[Avodah] Raui Lachilat kelev

[Joel Rich]

Some of you may have heard the story sourced below from Rabbi Jachter:
A charming anecdote that occurred in Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik’s Shiur at
Yeshiva University in the 1970’s (reported by Rav Yosef Adler and many
others) is often cited in support of the common practice to be lenient. The
Rav stated in Shiur that toothpaste is not Ra’ui Liachilat Kelev (unfit for
canine consumption) and thus one is permitted to consume it on Pesach even
if it contains Chametz. The next day in Shiur a student raised his hand and
explained that he conducted an “experiment” the night before. He related
that he placed toothpaste in his dog’s feeding bowl to see if his dog would
eat it – and indeed, the dog ate the toothpaste!! Rav Soloveitchik simply
responded, “Your dog is crazy.” This story illustrates the ruling that we
cited last week from Rav Soloveitchik that the standards of edibility are
not determined by aberrant behavior.

Me-I’ve heard Rav Schacter say many times that they often wondered about
some of The Rav’s practices only to find out that they were directly from
the Shulchan Aruch. I’m sure I am one of the few who didn’t realize that
the Rav’s response in the anecdote is really sourced in the Chulin 49B
where the rabbis rejected Rabbi Simeon’s proof that a snake will drink
brine by saying that the snake he saw do it was a foolish snake and thus
you can’t bring a proof from that case to general snake behavior. In case
you’re one of the other’s who didn’t realize this was the source, I thought
it was worth mentioning.


KT
Joel Rich
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