Meat & Milk: Waiting in Between - Rabbi Shlomo Cohen

[Music] we're told that after eating meat and after we need to wait before we're able to eat milk why do we need to wait after the meat and how long do we need to wait the mentions two reasons says that we have to wait 6 hours between meat and milk after you've eaten meat you have to wait 6 hours before you eat milk the raore says that you only have to wait wait one hour one hour is sufficient after waiting an hour you can already straight away eat milk and there's another custom that has come up which is 3 hours it doesn't seem to have much of a source in Jewish literature but there's so many people that keep this three hours that you can't argue really today that there isn't such a custom a such a custom seems to have developed of of waiting three hours so we have these three these three opinions as to how long you have to wait the reason why you have to wait 6 hours says the the there's an argument between the RAM and the tour what the reason is the rambam says the reason you need to wait 6 hours is because maybe meat was caught between your teeth when you eat meat very often you get pieces of meat caught between your teeth do you have if you find a piece of meat between your teeth do you have to now wait another 6 hours after you found the meat or no says the rambam that once meat has been between your teeth in your mouth for 6 hours it's no longer meat right it's not considered as meat anymore so if you were to find a piece of meat between your teeth 6 hours after you finished eating a steak you don't have to now wait another 6 hours you count the 6 hours from the beginning from the time when you sat down to eat the steak right we don't pay any attention to the fact that there was meat stuck between your teeth but says the rambam that's the reason why you need to wait 6 hours another reason which the tour mentions is that because of the fat that's inside most meat that taste the taste of the meat will stay in your stomach for 6 hours after you finished eating the meat and that's what we don't want that's what we don't want that mixture of that taste of the meat to be mixed with the milk and that's the reason why you need to wait 6 hours after eating meat before you can eat milk the difference between these two two opinions would be the nafina would be what if a mother were to chew meat in order to soften it up and feed her child so she never swallowed it if she never swallowed it so the reason of having the taste of the meat in a stomach wouldn't exist but there would still be the problem of meat that was stuck between the teeth so the the tells us that we have to be M for both opinions and therefore even someone who just show chewed up meat for a baby would have to wait 6 hours even though the other opinion doesn't apply because we're M for both opinions the opinion that we have to wait one hour is to' opinion theore brings it the the the the Yer Community today you can find plenty of people that still keep one hour but generally the generally accepted custom amongst the Bor is that they wait 6 hours after meat but as I said someone who's waiting 3 hours because that's what they've grown up with as that's also considered as an acceptable acceptable Uh custom of course even according to the raore that you need just one hour you would also need of course and to wash out your mouth and to clean it to make sure your mouth is clean and it doesn't have you don't have any meat in your mouth even that hour afterwards so what about the other way around though what about after you've had cheesee do you need to wait between cheese and meat or after cheese can you straight away eat meat so here we find an argument between the and the the opinion of the is that you never need to wait after cheese while there more says that you do need to wait depending on whether the cheese was hard for hard matured cheese he says you need to wait 6 hours whereas for soft cheese it would generally be accepted that it would be enough for you to just check your hands and clean your mouth and straight away after that You' already be able to eat meat if the cheese was soft cheese some people have the custom after soft cheese of also waiting half an hour but no more than that the question comes with hard cheese with hard cheese we find that there are different Customs one custom is that people wait 6 hours after a hard cheese one one custom is that they would wait 1 hour and another custom that we find mentioned is it depends on how long the cheese was matured for a cheese that was matured for one month you wait 1 hour if it was matured for two months 2 hours and so on up until a maximum of six of six six hours a cheese that was matured for six seven 8 9 10 months you'd wait 6 hours after that before eating meat um the Taz mentions this custom right that if the cheese was matured for 6 months I'm sorry I said before it was the raore that says that it's not there more the the the the the Taz says that for M cheese that was matured for six months you would wait for 6 hours so that's with ch hard matured cheeses we find these different these different these different Customs amongst the ashkenazim generally the two Customs all to wait after after a a hard cheese 6 hours or 1 hour and amongst the sadim there are maybe three different Customs the Benish says that it depends on how long the cheese was matured for you wait an hour for each month of preparation says that you would wait an hour after hard matured cheese and R says you don't need to wait at all which is what the says that there's no reason to wait at all the question question that many people have is what what about our yellow cheeses let me just say something else um it's very if you go to the OU site on cashroot there they have lists of cheeses and they tell you how long each cheese was matured for and so you can know to decide or to discuss with your Rabbi as to whether you need to wait after that cheese and for how long it's a very very useful application that they have there the question a lot of people ask is with the yellow cheese that we have nowadays which is although it's hard we know it's a processed cheese which is made in a very very short time it's certainly not like the old um special cheeses that are matured for months it's made industrially very very quickly do you need to wait after that cheese so here also we find an argument amongst the poim rivash his opinion was that you don't need to wait six hours after any soft cheese and that would apply after eating a pizza as well right you'd have to wait 6 hours while while ra Fisher used to say that in with our uh cheeses with our yellow cheeses half an hour is enough they're considered like the soft cheeses half an hour would be enough to wait after them before you eat meat and uh as I said amongst the we' find different Customs and's opinion is he wouldn't need to wait at all what about after fish fish after meat or meat after fish right we know that we don't eat meat and fish together do you need to wait after them here there's no h of waiting there's no reason to wait at all between fish and meat all you need to do is to make sure that your hands and your mouth are clean how do you clean your mouth you just if you by chewing a piece of bread that's going to clean out the fish that's in your mouth um another way is to drink a drink some schnaps that's also another way of getting out the the The Taste the final Taste of the fish from your mouth before you want to eat meat so that's all that's needed between fish and meat there's no other separation we we don't eat the two of them together but uh there's no reason to wait between one and the other thank you