Using Tea Bags on Shabbat

Using Tea Bags on Shabbat Day: Sunday Date: June 22, 2014 Parshat: Hukat Yalkut Yosef: 318 If one is using tea bags on Shabbat, he may not pour hot water from a kli rishon onto them. However, if the tea bags were already cooked before Shabbat ideally he should first put the hot water into the cup and then put the tea bags. If that is not an option, he may pour the hot water directly onto the tea bags since they were already cooked before Shabbat. In this situation he does not need to wait for the tea bags to dry off. He may pour the hot water on them even if they are still wet. If the tea bags have not been cooked before Shabbat one should not put them into a kli sheni that is above the temperature of yad soledet bo. Instead he should either put them into a kli shlishi or wait until the kli sheni cools down somewhat. Our Hachamim teach us that iruy kli sheni, the pouring from a kli sheni, does not cook at all. Therefore one may pour from a kli sheni directly onto tea bags or any other raw food on Shabbat even if the kli sheni is above yad soledet bo. The DSH is brought to you in memory of Rabbi Mordechai ben Daniel. Please visit us online at sephardichalacha.org