Ensuring a kosher kitchen. Let’s listen to Rav Shmuel Fuerst - Dayan of Agudas Yisroel of Illinois on the topic of keeping a kosher kitchen with 1 sink vs. 2 sinks.
RYH Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Let's Talk Kashrus, presented by the Kashrus Awareness Project in conjunction with Torah Anytime. Today I am privileged to be joined by Rav Shmuel Fuerst, Dayan of Agudas Yisrael of Illinois. Thank you to the Rav for being here. I'd like to ask the Rav about one very specific topic within the realm of Kashrus, and it's a domestic issue, something related to people's homes, and that is sinks.
Many, many people today are privileged to have two sinks in their kitchens. I wonder when the Rav grew up if the Rav had two sinks.
RSF We didn't know there was such a thing as two sinks.
RYH There was no such a thing as two sinks. Where did the Rav grow up?
RSF In Williamsburg.
RYH In Williamsburg, probably in an apartment.
RSF Yeah.
RYH The Rav's parents had one sink, right?
RSF Yes.
RYH It was used for milchigs and fleishigs.
RSF Yes, yes.
RYH And now, especially now, Yidden are moving out to peripheral areas outside of the popular Jewish areas. They're buying houses that were previously owned by non-Jews, and most of them have one sink. So, you know, there is a portion of our population that has two, but many have one. What guidance could the Rav give as far as that's concerned with the milchigs, fleishigs, pareve? How do you make it work with one sink?
RSF First, I just want to mention that if you buy a house for a few hundred thousand dollars, or a half a million dollars or more,
RYH Halevai, it's only a few hundred thousand dollars.
RSF Whatever it is. I come from Chicago. So, you pay a lot of money for the house. You can already afford to have two sinks. You should change the kitchen right away before you move in to have two sinks. And it should be not close to each other. You should ask a Rav. He'll tell you how to set up the two sinks. L'chatchila, just like everything else you want to be, kosher v’yashar in your house, you have two beds, you have this, you have everything. You have kosher v’yashar, the kitchen, which is the main portion of a person's house, should be 100% L'chatchila. L'chatchila, you should have two sinks, not one sink. If you buy with a sink and for some reason you can't do it right away, then you have to be very careful. L'chatchila, you should always move into a house or apartment that has two sinks or try as soon as you move in to change into two sinks. That's L'chatchila.
Now, we’re talking about if you have only one sink, like we had when we were young, when we grew up, we only knew of one sink. We didn't know that there existed two sinks. To have one sink, you've got to be very careful of milchigs and fleishigs and pareve. A lot of people, what they do is they have like a tub with a plastic, they keep in the sink, which is only used for milchigs and another tub used for fleishigs. That's how they wash in the one sink to avoid the problem of mixture oo milchigs or fleishigs because you have to be very careful then. You have to be careful who washes the dishes, how you wash the dishes, where you put the dishes and so on. You have to be very careful if you have only one sink. So you have to be very zohir in the inyanei kashrus when you have one sink. Sometimes you go on vacation. There's only one sink there. Same thing also. You have milchigs and fleishigs. You have to be very careful that you have two tubs and you wash in each one a separate tub or you just wash by the running water. You don't put anything in the sink directly into the sink. You put it in the sink, then you might run into problems. The sink is treif.
So you have kasher. Not all sinks can be kashered so fast. Sometimes you have ceramic sinks and so on. There are shitos that say you can't kasher at all. Some people kasher three times. Then you ask a shaila to your Rav. But you have to like I said, the chiyuv l'chatchila, you must have two sinks. If you own a house and you're going to rent something for a long time, it's k'dai to get two sinks. It costs a couple hundred dollars, maybe a thousand dollars. It's k'dai. Just like you invest to buy kosher clothing, you invest to have a kosher kitchen also. Like I said, people call me when they have a kosher kitchen, should they have one microwave and two microwaves. I say, have two microwaves, one for milchigs and one for fleishigs. Don't be someich sometimes, I'll keep the fleishigs and the milchigs because I'll double wrap it. Because you might remember that, but your children won't remember that. They’ll want pizza, they’ll want other things. A person, if you can afford to buy a house and other expensive things for the house, you can afford to buy another microwave.
The same thing with Pesach. People call me and say, can I kasher my microwave. I say, most of the time you can't kasher. What is the cost of a microwave? You don't have to buy it. You use a microwave only 3-4 days chol hamoed, on Shabbos and Yom Tov you don’t. You use it three or four days. So you don't have to buy the most expensive one. You buy one for $50, $75. You still can buy it at that price and have it for Pesach. How often do you use it?
RYH Right, right. Going back to the sink for a second, even if someone has two different tubs, they're not putting anything directly into the sink. Is there any issue with the fact that there's only one faucet and there's steam rising?
RSF We're not worried. We worry about nitzok chibur. Nitzok chibur is a Machlokes, Rem”a, Sha”ch and Taz. We hold the l’dina, R’ Moshe held l’dina, that nitzok chibur is only a problem for Pesach, not for all year round. So that, if you have hot water coming down, you don't say nitzok chibur for milchigs and fleishigs. So you can have only one faucet and you're okay. Also, one more thing. If you do put in a kosher kitchen and you open the sink, some sinks have only like a milchigs and fleishigs and the hot water and cold water come from the same place. You should have separate cold water and hot water, the water comes out from.
RYH Meaning two different knobs?
RSF Two different knobs. Knobs for cold, and knobs for hot. It shouldn't be coming from the middle out because then sometimes you don't turn it completely cold and then on Shabbos you have a problem with hot water coming out.
RYH Oh, that's what you're talking about. You're talking about where the water is dispensed by picking up one handle. That you could either swivel right or left.
That's a hilchos Shabbos issue. Those people who have those types of handles, as opposed to two knobs, very often what they'll do to prevent it is they'll turn off the hot water for Shabbos.
RSF Or they'll turn it all to the right when only cold water comes out.
RYH Right, but like the Rav is saying, sometimes people are not careful to do that.
RSF Right, correct.
RYH That's a separate issue, Shabbos issue with sinks. Okay, thank you so much.
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