שאלה
hello: sorry about writing in english but my PC keyboard does not have hebrew letters: you can answer in hebrew if it is easier. My question is the following: I am having a discussion about ovens that when you open them, you trigger the thermostat; if I keep my food in the oven like tscholent on shabat and I take it out, when I open the oven the thermostat triggers the oven to start functioning, as the heat is lost. I saw that there is leniency about this but I would like to know what the rule is; what I found until now is that taking out the food is permitted but only if the whole food is taken out and not if there is food remaining in the oven. here is a source I found; http://www.star-k.org/kashrus/kk-cooking-ovenshabbos.htm
thank you for replying and for citing the sources as well
תשובה
Hi,
I read the source you attached to your question, but I find their conclusion somewhat dubious. I agree that opening an oven and taking out all the food would constitute a "Psik reih delo Niche lei Be´Issur Deoraita", meaning: an unwanted action which one gets no gain from even though it activates a Torah prohibition. Performing such an action, however, is still an Issur Derabanan - a Rabbinic prohibition, and they claim that even the rabbinic prohibition won´t exist if the action is indirect - what is known as Grama. However, I do not agree that one could consider the opening of the oven to be a Grama, as they do. Since the result of opening the oven is that it turns on immediately, with no delay, it is not a Grama, as Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach paskened in several places.
Nevertheless, if there is a delay between the opening of the oven and the thermostat going on, or alternatively if you take your food out while the oven is working (and opening it simply prolongs the process which is already under way due to the loss of heat), it is fine to open the oven and remove the food.
Shabbat Shalom
(The answer given by Rabbi Yonatan Rosensweig)
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