May One Make Whipped Coffee on Shabbos?

November, 2020

Whipped Coffe & Shabbos Naps

The holy Tchebiner Rav, Rav Dov Beresh Weidenfeld (d. in Yerushalim, 1961) was a rav in Trzebinia, Poland, just outside of Auschwitz. The great historian of Galiztieneh gedolim, R’ Meir Vunder records that when the famous Nazi propaganda newspaper, ‘Der Sturmer’, published the caption ‘The Three Greatest Talmudic Scholars’, Rav Weidenfeld was one of the three pictures – along with the rebbes of Belz and Gur. Due to this underside ‘publicity’ he was in grave danger, and escaped with his family to Lvov/Lemberg. He was soon taken by the Russians and sent to a labor camp in Siberia. While many made efforts to save him, he always refused, exclaiming that how can he save just his own family while his brethren were left behind!? (To read more about this amazing gadol, read the wonderful biography, ‘Sar HaTorah: The Life and Times of Hagaon Harav Dov Berish Weidenfeld’, Israel Press)

 Since the story I will share in a moment involves sleep, let me share one last anecdote about his life. Rabbi Paysach Krohn records (ATMT, p. 160) that when he was older and needed surgery, the doctors feared that he may not wake up from the anesthesia.

What did he do? Well, he had the surgery, but put his teffilin on first. Since halacha forbids sleeping with teffilin (siman 44), his yiras shomayim was able to able to keep him from sleeping during the entire procedure!

A true gadol in Torah, yirah and in middos.

Now to our story. By 1946 he settled in Yerushalaim and was viewed as one of the gedolim and poskim of that city and the world.

One Shabbos afternoon there was a knock on his door. The Tchebiner Rav was laying down for a brief rest at the time and so at first did not hear it. Then another knock, and then another.

Thinking that perhaps there is an urgent shailah or concern, he quickly got up from his rest to answer the door.

Standing there was a young boy. “I have just finished a mesechta in yeshiva” exclaimed the child with innocent pride. “I was wondering of the rav can farher (test) me on it”.

This was and still is common practice, but to do so unprompted, and by the rav’s house no less, is unusual.

The Rav smiled, and responded to the request, “My sweet child. First, mazal tov! I would be delighted to farher you. But let me first ask you a question: If you knock on someone’s door Shabbos afternoon and there is no answer, and you knock again and there is still no answer, do you maybe consider that the person is laying down for a Shabbos nap?”

The boy responded, “Of course! I would never knock more than once if it was not urgent. However, this time, I was knocking on the Rav’s door –and it never even entered my mind that the holy Tchebener Rav would waste even a moment of his Shabbos afternoon napping”!

From that moment on, the Tchebener Rav never again napped on Shabbos!

Many rabbanim can relate to this story for a myriad of reasons. For one, many times the innocence of children puts the rav center stage. A child in the shul may be stuck on a Rashi somewhere in the middle of Tanach and will just assume that by telling me the pasuk I will be able to tell him what Rashi says.

But more, a knock on Shabbos afternoon is one of the most common features of the Rabbinate. Indeed, it is the last remnant of what it was like to be a rav in Europe. Before telephones and secretaries and email, knocking on the rav’s door was a daily part of the job.

However, like the Tcheibener Rav alluded, most people hesitate to knock on the rav’s door at this time, out of fear he is resting, so when they choose to do so it is usually an interesting question that they have.

This past Shabbos I received one of these knocks…and I was reminded for yet another reason of the holy Tchibener Rav.

Allow me to explain…

When I opened the door I saw two brothers standing there and still arguing –politely.

They explained that their meal went on longer than usual and they each wanted a coffee so that they could avoid a nap before Mincha.

The older brother went into the kitchen to make the two coffees, and yelled into the dining hall that he will be making each of them a ‘Whipped Coffee’.

The younger brother felt this was assur on Shabbos.

As I listened to the shailah, I realized we had a bigger problem – – -I didn’t know what a Whipped Coffee even was!

My wife quickly came to my rescue and described what it is. In fact, most readers likely know what this is, as it is all the rage now, along with other whipped beverages. Whipped Coffee, also known as Dalgona Coffee, exploded in popularity during the Covid lockdown.

Basically, one takes some instant coffee, sugar and hot water and beats it until it becomes a thick, foamy ‘drink’. It is so thick in fact, that many eat it with a spoon.

It is Shabbos afternoon, I am at home –while most of my sifrei halacha are at my shul office –and this was a complicated shailah.

Can one make this on Shabbos?

What follows is halacha v’lo l’maaseh, and everyone is urged to speak to their own rav.

The first thing that came to my mind was… the Tchibener Rav!

 In his shu’t Dovev Meisharim (1:55) he writes a tremendous chiddush (novel ruling), stating the just like one may not actively turn ice into water on Shabbos (by, say, crushing it; ice letting in a cup of soda on its own is fine), so too one may not turn water into ice on Shabbos. This is due to nolad, the rabbinical prohibition of creating ‘new’ items on Shabbos.

Based on this alone, it would seem that such Whipped Coffee would be forbidden to make on Shabbos, as one is changing the structure of an item.

However, most disagree with this opinion (see Piskei Teshuvos, Shabbos, chelek 2, p. 554 footnote 170 at great length for sources). 

Nevertheless, when it comes to, say, making Jell-O on Shabbos, Rav Vosner (shu’t Shevet Halevi 7:41) argues that one should be strict. Once again, this would seem to apply to Whipped Coffee where, like Jell-O, the structure of the food item is modified.

Finally, there seems to be another concern with this Whipped Coffee on Shabbos: the Shulchan Aruch rules (321:17) that one may not create mixtures on Shabbos that are of great effort and create a new entity. While it may be unclear how and when to apply this halacha, Whipped Coffee on Shabbos would take much time to create, making it certainly an effort. Further, it would seem to be a ‘new entity’; as the Pri Megadim (ad loc. #24) explains, any item that is manipulated in texture would seem to similar to the melacha of lush (kneading).

So, what did I tell the two arguing brothers? “I am not the Tchibener! I need my nap. Avoid the coffee for now. Let’s talk Mincha”!