Could Preparing Coffee on Shabbos Be Considered Meleches Makkah B’patish?

Question

Last Shabbos, I was about to prepare my weekly cup of pre-Shacharis coffee when one of the mispallelim told me that preparing coffee was chillul Shabbos. When I responded that instant coffee had been previously cooked and therefore posed no issue of bishul, he replied that even when bishul isn’t a concern, preparing coffee on Shabbos still involves makkah b’patish.

I thought that maybe he was joking, but he assured me that he was sincere and that there’s a serious discussion among the poskim regarding whether making coffee is considered makkah b’patish. I told him that drinking coffee on Shabbos morning is an accepted minhag Yisroel, and if making coffee were indeed makkah b’patish, I would eat my hat.

Can Rav Auerbach tell me if there is any substantiation to this claim? And if there is, do I need to eat my hat—or at least perform hatoras nedorim?

Thank you.Yossi

Rav Auerbach 

As long as you are careful to ensure that there are no issues of bishul when making coffee, there is no need to be concerned that it constitutes makkah b’patish, as I will explain.

The Mishnah (Shabbos 145b) states that pouring hot water over a salted fish to remove the salt is considered gemar melacha. While the term gemar melacha usually implies makkah b’patish (see Shabbos 75b), that is not the case in this specific halacha. Many Rishonim—including Rashi, Rambam, Ran, Yerei’im, and Ohr Zorua—explicitly write that removing salt from a fish using hot water is an act of meleches bishul and this prohibition applies only to items that had not been previously cooked.

The difficulty begins with the Rama (318:4), who cites the Hagahos Mordechai, deriving from this halacha that soaking hard food in water is also prohibited because it constitutes gemar melacha. Some poskim understand that, according to the Rama, taking an inedible food and making it edible with hot water is considered makkah b’patish. This view is held by the Levush, Pri Megadim, and Chayei Adam. If makkah b’patish applies to food, then even previously cooked foods could be affected, and your friend would seemingly have a valid argument, since adding hot water transforms inedible coffee crystals into a delicious cup of coffee.

However, the widely accepted understanding of the Rama is, as the Biur Halacha (318:4) explains, that in both the case of the salty fish and the hard food, the melacha in question is bishul, not makkah b’patish. Some poskim (see Teshuvos Vehanhagos 5:98) even suggest that, hypothetically, if there were a concern of makkah b’patish with food, making coffee would still not be problematic, since one is merely flavoring water (adding tavlin), which is not considered makkah b’patish.

Therefore, as long as there is no issue of bishul, there is no chashash issur with preparing coffee on Shabbos.

That said, you should be aware that some coffees currently on the market contain a percentage of uncooked coffee. Such products do present a real chashash of chillul Shabbos, and one should be careful to verify this matter before preparing coffee on Shabbos.

As for eating your hat, even had you been mistaken regarding the halacha about preparing coffee on Shabbos, you would not be obligated to consume your hat for many reasons that are self-evident. Certainly, there is no need for hatoras nedorim following such a statement.

In any case, enjoy your Shabbos morning coffee—and keep learning hilchos Shabbos!