Odah Beyado: If a Pot is Too Heavy to Hold
There are several conditions that have to be met to allow replacing a pot of soup, cholent, or other cooked food on the blech (an aluminum sheet used on Shabbos to cover the fire, and preferably the knobs as well) after taking out some of the food. Whereas there are some poskim who are lenient and allow a pot to be put back the blech as long as the food is still hot, without meeting all the other conditions, in practice one should be stringent and adhere to them.
We will discuss how one of the conditions, odah beyado (the pot is still in his hands), is met:
- One constantly holds the pot in one’s hand while removing the desired food, without putting it down.
- If the pot is too heavy to hold one may rest it on the countertop, or other surface, while continually supporting it with their hand. For it to be considered odah beyado it must be done in such a manner that if they would stop supporting it, the pot would fall.
From Halacha2Go Archives
#414
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