QUESTION: I baked bread in my oven at the same time as I was baking meat. Can this bread be eaten with fish?

ANSWER: At first glance, one might think that this should not be allowed. Just as one is not permitted to serve this bread with dairy, perhaps one should not be permitted to serve this bread with fish. However, the Taz (YD 116:2) writes that this is permitted. Why can one eat this bread with fish, and not with dairy? The difference, it seems, is as follows. A meat aroma has some significance, but it is batel (nullified) in the bread. Nonetheless, we do not rely on nullification for purposes of kashrus if it can be avoided (ein mevatlin issur lechatchila). Therefore, we do not allow eating this bread with milk, because we cannot justify this without bitul and it is forbidden to nullify meat to serve with milk. However, we can rely on bitul with regard to fish with meat, since the issue of mixing fish and meat is due to sakana (danger) and not issur–regarding sakana, as long as the meat is batel in the bread, there is no sakana.

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The Gerald & Karin Feldhamer OU Kosher Halacha Yomis is dedicated to the memory of Rav Yisroel Belsky, zt"l, who served as halachic consultant for OU Kosher for more than 28 years; many of the responses in Halacha Yomis are based on the rulings of Rabbi Belsky. Subscribe to the Halacha Yomis daily email here.