Purim - 5781

Purim - 5781 Rabbi Hal Miller (Reminder: It is traditional that on Purim we read "Purim Torah". These are fashioned in the same way as regular divrei Torah, but are humorous, nonsensical, and often just plain silly. Any "rulings" of law herein are expressly disclaimed as being jokes, not serious.... Oh, and bear in mind you're supposed to be a little schicker when you read it. --HM) Those of you who have been following my writings over the past fifteen-plus years are aware of the "Halachos of" series I put out for Purim each year. This year, our discussion topic is: The Halachos Of

Dish Soap.

Dish soap? Some people will tell you, "Absolutely does not need certification, don't be ridiculous."

Well, not so fast. Let us look a little deeper than the level of "I heard" or "everybody does it".

-- We begin with the question, what is dish soap? On a very simple level, it is just soap that one uses

to clean dishes and other cooking utensils. It comes in two broad types, one for dishwashing machines

and one for hand washing in the sink. When there are multiple types of something, there must be

differences significant enough to justify the separate manufacture. What are the differences here, and

are they significant in halacha?

The primary purpose of both types of dish soap is the same, ending up with dishes cleaned from any

remnant of foodstuff, burned material, or any other organic or inorganic matter. So why are there two?

Try putting hand-type soap in a machine and you'll be cleaning the kitchen for hours from the soap

suds spread all around. Something in the ingredient lists is different. While it may not have much

impact upon us to remember which to use when, the fact that there are different sets of ingredients

is relevant. Permissibility of one does not guarantee permissibility of the other.

There are other uses for dish soap. Does that fact impact the halachos? For example, dish soap is a

pretty good degreasant in which one can soak automobile parts during a repair job. While one is not

likely to eat or drink the remaining mixture of soap and grease thus kashrut is presumably not an issue,

how is one allowed to dispose of it at the end of its use? Does it require some method different from

what dirty dishwater gets? This is a matter of the law of the government in the land in which we live,

and we know from other sources that we are bound by halacha to follow such laws.

Dish soap also comes in either liquid or powder form, to say nothing of different packaging types.

We can safely ignore the packaging differences as the Sages of the Talmud were not bound by

Madison Avenue. But the liquid (or gel, which may or may not be different) versus the powder needs

to be addressed. Certainly the ingredient lists must differ in these products to reach the different

stable states. However, the halachos involved, as opposed to the science, are the same as in the

differences between hand and machine types, so we can accept the same answers for both cases.

- What can possibly be an issue with dish soap that we need laws concerning it? In the laws of the

kashrut of food items there are many halachos dealing with ta'aruvot, mixtures. The law most well known

is the prohibition of mixing meat and milk, but there are many others, and even that one is not so simple.

For example, the law deals with a situation where some milk drips into a skillet of meat. While not directly

relevant, there is discussion there about the two food items touching. Do those rules apply here? First

we need to understand whether those rules apply only to food items or whether it is more expansive. If

the former, then we would say the touching of soap and a plate is only a problem if the soap is food. If

the latter, then we have not yet resolved anything.

Some hold that soap is not a food. The CRC, for example, lists dish soap as a product that needs no

certification, even for Pesach. On the other hand, the OU lists 49 approved and certified dish soap

products, half of which (well, 24 to be exact, 49 being an odd number) do not require special certification

for Pesach, but the others do. Chabad brings a reconciliation between these two positions. They first

note, as we did, that some products use ingredients made from non-kosher products such as animal fat.

Using the Gemora in Avodah Zara 67b-68a, they note the majority position is that "Strictly speaking, no

kashrut certification is required on soaps and detergents", which is a rather loaded and worrisome way

to tell us not to worry about it, especially since they then go on to explain that some do hold that dish

soap touching food or someone eating the soap intentionally is problematic, thus those who are

strict with halacha should take precaution to avoid these situations. This explains why some agencies

give a certification and others do not. This answer also apparently bypasses the worry about whether

soap is a food item.

What about the situation where someone intentionally eats dish soap (regardless of method of

preparation)? Is it a food that must then be treated that way in the community as a whole? For that one

individual? Certainly, the law is that when one person does something the rest of us do not, his action

does not establish law for the entire community. If his intentional ingesting of soap is in fact a problem,

it's a problem for him, not us. Except if we need to clean up afterward, but that's a different halacha.

So does it commit him to treat it as a food? If the ingredient mix of the bottle he ate from is known, he

may find himself committed (in many ways) to a korban for eating treif or some mixture of meat and

dairy, but the later authorities seem split on this. Given that most of the halachos involved are rabbinic

rather than from the Torah, we can rule leniently.

- What about Pesach? The Torah commands that we remove all chametz and leavening from our

homes and ownership for the period of Pesach. If the dish soap is made with any amount of chametz

do we need to get rid of it? From the above, it would seem that the OU would say yes, but the CRC

would say no. If we rule strictly on the "touching" issue or the "soap is a food" issue above, then we

have a problem and must stick with the OU here. But if we determine that dish soap is not a food and

cannot contaminate other foods by mere touching, we can stick with the CRC. A simple solution may

allow us to reconcile these positions, that of chametz nukshe, which means that if the chametz is

not and cannot be considered edible, we may be okay. The classic case is when someone makes a

stool out of dough, covers it liberally with polyurethane plastic, and uses it as a seat. We consider

that it is no longer chametz and can keep it. Of course, not many of us with dogs do this.

- What if one makes a mistake? If in fact a given soap contains some animal product, are we allowed

to use it to wash dairy dishes? Certainly after the fact, we probably do not have an issue, but we

should be checking beforehand if possible. We can make the same arguments as above regarding

chametz nukshe that it is no longer in a form that is animal. We may be able to use the concept of

"ben yomo", that the soap wasn't 'cooked' for more than a day, but this usually requires more study.

We could also apply the rule of sofek sfeikah, a doubt upon a doubt. Since we are not sure whether

this particular dish soap has such an ingredient, and we are not actually sure that it would still be

called meat in this set of circumstances, we may be able to proceed. Another possibility is the

concept of nullification, that the amount of animal product is so minute that we consider it gone.

Other than Pesach, where "any amount" is a problem, we can probably get around a mistake.

If there is a mistake, the next question is how one recovers. It would seem self-contradictory to use

the soap to clean for rekashering. While some utensils can fairly easily be rekashered, many can

not. Are we to rule on this chain of doubts that people must spend a lot of money to recover from

this possible mistake? When dealing with a Torah prohibition, the answer is yes, but this is rabbinic,

so we would likely be lenient.

- In summary, most poskim rule leniently on shailot involving dish soap, certainly wherever they

can. Those who are strict with themselves on the mitzvot might consider being strict here and

sticking with products that have reliable certification, especially for Pesach, but those who are not

quite as strict with themselves will not lose by applying these other opinions.