Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Boston Tea Party

No, this wasn't a dramatic re-enactment of history's most infamous tea party. Our 4th grade tea party provided a hands-on application of some of the laws we've studied about kli rishon and kli sheini.

Some halachic authorities fear that tea bags can undergo a "cooking" (bishul) process when they come into contact with boiling hot water. As such, alternative methods are proposed:

1. Make tea "essence" in advance of Shabbat. Adding hot water to the essence does not pose any bishul problems.

2. Use a kli shlishi for the tea bag. This requires a "double transfer" of the hot water. Example: Hot water urn -> cup #1 -> cup #2. You can put the tea bag in cup #2 (kli shlishi) without running the risk of bishul.

Students made themselves a cup of tea using the prescribed method above and got to see first-hand what constitutes a kli rishon vs. a kli sheini.

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