[Avodah] soup

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

R' David Riceman wrote:

> Soup (especially clear soup) does not generally constitute a meal,
> so I don't see that this halacha is relevant to it.

Okay, I'll take two more stabs at it.

(1) I propose that <<< soup (especially clear soup) >>> is a "liptan" - the prime example of a food which is eaten together with bread so very frequently that the bread will exempt it even when eaten separately from the bread. Consider: croutons, mandlen, matza farfel, bits of challah. All these items are routinely eaten with soup; boxes are even labeled by the manufacturer as "soup croutons" and "soup mandlen". It may be noteworthy that while these items can be added to any soup, they are most often added to *clear* soups!

[Now, if someone wants to argue that the challah is enhancing the soup rather than the other way around, then I will concede that point, but I'll chalk it up to crazy moderns who eat without understanding what they're doing. (I did not understand the word "appetizer" until I learned Kaytzad Mevarchim.) But if we go strictly by the practices described by the Gemara and Shulchan Aruch, then soup sure seems like a liptan to me.]

(2) Perhaps Hamotzi covers soup because soup is an appetizer? (I am speaking of cultures where soup is served before the main course. In cultures where soup is served after the main course, it would obviously follow the halachos of dessert, whatever they might be.)

(Personally, though, I still consider soup to be like orange juice (mentioned by R' Zev Sero in Avodah 28:127). To me, orange juice is a syrupy beverage which I would use to wash solids down only if there was no alternative. L'chatchilah, I drink orange juice purely for its nutritional value. And this places soup and orange juice in the same category, that of being a meal item which Hamotzi *does* exempt.)

Akiva Miller

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