May One Tell a Goy to Put Raw Food on the Plata

May One Tell a Goy to Put Raw Food on the Plata Day: Monday Date: August 25, 2015 Parshat: Shoftim Yalkut Yosef: 318 On Shabbat one may not put a pot of raw food on a plata connected to a timer that is off so that when the plata turns on the food will cook. Likewise one also may not a pot of raw food on the stove so that a non Jew will see it and turn on the fire. It goes without saying that one may not tell the goy to turn the fire on. Even if the food is fully cooked one may not have the goy turn on the fire to heat it. If the goy does so, one may not partake of the food the entire Shabbat even after it has cooled down. After Shabbat it may be eaten after the amount of time that it took to heat the food has passed. However a Sephardic person may instruct a goy on Shabbat to put onto the plata a liquid dish that has cooled down. Only things that are clearly asur to do may not be instructed to others to do. Since there is a mahloket whether or not one may put such a dish on the plata it is permissible to instruct the goy to do so. Ashkenazim may put the dish onto the plata on their own. The DSH is brought to you in memory of Rabbi Mordechai ben Daniel. Please visit us online at sephardichalacha.org