Hilchos Shabbos: Tzviah in Foods and Drinks — Saffron, Wine, and Tea

Topics

• Hilchos Shabbos: Is There Tzviah in Foods and Drinks?
• Karkum in a Tavshil
• Mishnah Berurah and Nishmas Adam: Taste or Color?
• Paprika on Chicken and the Meaning of Kavanah
• Order of Mixing, Taste and Appearance
• Rav Pe'alim: Is There Tzviah in Mashkin?
• Hot Water, Tea and Memories of Shanghai

Transcript

# Hilchos Shabbos: Is There Tzviah in Foods and Drinks?

## Karkum in a Tavshil

Rabosai, the Shulchan Aruch says in **Orach Chaim 320:19**:

**"ליתן כרכום בתבשיל מותר ואין לחוש לו משום צובע דאין צביעה באוכלין."**

It is permitted to place **karkum**, saffron or a related coloring spice, into a cooked dish; we are not concerned with the *melachah* of **tzovea**, because the principle is **"אין צביעה באוכלין"**—coloring is not ordinarily a prohibited *tzviah* in foods.

Now, I want to learn the words carefully. What is **karkum**? It's a spice. But is it primarily meant to **give flavor**, or is it put into food **to change the color**? And what exactly is a **tavshil** here? A solid dish? A thick mixture? A liquid soup?

Don't tell me these are unnecessary questions. It may make a great difference whether the substance is a food or a drink, and whether the person is putting the spice in for its taste or specifically to color the food.

When the Mechaber says **"ואין לחוש לו משום צובע"**, does he mean there is no concern even if the person's **kavanah** is entirely to change the appearance? Or does he mean the coloring is merely an incidental effect of seasoning the food for taste?

I think these may be two ways of understanding the *halachah*. The **Mishnah Berurah** quotes more than one approach, as we'll see.

He adds a second example: **adding red wine to white wine**, even though the mixture turns red. That's in the Mishnah Berurah 320:56, based on the **Rema's Darkei Moshe**.

What are we learning from this? Is it always permitted to change the color of something intended for consumption, or only where the mixture is being prepared in the normal way as food or drink?

Somebody mentioned a **Tu BiShvat Seder** and mixing wine there. I have to tell you, I grew up in a very Litvishe home, and I hardly knew of the elaborate Tu BiShvat programs that some communities practice. When I later learned about their fruit arrangements and symbolic cups, I was fascinated. The *minhagim* differ among communities, and I want to find out more before speaking definitively about their origins.

But now, back to the *sugya*. The fact that somebody mixes wines for a ritual or aesthetic purpose makes the question sharper. **Are they doing it for taste, or for color?** If the color itself is the purpose, that may be a different case.

Take out the *Mishnah Berurah*. We need to see how he reads this *halachah*.

## Mishnah Berurah and Nishmas Adam: Taste or Color?

The **Mishnah Berurah 320:56** says that red wine may be added to white wine **"ואע״פ שמתאדם"**—even though the white wine becomes red.

And then he places a remarkable explanation in brackets:

**"ואפילו אם מכוין לכתחלה לעשות מראה בהמאכל או בהמשקה ג״כ מסתברא דאין להחמיר ... ולפי מה שכתב בנשמת אדם נכון למנוע מזה."**

Even when a person intends from the outset to create a particular color in a food or drink, there is a basis to be lenient, as indicated by the *Pri Megadim*. But the **Nishmas Adam** suggests that it is proper to refrain in certain cases.

*Rabosai*, read that slowly. What is the difference between the two positions?

If I put a spice into a dish because I like its taste, and it incidentally colors the food, that is one thing. If I put it in **only** to make the food more attractive, that might be another.

But what if I want **both**? I want the flavor **and** the color. When the Mishnah Berurah refers to **kavanah to make a color**, does he mean color is my exclusive purpose, or even one of several purposes?

I don't know yet. I want to understand the exact *lashon*. Is the *Nishmas Adam* concerned only if there is no purpose of eating or flavoring in the addition? Or does he object when the coloring is deliberate even if it also improves the dish?

There is another question. The Mechaber speaks about **karkum in a tavshil**, which is a normal use of a spice. The wine example comes from the **Rema**, in the **Darkei Moshe**, and perhaps it was common to mix wines for flavor or appearance.

Does the fact that the method is **derech**—the normal way to use a substance—make a difference? Is coloring food something people ordinarily do, or not?

Take a very practical example: **paprika on chicken**. Some people use paprika because it improves the flavor; others want the chicken to have a richer color. Which is the main purpose? Do we treat a spice used for both as a food ingredient, or as a coloring agent?

I have a *safek* about the wording of the Mishnah Berurah. I don't want to answer without learning the source behind it.

Take out the **Nishmas Adam, Klal 24, os 3**. He discusses whether *tzviah* is a normal activity in foods and whether a professional whose business is making foods attractive is different from a person preparing something to eat.

You hear? The *sugya* involves **kavanah**, **normal practice**, and **the nature of the substance**. We cannot clarify it in a single sentence.

And we will have to examine **tea and coffee**, because the difference between *ochlin* and *mashkin* is important. The question of colored drinks is not necessarily the same as seasoning chicken.

## Paprika on Chicken and the Meaning of Kavanah

I want to stay with the *Nishmas Adam* a little longer. He questions how broadly to apply **"אין צביעה באוכלין"**. Some sources imply that color matters in foods and can be deliberately produced. Other sources treat adding ordinary ingredients as part of cooking and eating, not an independent act of *tzviah*.

Let's take **paprika**. Why is a person putting paprika on a piece of chicken? For its flavor? For its reddish color? Or for both?

I'm asking you to tell me the facts of cooking. When a woman prepares chicken with paprika, does she want the chicken to taste different? Perhaps. Does she want it to look appetizing rather than pale? Often yes.

That is precisely what makes this case interesting. If the spice serves a dual purpose, how should we read the Mishnah Berurah's caution about **"מכוין ... לעשות מראה"**—intending to change its appearance?

One *talmid* suggests that the *heter* applies so long as taste is also intended. Another points to the deliberate intention to color. I don't know which *diyuk* is right. I need to see the punctuation, the commentary, and the original *Nishmas Adam*. The brackets in the Mishnah Berurah aren't merely decorative. They tell us that he is recording a tension.

I also want us to think about the importance of **appearance** in food itself. Sometimes color changes what a person expects to taste. Give children lollipops of different colors, and they may imagine entirely different flavors even when the underlying ingredients are the same. Or think of ice cream colored to suggest pistachio.

Now, if the food seems more appealing and enjoyable because of the color, is that an aspect of **preparing food for eating**, even though the color has no separate taste? Perhaps. But the *halachah* depends on the source, not merely on what seems psychologically attractive.

And this is why I ask you to speak to the people who actually **prepare the food**. We can't decide what paprika is used for just by guessing from the *beis medrash*. Understand the facts and then apply the *halachah*.

One more *diyuk*. The Shulchan Aruch says **"ליתן כרכום בתבשיל"**: to place the coloring spice into the cooked dish. The Mishnah Berurah says **"ליתן יין אדום בתוך יין לבן"**: red wine into white wine.

Why is the ingredient that creates the color poured **into** the other food or drink? Could it matter if the order is reversed? What if we put the white wine into a vessel containing red wine, or pour a dish over the spice rather than the spice into the dish?

Maybe it's simply the common way of speaking. Or maybe how the mixture is prepared changes whether it appears to be **coloring**. I am raising it as a *shaylah*, not claiming that reversing the order is an established *heter*.

I want to test it through **coffee and tea**. There, the change in color is often very noticeable, and the liquid may be mostly water rather than a prepared *tavshil*.

That leads to a serious *machlokes Acharonim*: **is there tzviah in mashkin?**

## Order of Mixing, Taste and Appearance

Let's return to the two examples. The Shulchan Aruch permits placing **karkum in a tavshil**. The Mishnah Berurah, following the Rema's **Darkei Moshe**, permits adding **red wine to white wine** even though it changes color.

I want to ask a *diyuk*: why does each case describe putting the coloring ingredient into the other food or drink? Would it make a difference if we reversed the order—white wine into red, or a cooked food into its spice? Perhaps it looks less like an act of coloring. I am raising this as a question, not an established *heter*.

And the role of **kavanah** is still unclear to me. If I add red wine because I dislike the taste of the white wine, my purpose is *ta'am*, even though the appearance changes. If I want red wine on Seder night specifically because of the appearance, the *kavanah* is for color. What if I want both? Which type of intention concerns the **Nishmas Adam**?

A student mentions colored sweets and ice cream. Sometimes color has no flavor of its own, but it makes food more appealing and may even make a person perceive a different taste. Is that a function of preparing food, or a separate act of *tzviah*? We have to see what the *poskim* write.

These examples help us define the issue, but do not decide it.

Now look at something else: **אין צביעה באוכלין**, no *tzviah* in foods. Is this principle the same for **mashkin**, liquids? Some *Acharonim* argue that coloring a liquid is different from seasoning a cooked dish. Other authorities take a broader approach.

This is an important *nafka minah* for **tea and coffee**, where a dark liquid changes the color of water. It might also help us understand why the Mechaber chose specifically **karkum in a tavshil**, and why the Rema's example involves **wine**.

But even if a tea mixture has no coloring issue, the separate halachos of **bishul**, steeping, and hot water still apply. We should not mix the *sugyos*.

Let's now learn the **Rav Pe'alim** on colored drinks.

## Rav Pe'alim: Is There Tzviah in Mashkin?

There is a remarkable *teshuvah* in **Rav Pe'alim, volume III, Orach Chaim 11**, from the **Ben Ish Chai**. He discusses people who put a little coffee in hot water before Shabbos so that the water would already have color, and then added more coffee on Shabbos. They were concerned about **tzovea**: if the clear water turned brown on Shabbos, perhaps that would be a form of coloring.

Why might drinks be different from ordinary foods?

The **Rambam, Hilchos Shabbos 9:14**, describes preparing a **coloring solution** by mixing substances into liquid. The *Rav Pe'alim* distinguishes that process from seasoning food with *karkum*. In a cooked dish, adding a spice seems like *derech achilah*, preparation of food. But in water, color can be the very object being created, so a person may ask whether an action resembles making a dye.

The *Rav Pe'alim* discusses the Shulchan Aruch's exact wording, **"ליתן כרכום בתבשיל"**, and notes that it specifies a *tavshil*. He argues for a distinction between **ochlin** and **mashkin** in certain circumstances.

Immediately we must ask: what about **red wine into white wine**? The Rema in **Darkei Moshe** treats this as permitted based on the principle that ordinary foods are not subject to *tzviah*. The *Rav Pe'alim* considers whether **wine** differs from water: wine isn't ordinarily prepared as a coloring solution the way dyes are.

This is a delicate *sugya*. We cannot take one line and say that putting coffee or tea into any water on Shabbos is prohibited, or that every form of coloring any liquid is permitted. The *teshuvah* has conditions and a long analysis.

The shiur also mentions **Rav Shlomo Kluger** and other stringent opinions about *tzviah bemashkin*. Their exact responsa and scope require source checking.

Now let's return to the everyday **tea cup**. A person prepares a drink, and the water changes color when he adds tea essence. Why did he add it? For taste? For the appearance? Both? If he's doing it solely to tint water, perhaps a stringent opinion sees it differently from ordinary tea prepared for enjoyment.

And does the **order of mixing** matter—water over tea extract versus extract into water? It may be relevant, but no universal *psak* is established by our discussion.

Remember also that **bishul and kli rishon/kli sheini** are separate *sugyos*. Even if we settle the *tzviah* issue, we have not thereby ruled on all forms of tea or coffee preparation.

And listen to a family example. Sometimes a person wants only a **tiny drop of tea** in hot water, so that the water looks like tea while tasting almost the same. That shows why the question of *kavanah for color* is not merely theoretical.

I want you to understand the *sevaros* and the conflicting sources. We will return to their practical implications when we have learned all the *mareh mekomos*.

## Hot Water, Tea and Memories of Shanghai

I mentioned that my father sometimes drank **hot water** with only the smallest drop of tea. I used to wonder why. It hardly changed the taste! But he didn't want it to look like plain water. A little color made it seem more like a cup of tea.

So we see that the question of **kavanah** is very real. In a case where the ingredient is added primarily for color rather than flavor, how would the **Nishmas Adam** and those who distinguish foods from drinks understand it?

I don't want to leap from a family example to a final *psak*. The *halachos* of tea preparation depend on several factors, and we still need to learn the rest of the *sugya*.

But now I want to say something about **hot water itself**. There was a time when simply having a warm drink was a **luxury**. In Europe and during difficult years, people appreciated what we take for granted today.

That reminds me of **Rav Mordechai Schwab of Monsey**. My grandfather had known him during the war years in **Shanghai**, where the living arrangements could be very close. I heard that they lived beside one another, separated by a partition.

Rav Mordechai Schwab was a person of extraordinary **ahavas Yisrael**. I had an opportunity to meet him, and I still remember his warmth. He was deeply concerned with the needs of people, and even took an interest in helping me with a **shidduch**. He radiated love, kindness and a desire to help.

I am recalling the story as it was passed down and as I experienced his warmth. The precise historical circumstances of their shared housing in Shanghai would need independent confirmation.

Now I know we've wandered for a moment from *tzviah* into a family memory, but the cup of hot water brought it to mind.

So where have we come? We learned the Mechaber's **"אין צביעה באוכלין"**, the *Mishnah Berurah* and *Nishmas Adam* on coloring for taste versus appearance, the **Rema** on red and white wine, and the **Rav Pe'alim** on *mashkin*.

We still have to determine exactly when a **purpose of color** differs from ordinary food preparation, and whether adding color to **water** is treated like adding an ordinary spice to a **tavshil**. It requires learning the *poskim* carefully.

*B'ezras Hashem*, we'll continue tomorrow. The recording ends before that fuller *halachic* treatment and final practical conclusion.