"Orlando Enrique Fiol" > wrote in message
. ..
> Ellen K. > wrote:
>>In order to be able to have hot coffee and/or tea over the sabbath, hot
>>water is kept available by using usually an electric urn of the type you
>>will find at buffets, although some still use a regular teakettle that
>>sits
>>from Friday afternoon on the metal sheet that covers the other fires on
>>the
>>stove. The urn or teakettle is filled and heated prior to the sabbath, no
>>new water is added on the sabbath.
>
> That sort of makes sense.
>
>>When it's time for the baby to eat, the baby bottle is stood in an empty
>>pot
>>and hot water from the urn is poured over it into the pot. The bottle
>>then
>>continues to warm up in the hot water. This process can be repeated if
>>the
>>milk does not become warm enough after one pouring. The only restrictions
>>are that the milk is not allowed to become hotter than 113 F (which would
>>anyway be too hot for a baby to drink), and that the hot water poured over
>>the bottle is not allowed to completely submerge it (which most people
>>would
>>anyway not do).
>
> Interesting.
>
>>It's also possible to use an electric bottle warmer that was on since
>>before
>>the sabbath, provided it either has a thermostat that can be set not to
>>exceed 113 F, or is designed so as never to reach that temperature in the
>>first place. If it is the type with a thermostat, it must be actively
>>heating at the time the bottle is placed in it.
>
> Why?

So that putting the bottle in doesn't cause the heat to start, since that is
a type of kindling a fire.

>
>>The reason for the temperature limitation is that it is permitted to WARM
>>the milk, but not to COOK it.
>
>
> But if the milk had been kept at a simmer from before the sabbath, it
> would of
> course be allowed to boil. Go figure!
>

Something at a simmer isn't boiling. We don't adjust the flame on the stove
on the sabbath, so whatever started out simmering continues simmering but
there's no way for it to boil. In the case of the milk, it is never on the
stove in any case.

The prohibition is against *starting* cooking something on the sabbath.
Similarly, there is a prohibition against kindling a fire on the sabbath,
but no prohibition to benefit from a pre-existing fire. Broadly one could
say there is a theme of not "creating".







> Orlando