[Avodah] Milchig Bread

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

R' Jacob Farkas wrote:
> In practice (I am referring to Brroklyn, NY), you can purchase
> milchig pound cake most anywhere ... You can find bakeries selling
> milchig goods that will have a sticker on them stating that the
> item is milchig, again without any other obvious shinui on the item.

Yes, you can indeed. But you seem to be using this fact as evidence to support the idea that milchig *bread* is okay as long as the packaging reflects that status.

I draw the opposite conclusion. Mezonos is generally not eaten during the meal, except as dessert. The ramifications of having milchig cake at one's fleishig meal are far less severe than if one had milchig bread, which could well be eaten together with the meat. To me, the easy availability of milchig cake is evidence that there is no technical obligation for it to have a siman the way bread does. (Note my words: "technical obligation". If a community chooses to standardize their cheese and potato borekas in triangle and rectangle shapes, that is great; I just haven't seen a halacha which requires it.)

I do understand that bread and cake are both called "pas", and this has ramifications for Hilchos Challah, and Pas Yisrael, and other halachos. But if someone wants to say that "Having a 'dairy' sticker on my dairy cake shows that it is okay to make dairy challah with such a sticker", then I want him to first show me a posek who says that "The halachos against making dairy bread also apply to making dairy cake."

Akiva Miller


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