Comments on: Pizza and eating out https://kashrut.org/pizza-and-eating-out/ Keeping Kosher without all the pain Sun, 16 Mar 2025 03:25:40 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.2 By: Aaron Abadi https://kashrut.org/pizza-and-eating-out/#comment-3767 Sun, 16 Mar 2025 03:25:40 +0000 https://kashrut.org/?p=19011#comment-3767 Your question seems to be based on cultural norms or assumptions you’ve picked up over time. The issues you raise—reicha, zeiah, the pizza pan, and gevinas akum—are all part of a much broader and complex discussion in Taaruvot, which is extensively covered in the Gemara (Chullin), the Rishonim, and the Shulchan Aruch. Everything we post here aligns with those sources.

To clarify: No, Rabbi Abadi does not have his “own Torah.” His rulings follow the same halachic principles found in the classical sources, though he may apply them differently than some communities are accustomed to. If you’re interested in truly understanding the halachic basis, I’d encourage you to explore the discussions in Taaruvot in depth.

There’s a well-known story of Rabbi Akiva being asked to summarize the Torah on one foot, to which he responded:
‎ואהבת לרעך כמוך – “Love your fellow as yourself.” The rest, he said, is commentary.

In a similar spirit, if I were to summarize Taaruvot on one foot, it would be this: Everything is about “taam” (taste)—does the non-kosher substance impart a discernible taste that enhances the kosher food? If not, the food remains kosher.

Of course, this is just a starting point, and there’s much more to learn in order to fully grasp these halachic principles. Simply throwing out isolated phrases like “reicha” or “zeiah” isn’t enough—you need to study the full context in which they apply.

If you’re genuinely interested in understanding the halacha, I’d be happy to discuss it further.

]]>