the gas stovetop answer on the site paskened that lighting a gas stove on yom tov is fine, a candle or pilot light is best but the regular igniter also works. following up on what is still not clear.
1. everyone talks about needing an existing flame on yom tov. what exactly does that mean and why does it matter, since the answer allowed even the igniter? is the existing flame idea a chumra, a preference, or the actual din?
2. why do many people leave the stove or a burner on for the entire yom tov? is that a halachic need, a minhag, or just convenience? and if the flame goes out, what changes?
3. on shabbos the toaster thread paskened through bishul and yad soledes bo. but on yom tov cooking is mutar, so can a person use an electric toaster, an electric kettle, or an induction cooktop on yom tov? is the question then only about the electricity itself, and how does that work differently on yom tov than on shabbos?
4. and the adjustments: raising or lowering the flame on yom tov, turning a burner off when the food is done, putting food back on a warm stove. which of these are mutar and which cross into hadlaka or kibuy?
bottom line: what are the actual rules of cooking on yom tov, and which parts are just custom?
thank you Rabbi, this answers it exactly.
Rabbi, after cooking on the gas stove, may I simply turn the burner completely off normally on Yom Tov?
Yes
thank you Rabbi, this is really helpful.
Rabbi, thank you. The specific items: a gas stove with an electric igniter, a toaster, and a microwave (there is no hot plate). On yom tov, may the gas stove be lit with its electric igniter when a person wants to cook, may bread be toasted in the toaster, and may food be warmed in the microwave?
you can turn on a gas stove with an electric igniter. you can use a toaster as normally done. same for a microwave.
Is it also ok then to turn on and off a gas oven with an electric igniter? I am concerned about leaving it on the whole holiday for safety reasons (e.g., a time when I did, the flame went out and gas kept going). So I presently do not leave it on and just have never used it anymore on a holiday. Thanks.
Absolutely. It says וחי בהם. Safety is extremely important.
Rabbi, thank you. I want to make sure I understand the practical result of your approach.
If electricity itself is not one of the 39 melachot, and cooking is permitted on Yom Tov, does that mean that an electric stove, induction cooktop, microwave, toaster, or electric kettle may actually be turned on and used normally on Yom Tov when needed for food?
And with a gas stove: if a person does not have a practical or safe way to leave a candle or burner on from before Yom Tov, may he simply use the stove’s regular electric igniter when he wants to cook?
In other words, where exactly is the line according to your view: which modern cooking appliances can be turned on normally on Yom Tov, and which still require preparation from before Yom Tov?
Ask re specific items and then I can respond properly.
Thank you Rabbi, thank you very much.
The first thing that has to be understood is what people mean when they say, “You need an existing flame on Yom Tov.”
People repeat that sentence so often that it begins to sound as though there is a special law that a Yom Tov flame has to come from another flame. That is not the basic concept.
The Mishnah in Beitzah 33b says:
אין מוציאין את האור לא מן העצים ולא מן האבנים ולא מן העפר ולא מן המים
You may not create a new fire on Yom Tov by rubbing or striking materials together or by the other methods they used for producing fire.
The Gemara asks why and answers:
משום דקא מוליד ביום טוב
Because he is creating something new on Yom Tov.
Now we have to ask the obvious question. What does that mean? Fire itself is permitted on Yom Tov. You are allowed to cook. You are allowed to bake. You are allowed to increase an existing fire. So why should creating the fire that you need for the cooking suddenly be prohibited?
The Rambam answers the question very clearly in Hilchot Shevitat Yom Tov 4:1. After describing the various ways they used to create fire, rubbing wood or stones together, striking metals, using glass and sunlight, and so on, he writes:
שלא הותר ביום טוב אלא להבעיר מאש מצויה, אבל להמציא אש אסור, שהרי אפשר להמציא אותה מבערב
Yom Tov permits you to burn from an existing fire, but creating the fire itself was prohibited because you could have prepared that fire before Yom Tov.
That last sentence is the key:
שהרי אפשר להמציא אותה מבערב
You could have done it before Yom Tov.
The Raavad comments that the Gemara itself gave the reason משום מוליד. Rashi and the Ran also speak in terms of nolad. But the Rambam is telling us what the practical structure of that molid prohibition is.
The Maggid Mishneh explains that this is not comparable to an ordinary case of nolad, like an egg that was born on Yom Tov. Fire is not something you want for itself. You want the fire in order to cook and bake. He therefore explains that the reason it was prohibited was that there was no need to create it on Yom Tov because it could have been prepared beforehand.
The Rashba says this even more explicitly. He writes that creating fire is connected to the rules of machshirei ochel nefesh. If it could have been done before Yom Tov, it is prohibited. The Beit Yosef in Orach Chaim 502 brings the Rambam, the Maggid Mishneh, and the Rashba and clearly adopts this framework. The Darkei Moshe does not disagree.
The Mishnah Berurah on O.C. 502:1 says it almost word for word:
והואיל ואפשר להמציא אש מערב יום טוב שיהיה מוכן לו ביום טוב לא הותר להוליד ביום טוב דלא עדיף משארי מכשירין שאפשר לעשותן מבעוד יום דאסור
Since the fire could have been prepared before Yom Tov, creating it on Yom Tov was not permitted. It is no better than other machshirei ochel nefesh that could have been prepared beforehand.
That is the connection people seem to miss.
What are machshirei ochel nefesh?
Cooking the food is ochel nefesh.
Preparing something that allows you to cook the food is machshirei ochel nefesh.
You want to roast meat, but your roasting spit breaks. The spit is a machshir.
You want to cut the food, but the knife becomes unusable. The knife is a machshir.
You want to cook the food, but you need a fire. Creating the fire is the machshir.
Now turn the page and learn the laws of machshirei ochel nefesh.
Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 495:1, says that machshirei ochel nefesh that could not have been done before Yom Tov are permitted. O.C. 509 discusses the same concept in practical cases. A spit that breaks on Yom Tov and cannot be used can be repaired according to the applicable rules because you could not possibly have repaired yesterday something that had not yet broken.
That is the basic system:
If you could have prepared the machshir before Yom Tov, prepare it before Yom Tov.
If the need only arose on Yom Tov and you could not have done it beforehand, the Halachah changes.
Now go back to fire.
Why were Chazal so concerned about making a new fire?
Look at the Rambam’s examples.
They did not walk into the kitchen and click a Bic lighter.
They rubbed materials together. They struck stones or metals. They used a glass filled with water to focus sunlight onto something combustible. Producing a new fire was an actual project.
In the normal home, people tried to keep a fire available. They needed fire for cooking, heating, lighting, and ordinary life. If your fire went out, creating a brand-new one could take effort. It made perfect sense to say: Why are you waiting until Yom Tov to do this? Prepare the fire beforehand.
Today it takes half a second.
Click.
Fire.
Had Chazal lived in a world where everyone had a disposable lighter in his pocket, perhaps they never would have made the same rule. But once the halachic rule exists, we do not simply erase it because technology changed.
What we do have to do is apply the rule according to the rules under which it was created.
That means machshirei ochel nefesh.
So normally, before Yom Tov, have a fire available. Leave a candle burning or have another convenient source of flame. Then when you need the stove, transfer the fire from there.
But suppose you properly prepared a flame and during Yom Tov it unexpectedly went out.
Yesterday you could not prepare for the fact that today’s flame was going to go out. The problem arose on Yom Tov.
That is exactly the type of distinction we make throughout the laws of machshirei ochel nefesh.
The same thing applies to a device that cannot reasonably be operated from before Yom Tov.
Take a microwave. You cannot turn the microwave on before Yom Tov and have it waiting there for tomorrow afternoon when you decide to heat your food.
Take an electric toaster. You cannot leave the toaster running from Erev Yom Tov until you want toast the next morning.
According to my understanding, electricity itself is not one of the thirty-nine melachot anyway. But even if someone wants to argue that a particular electrical device is creating something comparable to fire, you cannot simply stop the discussion by saying “new fire.”
Ask the next question:
Could this have been done before Yom Tov?
If not, then you have to apply the rules of machshirei ochel nefesh.
The same conceptual point would apply to an electric light if you consider an incandescent light to be fire. Suppose the light was properly on before Yom Tov and a child accidentally turned it off. The need to restore that light arose on Yom Tov. According to this analysis, you do not simply say, “New fire, finished.” You ask the machshirei ochel nefesh question.
Another example is someone who smokes and normally would have prepared a flame before Yom Tov. Years ago people would leave a long-burning candle and use it to light a cigarette. But suppose today he lives in an apartment building where he cannot smoke inside and cannot safely leave a burning candle downstairs in the lobby. When he goes outside to smoke, there is no realistic way that the flame he needs could have been waiting there from before Yom Tov. According to this understanding of the Halachah, he can use a lighter. The issue arose in a situation where preparing the needed fire beforehand was not realistically possible.
This is why I object to the slogan, “You can never create a new fire on Yom Tov.”
That is the conclusion without the sugya.
The actual structure is:
The Gemara says משום מוליד.
The Rambam explains that the reason this molid was prohibited is שהרי אפשר להמציא אותה מבערב.
The Maggid Mishneh explains the Rambam.
The Rashba expressly connects it to the rule that something which could be prepared before Yom Tov should be prepared beforehand.
The Beit Yosef brings that explanation in O.C. 502.
The later Poskim continue using that framework. The Mishnah Berurah explicitly says that creating fire is no better than other machshirei ochel nefesh that could have been done before Yom Tov.
And then Shulchan Aruch tells you elsewhere what happens with machshirei ochel nefesh when the preparation could not have been done before Yom Tov.
So learn both halves.
Do not learn O.C. 502 and stop.
Learn O.C. 495 and O.C. 509 too.
Then the whole thing makes sense.
Normally, prepare your fire before Yom Tov.
If it unexpectedly disappears, or if the particular need could not reasonably have been prepared beforehand, apply the laws of machshirei ochel nefesh.
And do not turn “existing flame” into a magical requirement that has no explanation behind it.
The primary sources are Beitzah 33b; Rambam, Hilchot Shevitat Yom Tov 4:1; Maggid Mishneh there; Rashba, Avodat HaKodesh, Beit Moed 2:6; Beit Yosef and Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 502; Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 495:1 and 509:1; and Mishnah Berurah 502:1.
Hello,
If having a 24 hours candle at home is realistically practical/possible can I start my electric gas stove as usual or using a match or lighter on Yom Tov?
Once I am cooking can I raise or low the flame? And can I turn off the stove as usual?