Search results for: ""lchatchilah""

Kashrut: Dairy/Meat: Baking at Same Time: Solid, UNCOVERED
L'chatchila, you should not bake uncovered dairy and meat foods in the same oven at the same time, even if both pans:
  • Are non-liquid, AND
  • Do not touch each other.
B'di'avad, both uncovered pans remain kosher—even if they touch each other, if both pans:
  • Are non-liquid,
  • Are clean and dry (on the outside), AND
  • Do not contain spicy/charif food.
Example
Situation
  • Food in both pans is solid.
  • One pan is covered, one pan is uncovered.
  • Both pans are clean and dry on outside. 
  • No spicy/charif.
Status They are both kosher b'dia'vad.
Kashrut: Dairy/Meat: Baking at Same Time: Solid, COVERED
L'chatchila: Do not bake separate pans—whether uncovered or not—of dairy food and meat food in the oven at the same time.
Reason The food might spill over.
B'di'avad, you may cook pans of dairy food and meat food at the same time in one oven if both are:
  • Not touching,
  • Covered, AND
  • Non-liquid; i.e., either:
    • Solid, or
    • Liquid only at the beginning or end of the cooking (but not both beginning and end).

 

Timing of Wedding Meal
If both people have been married before, l'chatchila the wedding (chuppa) may not start during the day and the meal at night. You must start the meal before sunset or else start the wedding after sunset.
Accidental or Intentional
The ideal and preferred means of observing or fulfilling a halacha is called l'chatchila. Sometimes the halacha's requirements may be fulfilled b'di'avad (after the fact) under less-than-ideal circumstances. 
You may not intentionally do an action at the b'diavad level if you are able to do it at the l'chatchila level.
Kashrut: Non-Certified Soap
Soap must be considered non-kosher unless it is certified kosher.  Soap without kosher supervision should not l'chatchila be used on food utensils--even if you use cold water and even on glass--because a soap residue adheres to the surfaces, even after careful rinsing. 
Soaps/Detergents
Bar soap is generally made from animal fat. Since all soaps do have taste and might be edible by a dog, they might not be nifsal for a dog and therefore cannot be used on eating utensils.
Note However, a dish remains kosher b'di'avad if washed with cold water and non-kosher soap made from non-kosher fat.
Rosh Hashana: How Many Shofar Blasts To Hear
Men are required to hear at least 60 shofar blasts on Rosh Hashana (l'chatchila) in order to fulfill the commandment of hearing shofar:  30 before the musaf amida and 30 afterward.  But they fulfill their requirement (b'di'avad) if they have heard at least 30 on each day of Rosh Hashana. 
Women only need to hear 30 shofar blasts on each day of Rosh Hashana.
Note Although 100 shofar blasts are blown each day of Rosh Hashana, hearing all 100 is a non-binding custom.  You do not need to hear the first blasts or any other particular set, but you must hear blasts that include:
  • 3 tashrat (teki'a-shevarim-teru'a-teki'a) +
  • 3 tashat (teki'a-shevarim-teki'a) +
  • 3 tarat (teki'a-teru'a-teki'a).  

Kos Pagum
Kos pagum means either:
  1. "Physically damaged or broken drinking utensil”: You may not use such a cup for kiddush l'chatchila. OR
  2. Cup of wine, grape juice, or any beverage that has been drunk from.  This beverage may not be used for a kos shel bracha until at least a small amount more of some beverage has been added.
Earliest Time for Shema (and Amida)
Earliest time to say shema and amida is 72 minutes before sunrise, b'di'avad, since the guideline is halachic “day.”
Note L'chatchila, you should say shema anytime from 3 minutes before sunrise until the end of the third halachic hour of the day.
Shabbat: Kos Pagum
Do not use a kos pagum for kiddush. Kos pagum means either:
  • “Physically damaged or broken drinking utensil":   (You may not use such a cup for kiddush l'chatchila), OR
  • Cup of wine, grape juice, or any beverage that has been drunk from. 
This beverage may not be used for a kos shel bracha until at least a small amount more of some beverage has been added to the existing beverage.
Jewish Festivals: Cooking on First Day for Second Day
You may not cook on the first day of a Jewish festival for the second day. But you may cook enough food for both days in the same pot, even l'chatchila (but not bein ha'shmashot). You must eat at least a normal-sized portion before sunset on the first Jewish festival day.
Taste (Ta'am) Transfer:Spicy/Charif: Sitting in Container

     Cold, spicy/charif, solid food (with no liquid) does not transfer gender UNLESS it was under pressure, so simply sitting in an opposite-gender or non-kosher container does not have any effect.
Note You may l'chatchila eat spicy/charif food if it is on a glass plate, even if it is under pressure,
     Cold, spicy/charif, liquid food is kosher only if it sat less time than needed to become cooked.
Example
     You ate cold (less than 120° F, or 49° C) spicy/charif food of one gender on a cold plate of the opposite gender:
Solid Food
      If the cold, spicy/charif food is solid, the food is kosher l'chatchila. But you should only do this ad hoc and you should not eat it with a fork.
Liquid Food
      If the cold spicy/charif food is liquid but it is in contact with a utensil of the opposite gender for less time than it takes to boil, it would be kosher but, again, you should only do this ad hoc.
Kashrut: Dairy/Meat: Dishwashers: Neutral/Pareve Item
You may not wash a neutral/ pareve dish in a meat or milk dishwasher--even if there are no dirty dishes with milk or meat on them and even if there are no other dishes in the dishwasher. If you did, the neutral/pareve dish may have become the gender of the dishwasher, but consult a rabbi for leniencies.
Situation You have a meat or milk dishwasher and you washed a neutral/pareve utensil in it.
What To Do If the dishwasher has dirty dishes containing milk or meat food, the neutral/pareve utensil will become that gender. However, if the dishwasher does not have any dirty dishes with food of either gender on them and the dishwasher has not been used for at least 24 hours, the pareve dish will remain pareve.
NoteThis is a b'di'avad (after the fact) case. You may not intentionally (l'chatchila) wash the pareve utensil in a gendered dishwasher.
Taste (Ta'am) Transfer: Spicy/Charif: Pressure: Food Absorbing Taste of Utensils
When a spicy/charif food takes on the gender of the cutting/squeezing utensil:
  • You may not cook or eat that food with food of the opposite gender.
  • However, you MAY eat the opposite-gender food immediately after eating the gendered spicy food without waiting.
Situation An onion is cut with a meat knife, on a meat cutting board:
  • The onion acquires meat status.
  • You MAY NOT later cut this onion with a dairy knife or on a dairy cutting board. (If you do, the onion, the dairy knife, and the dairy cutting board will all become non-kosher.) 
Exception If the knife and cutting board had not been used (even for cold items) for at least 24 hours, consult a rabbi.
Exception If you can sand off the surface to below the level of any knife cuts, the board might be kosher. Consult a rabbi. 
  • You MAY NOT cook this onion in a dairy utensil.
  • You MAY NOT eat this onion with dairy food.
  • You MAY eat dairy immediately after eating this onion (as long as there is no actual meat mixed into the onion).
  • You MAY cook this onion with fish (even though you may not cook meat and fish together) but the fish may not be eaten with dairy food.
Situation You cut an onion with a meat knife and fry it in a neutral/pareve pan.
StatusThe pan becomes meat, but consult a rabbi for possible leniencies.

Situation You cut an onion with a meat knife and fry it in a dairy pan.
StatusThe pan becomes non-kosher.  If you cook a neutral/pareve food in that pan after 24 hours have passed since the onion was cooked in it, and you ate the pareve food with milk, it is OK b'di'avad but you may not do that l'chatchila.
Introduction to Morning Prayers/Shacharit (Weekday): Order of Prayers
Here is a typical order of waking/morning prayers for weekdays (many people say these blessings at the synagogue instead of at home):
  • Wake
    Wake and wash hands (Three-Times Method).
  • Bathroom
    Take care of any toilet needs, wash your hands (One-Time Method).
    Say blessings al netilat yadayim and asher yatzar (until l'fgarim meitim).
  • Torah Blessings
  Say Torah blessings (from la'asok bi'divrei Torah until talmud Torah ki'negged
  kulam).
  • Talit Katan
    Put on talit katan (for men).
    Say blessing if not married or if not putting on talit gadol later.
      Note You may put on the talit katan before washing your hands
  • Birchot HaShachar
  Say birchot ha'shachar (from natan la'sechvi…until ven brit) before, or at,
  synagogue.
  • Talit/Tefilin
  Put on:

 

  • Talit (for married men or other men with that custom).
  • Tefilin (for men).
  • L'olam Yihei Adam/Korbanot
   Say:
  • L'olam yihei adam,
  • Short shema,
  • Paragraph ending mekadeish et shimcha ba'rabim,
  • Readings on sacrifices/korbanot,
  • 13 rules.
  • Psukei D'Zimra
  Say:
  • Psalm 30/Mizmor Shir Chanukat habayit.
  • Baruch she'amar through yishtabach (includes ashrei).
  • Bar'chu/Shema/Amida
  Say bar'chu through end of amida (including shema, with two blessings before and
  one after), tachanun (when appropriate) and ashrei through to alenu.
  • Psalms/Alenu
  Say alenu and psalm for the day.
 
Terms To Know
  • Neitz, HaNeitz—Sunrise
  • Alot HaShachar—72 minutes before sunrise
  • MiSheyakir-- 36 minutes before sunrise in New York in winter and 40 minutes in summer. Nearer to the equator, the maximum time is shorter.
Note Even though mi'sheyakir means when there is enough light to identify your friend, it also means when you can differentiate between blue and white threads in the tzitzit, since the mitzva of tzitzit is only during the daytime.

When Things Happen
Before Alot HaShachar (72 minutes before sunrise)
You can put on tzitzit/talit and tefilin without blessings.

Alot HaShachar
You can say:
  • Birchot ha'shachar.
  • Shema and amida, b'di'avad.
Mi'sheyakir (36-40 minutes before sunrise)
You can say:
  • Blessings over tefilin and tzitzit/talit.
  • Shema and amida as necessary.
K'Vatikin
You can say shema l'chatchila--and begin saying the amida exactly at sunrise.

By Third Halachic Hour of the Day
You have until the third halachic hour of the day to say:
  • The blessing mekadeish et shimcha ba'rabim if you want to include the word Adonai.
  • Morning shema.
By Fourth Halachic Hour of the Day
You have until the fourth halachic hour of the day to say any of the prayers from barchu until the end of the amida.

Halachic Mid-Day
You have until halachic mid-day, b'di'avad, to say the shacharit amida.