Doubled Kiddush Cups and Vacation Sundry
Rabbi Moshe Taub
January, 2024
“Can one toivel a new utensil in the various lakes surrounding Champions Gate in Orlando?”
I get this question at least once every ‘Yeshiva Week’.
For those unfamiliar with the above neologistic term for winter vacation -as I was when I first arrived in Queens- do not fret, as it has its own Wikipedia entry!
“Yeshiva Week is the informal term for a vacation period occurring annually in mid to late January, in which many Jewish day schools and yeshivas afford time off to their students. It is primarily a North American phenomenon…”
Rabbanim could give weeks’ worth of shiurim focusing only on the most common ‘vacation’ shailos.
From the common:
“We are driving to Florida and will be breaking up the trip with a hiking trail/park where we will also be spending the night. Would a new teffilas haderech be required the next morning when we get back on the road toward Florida?”
To this classic:
“May I ask or hint to hotel staff to open my hotel room door on Shabbos?” [See this author’s article in the yarchon HaEmek, 2005, “Ha’Milon B’Halacha” (hotels in halacha)]
When I lived in Buffalo, the most common shailah among visitors was:
“Does one make the beracha oseh maaseh bereishis upon seeing Niagara Falls?”
I had the good fortune to discuss this latter shailah with many poskim who would frequent that shul, such as Rav Belsky and, lhbchl”ch, Rav Shlomo Miller.
Rav Asher Weiss was once davening by us and chose this question as his topic when he spoke to the shul following shacharis.
A summer guest visiting Buffalo once shared the following story:
Rav Dovid Feinstein and Rav Meir Zlotowitz were once travelling together, and arrived at the Grand Canyon. Rav Dovid expressed uncertainty if this same beracha of maaseh bereishis may be made. As they were conversing about the intricacies of the question, the sky precipitously darkened and suddenly began to grumble. A crash of lightning ignited the darkened atmosphere, if for a moment. That was enough time to be able to say the beracha (on the lightning) and have the Grand Canyon in mind!
One may think that there is a need for a unique sefer focusing only on the myriad potential as the most common vacation shailos, if not for the fact that some sefarim already include sections on that topic. For example, one of the chelakim of ‘Shoshanas Yisroel’ (Toronto, 2021), by Rav Mordechai Kanner, has an entire subsection dedicated to inyanei chofesh, along with the psakim of Rav Shlomo Miller.
In this post we will focus mainly on just one ‘vacation shailah’. I am choosing this question because it is not only common when away for a Shabbos, but also arises from time-to-time even when at home.
This shaliah may also serve as a lesson in other ways, as we shall see.
May a disposable cup be used for kiddush on Shabbos? What about glass cups found in one’s hotel room/rented vacation home?
There are many issues here to unpack – pun intended – and we will seek both clarity and brevity.
However, we must start at the beginning:
The Shulchan Aruch (siman 271:10) rules that the kos kiddush shares its rules with the halachos for the kos of bentching (siman 183).
Among other rules, this would. mean that the kos for kiddush mustn’t be:
- cracked
- chipped
- have holes
While a wobbly base may be fine, it is best to use another nice kos if available.
If no other kos is available, many posit that one may then use a damaged one, so long as it fulfills the most basic requirement of kiddush:
- It must securely hold a reviis of wine (between 3.5 and 5.5oz), without leaking.
If even this is unattainable, then I suggest that one should simply make kiddush on the actual bottle of wine! (I infer this from the words of Rav Vosner, Kovetz M’Beis Levi, vol. 3, p. 70; this is also explicitly stated in Piskei Teshuvos, siman 271 note 246; Rav Scheinberg is also quoted saying the same by Rabbi Simcha Bunim Cohen, The Radiance of Shabbos, p.82 note 4).
While all normal cup material (e.g. glass, ceramic, plastic, etc.) would be acceptable, it must be a serviceable utensil; a usable kos. Of course, there is a hiddur mitzvah -as with many mitzvos – to seek silver.
Relating to the popularity of using silver for mitzvos, a quick-yet-fascinating aside: Why is silver sought, and not the more prominent gold? Why aren’t there ‘Gold Stores’ in Lakewood and Yerushalaim?
Some explain this ‘silver custom’ as stemming from the fact that ‘kos’ is the same gematria as ‘elokim’, a name of Hashem that represents His din/strict justice. To balance this, we avoid gold which too represents din due to the chet of the egel hazahav/golden calf. In addition, silver balances the ‘din’, as it represents rachamim/mercy (see Kaf Hachaim; perhaps this is due to the mitzvos that are performed through silver, e.g. pidyon haben).
Indeed, the Chovas Yair states that while all ordinary materials are fine, if one had a choice between silver or glass, silver should be chosen.
Surprisingly, Rav Yaakov Emden quotes his father the Chacham Tzvi that when one is faced with such a choice – glass is preferred! Although the latter is a minority opinion, it is based on a chazal (berachos 51) and a halacha (271:10) that urges one to gaze at the kos shel beracha during kiddush (in addition to looking at the Shabbos neros). The Chacham Tzvi understands this as meaning looking at the actual wine inside the kos (see Kovetz Halachos, Shabbos vol. 1, p. 387 note 23 for more sources).1
Either way, glass (and all common materials) would certainly be acceptable for kiddush, and almost all hotels and vacation homes have glass cups. Could these, possibly-treif, cups be used for kiddush?
Without getting into the minutia, many respected vaadim allow caterers to utilize a hotels’ (cleaned) glassware for cold items and beverages. If you’ve ever attended a kosher gala or event at a fancy location the chances are high that you drank from such a glass (and sefardim are even more lenient regarding glass).
But assuming such glasses aren’t available, or if one’s rav says they should be avoided (perhaps due to wine/whiskey’s charif status), could disposable plastic cups be utilized?
‘Plastic’ or ‘Paper’ is not the issue; rather it its intended disposability.
Is a one-time use cup considered a halachic ‘cup/utensil’?
The same question would be true for those new ‘fancy’ kos-like disposables, that are made to look like silver kosos, are cheap plastic, and come in packs of twenty.
Never mind their look, if the driving intention of both its manufacturer and the consumer is for one-time use, these ‘fancy plastics’ may be no different than cups from Walmart.
(Our question is not to include those flimsy paper cups found by water coolers which are most certainly unacceptable – as it can’t hold liquid with any confidence).
In 1968, Rav Moshe Feinstein confirmed (Igros Moshe, oh”c, 3:39) that he indeed doesn’t allow even the stronger disposables for kiddush. Although, he writes, if one is stuck one “…may have reason to be lenient”.
Others, such as Rav Nissan Karelitz, are more pragmatic, stating that if in one’s region such cups are at times used more than once (like on vacation, perhaps) then conceivably they may be used for kiddush (Chut Shani, shabbos, vol. 4 p. 95).
Others, such as Rav Scheinberg, fully allow plastic throwaways to be used for kiddush, stating that they have the status of a full-fledged utensil.
If one is stuck it would seem best to use either the hotel glass cup or a non-paper disposable cup.
What about those who we see double-up a plastic cup and then make kiddush? Does this help in any way?
I would contend that this practice is derived from a misplaced halachic memory; a remnant from the days of cheap paper cups, when, in a situation where one had to rely on disposables, one would have to double-it; just so it wouldn’t leak the shiur!
It seems to me, la”d, that this has no relevance to our stronger disposables (however, some talmidei chachamim may still be doubling up plastic disposables for another reason: in case those watching will copy him one day, and do so with flimsy cups. By showing them the doubling option, he is saving them of a potential future halachic dilemma)
There is a deeper message in all of this: being consistent in halacha.
While it may appear as a chumrah to say one should avoid, if possible, disposable cups for kiddush, this psak also contains a kulah. The reason why most don’t toivel (aluminum) disposable pans is because their very disposability blocks its status as a true kli/utensil! (Although, there’s a way to make both these leniencies compatible – as a pan cannot easily be used a second time after a baking/roasting, as opposed to a cup which is easily washable).
One can’t enjoy the benefits of its non-kli status by hilchos tevila, while also enjoying its kli status for kiddush!
Halacha is not about leniency or stringency, just consistency.
- Once, when sharing these halachos to 12th grade Bais Yaakov girls, one student made a haunting suggestion: “Perhaps we use silver and not gold because silver tarnishes. This is a reminder that frequent mitzvos need to be ‘polished’ from time-to-time, so as not to become stale. ↩︎
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