[Avodah] Cooking in a Kli Shlishi

[Prof. Levine]

 From https://ph.yhb.org.il/en/01-10-07/

There is a third type of vessel known as a kli 
shlishi. If one pours hot water or hot food from 
the pot in which it was cooked into another 
vessel, and from that vessel into a third one, 
that final container is a kli shlishi. The poskim 
agree that a kli shlishi is unable to cook 
anything.<https://ph.yhb.org.il/en/01-10-07/#_ze05ftn10_6>[6]


<https://ph.yhb.org.il/en/01-10-07/#_ze05ftnref10_6>[6]. 
In truth, some Acharonim were inclined to be 
stringent and avoid putting anything raw and 
easily cooked into a kli shlishi that is yad 
soledet bo. Thus states Shevitat Ha-Shabbat, 
Mevashel 23, based on Yere’im. This is also the 
position of azon Ish regarding kalei ha-bishul ( 
Hazon Ish, O 52:19). He maintains that as long as 
the water is hot, no matter how many times 
removed the vessel is from the original kli 
rishon, kalei ha-bishul become cooked. AHS 318:28 
states this specifically with regard to tea. 
According to Chayei Adam 20:4, any vessel whose 
contents are so hot that they would burn someone 
is capable of cooking. However, according to most 
poskim, the principle that Bishul does not apply 
in a kli shlishi is absolute, and any kind of raw 
food may be introduced into a kli shlishi. MB 
318:47 records this based on Pri Megadim. The 
accepted explanation is that this was the Sages’ 
assumption – cooking is inconceivable in a kli 
shlishi. Further, it seems to me that cooking in 
a vessel that people do not generally use for 
cooking would not be prohibited by Torah law, 
since the Torah prohibition applies only to 
cooking in the usual manner. Since one normally 
does not cook in a kli sheni, there is no Torah 
prohibition of putting raw food into a kli sheni. 
However, foods that cook easily are often cooked 
in a kli sheni or even by irui from a kli sheni. 
Therefore, if one places these foods in a kli 
sheni or pours water on them from a kli sheni, he 
transgresses a Torah prohibition. However, not 
even kalei ha-bishul are generally cooked in a 
kli shlishi, so there is never a Torah 
prohibition involved. And since in the vast 
majority of cases one cannot cook in a kli 
shlishi, the Sages did not prohibit cooking in 
one in any case.MA, MB 318:34, and Kaf Ha- chayim 
§70 state that the halakha follows the first 
opinion presented in Tosafot, Shabbat 39a. This 
opinion states that even though a kli sheni does 
not cook, one may not place raw food into such a 
vessel because it resembles cooking. One may, 
however, add spices, since that does not resemble 
cooking. This is also the position of Or 
Le-Tziyon 2:30:5. In contrast, R. Ovadia Yosef, 
basing himself on a number of Rishonim and 
Acharonim, writes that the halakha follows the 
second opinion in Tosafot, according to which 
there is never a concern of resembling cooking in 
a kli sheni (Ye aveh Da’at 6:22).

Some maintain that since we do not know what 
foods are considered kalei ha-bishul, we must be 
stringent and refrain from putting any foods into 
a kli sheni except those that we know are not 
kalei bishul (Yere’im; Smag). Others maintain 
that only specific foods that are known to be 
kalei ha-bishul are a concern (Ran; Tur). Rema 
318:5 states that the custom is to be stringent, 
as do MA 318:18; SAH 318:12; ayei Adam 20:4; MB 
318:42; SSK 1:59. SA 318:5 cites both opinions 
and seems inclined to be lenient. This was the 
inclination of a number of poskim – that one need 
be stringent only with foods that are known to 
cook easily ( azon Ish, O 52:18; Or Le-Tziyon 
2:30:3). Yalkut Yosef 318:47 also records this as 
the position of Rambam and Maharam ibn abib.

To simplify the matter, I wrote to be 
consistently stringent in the case of a kli 
sheni, and consistently lenient in the case of a 
kli shlishi. Even though it is agreed that one 
may not pour from a kli sheni onto kalei 
ha-bishul, nevertheless we have seen that 
according to most poskim, most foods are not 
kalei ha-bishul. Moreover, even those who are 
stringent consider the prohibition rabbinic, 
since one does not intend to cook. Additionally, 
pouring will only cook the outer layer of the 
food, which is less than the amount required to 
transgress a Torah prohibition, and according to 
Rashbam this is not considered cooking at all. 
Therefore, one should only be stringent and 
refrain from pouring from a kli sheni in the case 
of foods that are known to be kalei ha-bishul.

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