By: The OU Kosher Halacha Yomis Team

May I put challah into a bowl of hot soup on Shabbat?

Challah is a baked dry food, and the principle of “ain bishul achar bishul” (there is no cooking after cooking) should apply. Nonetheless, Shulchan Aruch (OC 318:5) cites the opinion of Rebbi Eliezer Mi’Metz that it is forbidden to put challah into a bowl of hot soup (or by the same token to reheat a baked or roasted item by placing it in hot water on Shabbat). Since baking is a different form of food preparation than cooking in water, when challah is placed in soup it is cooked for the first time, and we say “yesh bishul achar afiya” (cooking occurs after baking) and this is prohibited.

The Shulchan Aruch notes that other poskim do not agree with Rebbi Eliezer Mi’Metz and they allow putting challah in soup. The Rema (ibid) also cites both positions. In the opinion of Rav Ovadya Yosef zt”l (Yebia Omer OC 8:35), the conclusion of Shulchan Aruch is to be lenient (though it is praiseworthy to be stringent), and that is the position followed by Sephardim. In contrast, the conclusion of the Rema is to follow the stringent opinion of Rebbi Eliezer Mi’Metz, and this is the position followed by Ashkenazim. Accordingly, one may not place bread into soup, even if the soup is in a kli sheini (secondary vessel, such as a bowl that was filled from a heated pot). If the bread was already put in the kli sheini, Mishnah Berurah (318:46) writes that we may rely on the lenient opinion and eat the food. Furthermore, Mishnah Berurah (318:47) writes that it is permissible to place bread into a kli shlishi, and for these purposes a bowl of soup can be viewed as a kli shlishi, provided that a ladle was used to serve the soup.