SHABBAT COOKING

FOOD (both solid and liquid):

• To be on the safe side, try aim to have your food fully cooked and placed on a hot-tray / hostess / crockpot (without a dial or with the dial covered) or on a blech* before Shabbat comes in.
• If there is load shedding just before or during Shabbat and the electricity is restored and the food is reheated, it may be eaten even if the food had gone cold whilst the electricity was off.
• If you did not manage to cook your food before Shabbat, food can be left on a hot-tray / crockpot (without a dial or with the dial covered) or on a blech* only to cook/warm when the electricity is restored. (Even if the food was uncooked before the power was restored, the subsequent cooking does not pose an issue of “Bishul Akum”.)
• Any actions that make cooking food (both solid and liquid) on Shabbat go faster are forbidden as it is considered cooking. Therefore, if your food was not fully cooked before Shabbat came in, be careful not to remove the lid covering your pot until the food is fully cooked after the electricity has been restored. In the event that the lid was lifted and you discover that the food is not fully cooked, you may neither replace the lid nor remove any food (one should avoid removing food from a pot that is directly above a flame or element).

HOT WATER

• Food (both solid and liquid) that has not been cooked or boiled before Shabbat, can only be placed on a covered flame / element to allow for the cooking or boiling on Shabbat. Since in many urns the element is uncovered it would be prohibited to allow the cold water to be heated once the electricity is restored. Therefore, if your urn did not have time to boil before Shabbat, the following two options are recommended in order to allow for the water to be used after the electricity is restored:

1. To tape down the knob / dial of the urn before Shabbat; or
2. Place a pot of water on the hot-tray or blech* before Shabbat

 

YOM TOV COOKING

Since cooking is allowed on Yom Tov in any event, once the electricity is restored, none of the above restrictions apply.

 

LIGHTS ON SHABBAT & YOM TOV

In cases of necessity during the period of load shedding only, it would be permitted to move an L.E.D. light (that was either left on before Shabbat Yom Tov or comes on as a result of load shedding during Shabbat or Yom Tov) to another room where it is required.

Furthermore, during load shedding only, it would be permitted to ask a non-Jew to remove the plug from the electric socket so as to move the light to another room. In the absence of a non-Jew, one would be permitted to remove the plug from the socket in an unusual manner (e.g. using one’s elbows), so that you can move the light to where it may be required.

 

A blech* :

Food (both solid and liquid) that has not been cooked or boiled before Shabbat, can only be placed on a covered flame / element to allow for the cooking or boiling on Shabbat. Therefore, to enable one to place uncooked food on a stove before Shabbat, a “blech”, which is a metal sheet covering the stove, has customarily been used in many homes.