Mishnah Berurah, s.k. 45: we continue our study of the laws of chadash (grain from the new crop, forbidden until the Omer), and we come to explain why the common practice outside Eretz Yisrael was to be lenient in this prohibition.
- The scope of the prohibition: Chadash applies only to the five species of grain, and according to those who hold it is a Torah prohibition even outside Eretz Yisrael, that is derived from the words "in all your dwelling places."
- What the discussion is about: The Mishnah Berurah has to explain which combination of reasons those who were lenient outside Eretz Yisrael relied upon. He does not offer one single heter, but several considerations that join together.
Reason one: a sefek sefeika (a double doubt)
- The first doubt: Someone eating baked goods outside Eretz Yisrael has no idea which country the grain came from. It may well have come from a place where winter grain is planted, in which there is no chadash problem at all. The problem exists only with summer grain.
- The second doubt: Even if you do know which country the grain came from, you still do not know what was actually done there, when it was sown and when it was harvested.
- The Acharonim's reservation: The Acharonim discuss the fact that this is not a true sefek sefeika, since both doubts are really one and the same doubt about the very same matter. Nevertheless, the Mishnah Berurah counts it as one of the grounds for leniency.
A further reason: how hard it is to keep the prohibition under pressing circumstances
"And some have argued in their favor, since this is a difficult thing to be careful about, and therefore under pressing circumstances they rely on some of the Rishonim who hold that chadash outside Eretz Yisrael is only a Rabbinic prohibition."
(Mishnah Berurah, s.k. 45)
- Difficulty by itself is not a heter: The fact that a mitzvah is hard to keep is no reason to abolish it. A person who finds it hard to keep Shabbos is not exempt from keeping Shabbos, and all service of Hashem is demanding.
- What "sha'as hadchak" means: This is the concept found in the Gemara: when something is extremely difficult for the community and creates further problems, and in addition there is an opinion to rely upon, there is room to be lenient. Without an opinion to lean on there is no heter at all.
- How severe the difficulty was: Outside Eretz Yisrael there was almost nothing made of grain that a person could eat or drink, so the community simply could not hold to it.
- The opinion relied upon: Some Rishonim hold that chadash does apply outside Eretz Yisrael, but only as a Rabbinic prohibition and not from the Torah.
The extent of the decree: places near Eretz Yisrael
"And they decreed only in the places near Eretz Yisrael, such as Egypt and Bavel."
(Mishnah Berurah, s.k. 45)
- The reason for the decree: In places close to Eretz Yisrael there was a concern that things would get mixed up and people would not distinguish between the grain of the Land and grain from outside it. So the Chachamim added a kind of safety margin and decreed on grain grown in the adjoining belt as well.
- The practical difference: Poland, Russia and Lithuania are very far from Eretz Yisrael, and by this reasoning the decree does not apply to them at all.
- Combining the reasons: If the decree covered only the neighboring lands, then in the distant places there is no prohibition; and even if there was a general decree, it is only Rabbinic, and the doubt and the pressing circumstances join together with that.
A further reason: chadash does not apply to grain belonging to non-Jews
"And some have argued in their favor, that they hold chadash applies only to grain belonging to a Jew, but not to that of non-Jews."
(Mishnah Berurah, s.k. 45)
- Who advanced this heter: It is the Bach, the author of the "Bayis Chadash" on the Tur, who established this heter, and even before him there are Rishonim who hold this way.
- You cannot invent a heter: No one is entitled to invent a leniency out of his own head. A heter must be anchored in the Gemara and in halachah, and one has to learn the sugya and see what the source is.
- The reality outside Eretz Yisrael: Most of the grain grew in fields belonging to non-Jews, and therefore, according to this heter, it carries no chadash prohibition.
- The warning that comes with it: According to this reason one must warn Jews who have grain in their own fields, that for their own private grain this heter does not exist and the prohibition of chadash does apply.
The Mishnah Berurah's conclusion
"Now, although we are not in a position to protest against those who are lenient, nevertheless every God-fearing person should not rely on these leniencies, and should be strict with himself as much as he can, for according to many of the great Rishonim it is a Torah prohibition in every case."
(Mishnah Berurah, s.k. 45)
- Two statements: On the one hand, we do not protest against those who are lenient; on the other hand, a ba'al nefesh should not rely on these leniencies, since according to many of the great Rishonim this is a Torah prohibition even outside Eretz Yisrael.
- The Gra's view (s.k. 54): The Mishnah Berurah notes that the Gra too was strict about chadash like any other Torah prohibition.
Two traditions: the Litvaks and the Chassidim
- Those who follow the Gra: In their approach there is no distinction between the Land and outside the Land, and chadash applies abroad exactly as it does in Eretz Yisrael. Consequently there is no heter other than the Omer offering, and when there is no Omer, according to the times we explained, all summer grain remains forbidden.
- Those who rely on the Bach: Many Chassidic communities rely on the Bach's heter. The Bach himself did not set out to create a new leniency. He started from the assumption that for generations upon generations people had been lenient outside Eretz Yisrael, and it is impossible that all those great men were mistaken; so he searched for the halachic reasoning that had never been spelled out, and he identified it in the fact that most grain grows in non-Jews' fields.
- The main need was for drinking: The heter was needed not only for eating but chiefly for drinking, for example whiskey made from grain.
- Where a person's own decision comes in: The Bach preceded the Chassidic movement, and even so many Chassidic groups based their practice on him. Practically speaking, each person follows the tradition of his forebears.
The story of the Bach and the cooling of Gehinnom
- The first version: It is told that the Baal Shem Tov heard in a dream that forty days before the Bach's passing they cooled down Gehinnom, and he wondered what merit this was that the wicked should be granted a respite. He was answered that this was the merit of the Bach, who found a heter for chadash, and by doing so gave halachic backing to all the earlier generations who had been lenient.
- Another version: Some say the story goes differently: Gehinnom was cooled so that the Bach would be able to pass through it, and when he passed through he took the souls of the wicked out with him and raised them up from there. The main point is not the cooling itself but the taking out.
The Mishnah Berurah continues: wheat brought from distant places
"Know further, that although a number of Acharonim wrote that with wheat there is no concern at all that it might be chadash, in a place where the majority was certainly sown in the month of Cheshvan, nevertheless today, when the practice is to bring wheat by railroad from distant places, and it is known that in the interior of Russia there are many places where wheat is sown in the summer and chadash is found there almost more than yashan, therefore if one knows that the flour came from there he must be careful about it in the winter months, for by then the flour has already been made from the new crop."
(Mishnah Berurah, s.k. 45)
- Reality changed: Someone living in a place where everything grown was winter grain could say he had no problem. But once grain began arriving by train and by ship from far away, nobody knows where his flour came from.
- The interior of Russia: There are places there where nothing at all is grown in winter because of the cold, so they sow in the summer, and there chadash is more common than yashan.
- Beer and the remaining laws: The Mishnah Berurah refers us to Yoreh De'ah for the subject of beer and the rest of the laws of chadash, which is where they primarily belong. Those who are strict are strict with beer as well, while those who rely on the Bach's heter are lenient with beer too, and in fact it was precisely because people were so lenient with beer that he understood that this had been the practice from time immemorial and that a justification had to be found for it. The Biur Halachah takes the matter up again: some are strict with beer and some are lenient with it just as they were lenient with everything else.
Kali and karmel
The Torah says: "And bread and kali and karmel you shall not eat," and we need to clarify what kali is and what karmel is.
"Kali: kernels of the five species mentioned, roasted."
(Mishnah Berurah, s.k. 46)
"Karmel: that is, rubbed out by hand."
(Mishnah Berurah, s.k. 47)
- The meaning of the word karmel: "Kar" denotes soft and "mal" denotes rubbing, that is, one rubs it in his hands and extracts the soft kernels.
- What they have in common: Even though grain rubbed out by hand is not kali, it falls under karmel, and it too is forbidden. Whether the grain was baked, or roasted, or rubbed by hand, or nothing at all was done to it, all of it falls under the prohibition of chadash.
- Forms not addressed: It remains to consider the status of a form of preparation that is neither bread nor kali nor karmel, for instance a cooked dish made in some particular way; there is no clear ruling on that here.
When it becomes permitted
- The sixteenth of Nisan: Even though the Omer offering is what permits the new grain, after the Destruction the new crop was forbidden for the whole of the sixteenth, because the verse says "until this very day," and this was the enactment of Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai.
- In Eretz Yisrael: From the night of the seventeenth of Nisan onward it is permitted to eat from the new crop.
- Outside Eretz Yisrael: Because of the second day of Yom Tov, it becomes permitted on the eighteenth of Nisan.
Taste absorbed in utensils
"The Acharonim wrote that even those who are careful about chadash are not careful about what is given off by utensils, unless it is clear to him that something chadash was cooked in it."
(Mishnah Berurah, s.k. 45)
- The basic ruling: Even those who are careful about chadash itself are not careful about taste released from utensils, unless it is clear to them that something chadash was cooked in that utensil.
- The stringency of great men: The Sha'agas Aryeh and the Gra were strict even about taste released from utensils, and therefore when they traveled they carried their own utensils with them, out of concern that the host with whom they were staying ate chadash and had cooked it in his utensils.
A challenge to the Chassidic practice, and the answer
- The challenge: One of the rabbanim questioned the Chassidic practice: they are extremely strict about matzah sheruyah (matzah soaked in liquid), which is a stringency upon a stringency, and they are meticulous about every detail of it, yet with chadash, which is far more serious, they rely on the Bach.
- The answer: One of the Chassidic leaders answered that there is a fundamental difference here. With matzah sheruyah, a person who is strict with himself harms no one; whoever wishes eats, whoever wishes abstains. But if a person declares that chadash is forbidden outside Eretz Yisrael, he is casting a slur on all the previous generations of Jews who lived abroad and ate from it, as if to say that all the rabbanim of earlier generations transgressed a prohibition. And this itself is one of the foundations upon which the Bach's ruling stands.
- Being strict with oneself: The Gra, who was strict about taste released from utensils, did not tell others that it was forbidden to them; he was strict with himself. A person may be strict with himself as long as he does not cast aspersions on others.
In passing · the kashrus of imported products today
- Two kinds of import: Some companies import products into Eretz Yisrael relying on the kashrus certification from abroad, and some also request approval from the Rabbanut here.
- What the overseas certification does not check: Kashrus organizations abroad do not relate to the prohibition of chadash, since a large part of the public there is lenient about it, in line with all the reasons we explained. They supervise meat and milk and all the other laws, but not chadash.
- Personal imports and gifts: Someone who receives a product brought in from abroad as a personal import or as a gift, and sees an overseas kashrus symbol on it, cannot conclude from that that there is no chadash concern.
- Rabbanut approval in Eretz Yisrael: A product that also went through the Rabbanut in Eretz Yisrael, where they are alert to the chadash problem, is a different matter, and there one should pay attention to what is written on the certification.
- Large-scale grain imports: As for the enormous quantities of grain brought into the country for the large bakeries, including what was brought in recent years from Ukraine, presumably there is supervision, but the subject has not been properly investigated and there is no ruling here.
- Local produce: With produce grown in Eretz Yisrael itself there is almost no problem, since all the grain here is winter grain and summer grain is not a reality in this country. The problem in Eretz Yisrael stems from the large-scale importing of grain products.
In passing · the power of tzaddikim to bring souls out of Gehinnom
- The idea: The idea that a tzaddik raises souls out of Gehinnom appears in many places, through the prayers and pleas of tzaddikim, and all the more so when they pass through there themselves.
- David and Avshalom: After Avshalom was killed, David HaMelech said, "My son Avshalom, Avshalom my son, my son," and Chazal said that he said "my son" seven times in order to raise him up from the seven chambers of Gehinnom.
- Avraham Avinu and the milah: Avraham Avinu sits at the entrance of Gehinnom, and when a person has a bris milah he tries to prevent his being brought in, though sometimes a multitude of sins tips the scale.
- The halachah that emerges from this: The Shulchan Aruch rules that a child who passes away before the eighth day is circumcised after death, so that his soul may rise upward and Avraham Avinu will say that he has a bris milah. And although a small child has no sins of his own, since he passed away there is something of the notion that he carries something that is not his own.
- Women: The Gemara in Avodah Zarah says of women "they are considered as though circumcised," that is, they are regarded as one who has been circumcised and need no milah, and they have this merit automatically.
- Born circumcised: He is not circumcised again; rather, only hatafas dam bris is performed, drawing a drop of covenantal blood.
- Rabbi Nachman's words: He spoke in praise of the bond between the tzaddik and his disciple, that he would pull him out even by a strand of his hair.