in room temperature.

Third, but also on the "how much evaporation does it take to constitute
hevel?" question: Would there be a difference between the coffee machine,
where the cup if a few inches under the spout, with restricted airflow
between them, and the hot water spigot on the water cooler, where you
aren't likely to raise the humidity around the spigot nearly as much?

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Today is the 39th day, which is
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