What’s the Right ‘Whey’?

Shimon laughed. “Funny. It’s pareve. It literally says non-dairy.”

“Look at the back of the container,” Boruch said.

Shimon lifted the bottle, glanced at the back—and froze. Right there, next to the allergen statement, were the words: “Contains milk.” His eyes widened. “This is criminal!”

“Actually, it’s not,” Boruch replied. “The FDA allows it. They can market it as non-dairy since it only contains a milk derivative. It has sodium caseinate, not milk per se.”

Shimon shrugged. “But it’s only a small amount. It’s probably batel b’rov. So halachically, it’s pareve.”

Boruch shook his head. “There’s a problem with your logic. Bittul is typically used in accidental situations—like an inadvertent mix-up. But here? You purchased the product. A gentile could have bought it; no one needed to get involved in bittul. But since you bought it, we now have to analyze the ingredients and rely on bittul. That’s a violation of ein mevatlin issur l’chatchila—you can’t purposely nullify a non-kosher ingredient. By buying this creamer, you forced the need for bittul. It wasn’t accidental.”

Shimon leaned forward. “I’m pretty sure that’s a machlokes Acharonim. Others argue that the ingredient was already nullified on the shelf before I bought it. It makes no difference that a Jewish person purchased it.”

“Well,” Boruch countered, “even according to that opinion, you’re still out of luck. The ingredient panel says it contains less than 3% sodium caseinate. For something to be nullified, there must be sixty times more food than the problematic ingredient. The label would need to say, ‘Less than 1.6%’ to guarantee a 60:1 ratio.”

Shimon wasn’t convinced. “Hmm. But my coffee is mostly water. The milk ingredient is less than 3% of the creamer. Even if the creamer is ten percent of my coffee, there’s still over two hundred times more non-dairy than dairy ingredients. So it would be batel.”

“That,” Boruch said triumphantly, “is certainly violating ein mevatlin issur l’chatchila! It wasn’t batel even after you bought the bottle. It’s only batel now that you added it to the coffee.”

Shimon sighed. “Look, honestly, I don’t keep cholov Yisrael. But I am concerned because I’m fleishigs after that deli sandwich. Still, I’ll tell you something: HaRav Yisrael Belsky, zt”l, once saw me make coffee exactly like this, with this exact brand of creamer, after a fleishig meal, and he said nothing.”

Boruch smiled knowingly. “Nice story. But I personally asked Rav Yisrael Belsky, zt”l, about this exact question. I’m super makpid on cholov Yisrael. I asked if I could use this creamer, and he told me I cannot because it’s not cholov Yisrael!”

Shimon stared at him. “That’s not possible. Why wouldn’t Rabbi Belsky have said anything to me when he saw me using it after a fleishig meal?”

“Let’s call the OU and ask them,” Boruch suggested.

They put the phone on speaker.

The OU representative listened, then said, “This is a perfect riddle: Why would Rabbi Belsky say the non-dairy creamer is milchig to one person but act like it’s pareve to another? The answer is this:

“To someone who is very makpid on cholov Yisrael, even a tiny portion of non-cholov Yisrael milk is a forbidden ingredient. When that person buys the creamer, they are creating a situation where they would have to rely on bittul, so they are violating ein mevatlin issur l’chatchila.

“But the deli-sandwich eater—the one who doesn’t keep cholov Yisrael—views the creamer as completely kosher, just not pareve. For him, the rule of ein mevatlin issur l’chatchila doesn’t apply. The creamer is 100% kosher. After it’s added to coffee, the milk is batel, and even if it wouldn’t be batel, the resultant mixture would still be kosher.

“Therefore, since this is merely an issue of eating milchigs after fleishigs—not a kashrus issue—you can l’chatchila nullify the small amount of milk in your coffee and drink it after a fleishig meal. Rav Belsky, zt”l, clearly ruled this way.”

Shimon nodded slowly, lifted the cup, and took a long sip. The caffeine hit immediately. He straightened up, fully alert, opened his Gemara, and said with a grin:

“Alright. Now we can start the daf.”