hot water, washing dishes, shabat

Asked by jay · October 8, 2003 · Shabbat

Question

Dear Rabbi Did you say we can use hot water on shabes, I understand why the general opinion is you cannot.. because cold water is coming into the boiler to be heated up on shabes. if you did finally permit it, on what grounds? also is one pernitted to wash dishes on shabes, with or without hot water as the case may be, or is it considered improper to do so til aftfer shabes. thank you

Answer

Answered by Aaron Abadi

You can wash dishes on Shabbat, and it is highly recommended. You can use the hot water if it is not "Yad Soledet Boh." (125 degrees Fahrenheit). If you can be under the shower using only the hot water, even only for a minute or two, then your hot water heater is not a problem on Shabbat, because in order to be considered cooking it needs to be hotter than that. If you don't have a separate hot water heater, it might still be a problem. AA