In a Pickle

However, that Gemara was only discussing dry produce. Rebbi Elazar also states (Pesachim 115a) that one must wash before eating any food dipped in a liquid, as wet foods are more susceptible to tum’ah. While some Rishonim disagree, the Shulchan Aruch requires hand washing (without a bracha) before eating wet food, just as one does for bread. The Vilna Gaon, spearheading the stringent opinion, rules that washing before consuming wet foods is definitely mandatory, holding that it’s a big dill and one should wash with a blessing as if he were eating bread!

With these conflicting views, the consumer is left in a kosher dill-emma. The Lechem Chamudos allowed a lenient custom to ferment among the populace, noting that common practice was to not to wash. The Mishnah Berurah, however, advises against the Lechem Chamudos, ruling that one should wash without a bracha. Meanwhile, the Aruch HaShulchan (O.C. 158:4) notes that most people in his day weren’t stringent and skipped netilas yadayim for wet pickles, even when not in a crunch.

The Chofetz Chaim adds that for wet food smaller than a kezayis, one may be lenient. Interestingly, he added a footnote on this point in the second printing of the Mishnah Berurah, writing: “However, from the Tur (in Hilchos Pesach), it seems not this way. And my opinion is null compared to his.”

The Tur requires washing for karpas on Pesach night even though our custom is to use a vegetable smaller than an olive. (If karpas were a full kezayis, you’d be over a barrel, potentially forced to say a bracha acharonah in the middle of the Seder when the ha’adamah ought to cover the maror as well.)

Since the volumes of the Mishnah Berurah were published sequentially, the fifth volume (covering hilchos Pesach) came out after volume two was already in its second printing. There, the Chofetz Chaim shares a jar-ring revelation: “I found a source that supports me! The Rashbatz holds that one should specifically use karpas the size of an olive, as otherwise hand washing is not required!”

Lest you think I’m gherkin your chain, there’s a story that the Chofetz Chaim once passed a sign announcing his arrival in town as the “author of Mishnah Berurah on all of Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim.” He didn’t exactly relish the opportunity for unearned honor; he promptly took out a pen and updated the sign to read: “Author of the Mishnah Berurah on Shulchan Aruch until siman so-and-so!”

In the sefer, Reb Reuven Feinstein on the Haggadah, a story is told: Rav Moshe’s grandson, Harav Dovid Beinish, shlita, was eating wet grapes in front of his grandfather and began drying them off. Rav Moshe, zt”l, told him it wasn’t necessary, following the Aruch HaShulchan’s view based on his local custom. The Haggadah notes that under this custom, the entire reason we wash for karpas is because we don’t wash for wet vegetables the rest of the year. It piques the children’s curiosity at the Seder.

Returning to Bobby Bolen: the initial premise was just being cuke. Even if you follow the Mishnah Berurah on wet foods, washing is only required before eating them, not before handling them or using them as projectiles!

In Eretz Yisrael, serving Yerushalmi kugel with a pickle at a kiddush is “vlassic.” Rav Shlomo Zalman’s ruling here can get you out of a pickle: since the pickle is tafel (secondary) to the kugel, no washing is needed for the combination. (It would seem to depend on the intention of the eater.)

While this might spark a vinegar-ous debate, the fact that Yerushalmi kugel can be wet or dripping with oil doesn’t change things. First, hand washing is only triggered by the “seven liquids”: wine, bee honey, olive oil, milk, dew, water, and blood (which is forbidden anyway). Oil other than olive oil doesn’t require washing.

Second, kugel is usually eaten with a fork, and foods eaten with cutlery don’t require hand washing even if consumed by hand (M.B. 158:26).

Hopefully, these halachic insights will ferment into a clearer understanding the next time you reach for a bite!