Power Up!

Power Up!

By Gila RossReligion & SpiritualityJudaism
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Power Up! episodes

  • Shabbat Treasures 25: Reheating Cooked Food
    1. Warming cold noodles in a hot pot of soup?
    2, reheating boiled chicken on shabbos, is there a way?
    3, dipping challah in hot soup?
    4, heating a dessert on hot plate where margarine will melt?
    Although we can't heat a food to the point of the heat where the hand would not touch it as its so hot, we can reheat foods under certain circumstances. This is because a food can't undergo halachik cooking twice. 
    If you recall cooking is defined as the changing of a food or substance by use of heat. 
    However in the case of a previously cooked food this doesn't hold true as the food has already undergone a major change when it was first cooked, so reheating isn't considered cooking.
    There is a big difference between solids and liquids.
    To be able to reheat a food, it must be a solid food and dry.
    A cooked liquid can only be reheated if still warm. 
    Additionally a food may only be reheated with the same method that was used to heat and prepare it the first time, eg a roasted food by roasti
    ng it and a cooked food by re cooking it.
    Some examples,
    1) it's allowed to take a cold baked potato from the fridge and to place it near flame where it can become hot.
    2) one can place cold boiled chicken from the fridge into a hot pot of soup (1st vessel) that was removed from the flame ).
    3) matzah or challah may not be put into a hot pot of soup since challah and matzah are baked, and you are now cooking them. 
    How dry does dry have to be?
    It doesn't have to be literally dry. As long as no significant accumulation of gravy or liquid its OK. Eg meatballs are considered dry even if moist, as long as not in gravy.
    Margarine, congealed fat are regarded as "dry" as there current status determines them and they are dry at room temperature.
    Examples include rewarming chicken with congealed fat or a dessert being rewarmed that has margarine in it. 
    Anything that is a liquid can't be rewarmed. 
    Examples include meatballs in sauce, pouring ketchup into a hot pot of chullent, a pot of soup etc. 
    The reason liquids are different is that heat doesn't have an intrinsic transition in a liquid, which therefore means that a change in temperature of a liquid to a hot point is itself the state of cooking.
    As long as the liquid remains warm it can still be reheated. "Warm" would mean it could be used for a hot drink. Eg if leftover soup is hot enough it would still be enjoyed, it can be poured back into a the hot pot.
    It should be noted that only intense dry heat radisting from a direct flame is an issue, therefore boiled chicken or noodles can be put on a hotplate isn't intense enough to cook it. 
    Foods that were both roasted and cooked go after status of last process, eg a lokshen kugel.
    So back to our questions.
    1) Warming cold lockshen in hot soup ok as long as pot off the fire, as its same way the lokshen was cooked.
    2) Reheating boiled cold chicken is ok either by placing it into a pot of soup or by putting it onto a hot plate as the heat isn't hot enough to be an issue.
    3) Dipping challah into hot soup is an issue as the challah was baked and you would now be cooking it. The way to do this permissibly would be if either the soup in bowl is no longer terribly hot or if your the hot soup is in a 3rd vessel.
    4) Heating a dessert is ok even though the margarine will melt as its considered a dry food as we look at it's current status.
    36 min
  • W4W: Would you Convert?
    If someone wanted to convert to Judaism what would you tell them? Which mitzvoth would you share with them? A fascinating look at the mitzvoth that naomi told ruth and the insights it gives us into what Judaism is all about.
    32 min
  • Clean Speech Challenge 3: Repairing Words We Regret

    Join the challenge!

    Oops! We've all been there, we've said something we shouldn't have said, or said something that came out wrong. Now What!?! He reminded us how it can be almost impossible to take the words we say so we need to be so careful with our words, but also showed us how repair is possible. Your Challenge! Think of one person you may have hurt with your words -- we've all done that, and acknowledge to yourself that you owe them an apology. Even if you don't feel courageous enough right now to apologise to them at least acknowledge to yourself that they deserve that. Remember that as hard as it is to be honest with ourselves about our mistakes, it gives us an opportunity to repair and strengthen our relationships.

    17 min
  • Clean Speech Challenge 1: Make it Stick!
    Jordana Bachurov from drinkitin launches the clean speech challenge with an inspiring story of snakes, car seats and challenges us to upgrade our morning cup of coffee/tea/water with deciding who you will say something positive to. Join the challenge for a chance to win one of 3 prizes! Email [email protected] for details!
    21 min
  • Shabbos Treasures 24: Cooking
    Question 1) Putting spices into a pot that's on the flame? Ok?
    Question 2) Putting milk and sugar into a hot coffee? Ok?
    Question 3) Making a cup of tea on shabbos how to do?
    There are a number of different categories of how heat can be used to heat uncooked liquids and foods.
    1) 1st vessel
    2) 2nd vessel 
    3) 3rd vessel
    For our purposes please note that we are going to use halachik rather than scientific principles.
    Ultimately we are saying that the first vessel can cause cooking when its really hot, whereas the second vessel can't, even when it's hotter..
    So, it must be dependent on more than simply how hot a vessel is but other factors too, including how the "walls" of the vessels are regarded in terms of "cooling" things off.
    1) First vessel - the container into which a food or liquid was cooked or heated.
    This can be on the flame itself, eg a pot of soup boiling on the fire where its absolutely forbidden to put any uncooked food or liquids into it, eg one can't put salt into a pot that's on the flame on shabbos.
    Or it could even be a hot pot that's been removed from the flame.
    You also can't put a baked item into a first vessel, eg croutons into a hot pot of soup. 
    So, what can be put into a first vessel? Any solid food that is completely cooked may be placed into it once its been removed from the fire, eg a piece of cold cooked chicken could be put into a pot of hot soup.
    2) second vessel - it has a lower heat than a first vessel. Its any container into which hot food or liquid from a first vessel is directly poured, eg a cup of hot water filled directly from the hot water urn.
    The rule is, anything that's deemed "sensitive" to heat can cook even in a second vessel. 
    As its uncertain exactly what this includes the only items to put into a second vessel are things already cooked like warming a bottle of milk as the milk is pasteurised or to add cold milk or sugar to a coffee.
    Additionally water, oil, ginger, cinnamon, salt, pepper.
    3) Third vessel - it's a different level of heat than a second vessel. We can rely on saying that a third vessel does not cause any cooking, no matter how hot it is.
    So, use a 3rd vessel anytime you prepare hot drinks or food. So, make your tea or coffee this way.
    20 min

About Power Up!

From the publisher's feed

Gila Ross, author of Living Beautifully - How to bring meaning, joy and love into your life based on the timeless wisdom of Pirkei Avot shares real life insights based on Jewish wisdom that impact…

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