Question:
Friday night, our guest, who was not feeling well and had a cold, went to make tea for himself from our Shabbat urn (he’s Sephardic and makes tea on Shabbat using multiple cups). After he made himself a few cups, another guest in the room made herself tea as well. We realized there was barely any water left in the urn. When our housekeeper heard us comment on not having hot water for coffee the next day, she went to fill the urn with boiling water from our water system by the sink (that we use only during the week). We didn’t want to make her feel bad for doing something wrong, since it was clear she wanted to help. We offered her a cup of tea so that at least the water she was putting in would be for her benefit, but she didn’t want any. However, now that we knew whether the water inside the urn could be used, we didn’t use it the following morning for coffee or for anything else on Shabbat. I’m assuming there was no issue of bishul involved, since the urn was plugged in the entire time and the water she put in was boiling hot and didn’t change anything on the urn (which will switch to boiling mode if the water put in is cold). Still, we felt there may have been issues and were wondering what the Halacha is.
Thank you!
Answer:
Hello,
You acted correctly by not using the water on Shabbos, as you were not allowed to. When the non-Jewish housekeeper put the hot water from the water heater into the urn, there were several aspects of her actions that a Jew would not be allowed to do on Shabbos. The first is that the water in the hot water heater does not heat the water to the point of bubbling, therefore it isn’t considered “nisbashel kol tzorco”, and when it was placed in the urn, which is hotter than the boiler, the water is considered getting cooked and bishul[1]. A second issue is that the urn has a heating element that is not covered, and putting water into it on Shabbos appears to be cooking (“mechzi k’mibashel”). This would also make the water unusable on Shabbos, which will make the water prohibited[2] to use on Shabbos.
Best wishes
Sources:
[1] ע' אג"מ או"ח ח"ד סק ע"ד בישול אות כ"ד. וע' שולחן ערוך אורח חיים סימן רנג סעיף א "ואם שכח ושהה, אם הוא תבשיל שבישל כל צרכו, מותר אפי' הוא מצטמק ויפה לו; ואם הוא תבשיל שהתחיל להתבשל ולא בישל כל צרכו, אסור עד מוצאי שבת; ואם עבר ושהה אסור בשניהם. הגה: עד בכדי שיעשו (הגה"א ורמב"ם). ואם החזירה א"י בשבת, דינו כשכח ושהה (הג"א)". ממילא כאן שהמים לא נתבשלו כ"צ אסור להשתמש בהם.
[2] משנה ברורה סימן רנג ס"ק לה "ואם החזירו ישראל - בשבת אפילו בשוגג דינו כעבר ושהה במזיד ואסור אם מצטמק ויפה לו והטעם דמחמרינן בחזרה טפי מבשהיה משום דקעביד מעשה ועיין במ"א שפסק דלאחרים שרי בזה מאחר שהיה מבושל קודם כ"צ והיה שוגג".
