[Avodah] Eating Pas Yisrael During Aseres Yemei Teshuva

[Akiva Miller]

Prof. Levine (sorry, I keep forgetting your first name) posted a link to http://tinyurl.com/8l8aog2  I was particularly intrigued by this part:

> Although eating pas palter became commonplace and was endorsed
> by the leading authorities of the day, it was not universally
> accepted. Indeed, as soon as Jewish-baked bread was available,
> the Rabbinical decree against pas palter was reinstated in
> some communities, and non-Jewish bread was not an option. Only
> Jewish-baked bread, called pas Yisrael, was allowed. Thus,
> depending upon the locality, this Rabbinic decree was observed
> in varying degrees: 

I searched the article in vain for a support to the claim that "the Rabbinical decree against pas palter was reinstated in some communities." The most I could find was that some leaders banned pas palter for their communities, but that falls far short of claiming that "the Rabbinical decree" was in force.

For example, the first - and most severe - of the "varying degrees" was this:

> 1. Some communities adhered to it strictly, not allowing any
> pas palter at all.(5)
>
> ... 5) See Y.D. 112:13. See also Darchei Teshuvah, Y.D.
> 112:18 and Kaf ha- Chayim 31 and 56 quoting the Arizal. 

The way that is phrased, it might mean that the d'rabbanan against pas palter was never really lifted at all for those communities, or it might mean that the d'rabanan was lifted even there but the local practice (=minhag) became to disallow pas palter. So let's examone his sources to clarify the ambiguity.

>From what I see, Mechaber YD 112:13 actually says the opposite, that even a person who normally avoids pas palter can eat it, if it is of better quality and he expended no extra effort to get it.

The Darchei Teshuva (http://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=41145&st=&pgnum=5) quotes sources according to whom the Arizal was "mazhir" others not to eat pas akum, or even pas palter = and not even from a Jewish baker, unless one checked to make sure that the Jewish baker wasn't  just a distributor of non-Jewish pas palter. Perhaps I'm just naive, but the use of the word "mazhir", without supplying any halachic reasoning, seems to support the idea that even according to the Arizal there was not prohibition to violate, and he only recommended pas yisroel for his own reasons. (That's not to say that the reasons weren't good ones, only that he was not claiming the d'rabanan to be in force.)

Kaf Hachaim YD 112:31 doesn't mention the Arizal as far as I can tell. Rather, it accepts the idea that the minhag is to buy pas palter, even though there are "anshei maaseh" who don't. He does say that the anshei maaseh are the "ikar", but I have no idea whether that means they're following a commendable practice, or whether it means that the common practice is wrong.

Kaf Hachaim YD 112:56 doesn't mention the Arizal either (though he does mention someone else who might be the Ari in his lingo). He does tell of a situation where the Jew must throw is splinter into the fire while the bread is baking, but he clearly explains the reasoning: "Since only some of the bread is for the [Jewish] guests and the rest is for [the non-Jews] themselves, it [isn't really pas palter at all, but it] is really pas baal habayis." -- In other words, this source seems off-topic.

Akiva Miller

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