[Avodah] Office Coffee machine

[Richard Wolpoe]

On Mon, Jun 2, 2008 at 12:30 PM, Micha Berger <micha at aishdas.org> wrote:

> I spoke to two rabbanim about it: R' Chaim Davis (founder of the Toronto
> Community Kollel, the Yeshiva Gedola of Passaic [where R' Meir Stern is
> now RY] and Passaic's Beis Medrash laTorah) and R' Jack Love (who
> teaches halakhah at YCT).
>
> My first conversation with RCD focused on the question of whether there
> is zei'ah (which I mis-called "hevel") without boiling. This was the key
> issue to RJL as well.
>
> My second conversation with RCD focused on whther the vapor would be
> yad soledes bo (simple experiment shows it wouldn't -- hold your hand
> a fraction of an inch above the cup) to treif-up the coffee maker anyway.
>
> RJL pointed me to sources.
>
> Rama 92:8 appears to limit the problem of zei'ah to a pot used as a lid,
> and there the zei'ah is yad soledes.
>
> The AhS (108) says the Rama is only writing about thick steam. (That being
> the point of a lid.) This might be an issue with a microwave, though,
> because the walls can get dripping wet. But I don't know of anyone who
> still (now that their workings are better known) says microwaves don't
> need kashering.
>
> The coffee machine is okay.
>
> Tir'u baTov!
> -Micha
>
> --
> Micha Berger
>

IIRC zei'ah in an oven is AFAIK restricted to a closed system. Thus, the
mere wafting of steam in open air would NOT cause a problem [see below]

Think of it this way.  Heated water in a kli sheini usually does not
contaminate.
Steam in the wide open spaces would be tantamount o not being in a kli at
all, and would not have teh koach to cook EVEN when yad soledes bo

Exception if it were a "stream" of steam with some kind of focus then it
indeed would be different aiui.

-- 
Kol Tuv / Best Regards,
RabbiRichWolpoe at Gmail.com
see: http://nishmablog.blogspot.com/
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