All About Sabbath Mode Appliances and Warming Drawers: STAR-K Answers Your Questions

By: Rabbi Chananya Jacobson

This article first appeared in the January 2024 issue of the Where What When magazine.

To download and print a handy summary of halachos regarding the use of these appliances on Shabbos and Yom Tov, click here.

This article briefly discusses modern kitchen appliances and how STAR-K has developed innovative halachic solutions to meet the needs of the Orthodox Jewish consumer.

Marketing Terms That Can Be Misleading

It is important to define two terms frequently used by appliance companies to market their products which can be confusing and even mislead kosher consumers:

Sabbath Mode – a feature that enables the consumer to operate their oven so that it can be opened one time on Shabbos and to cook on Yom Tov. Sabbath Mode allows the kosher consumer to open the oven door without enabling lights, icons, or sounds. But in terms of cooking, a better term for this feature might be Yom Tov Mode.

Warming Drawer […]

STAR-K Appliance-Related Articles & Videos

The STAR-K site offers a variety of informative articles and videos related to the general use of cooking and refrigeration appliances; various Sabbath Mode features in STAR-K certified models; the halachic implications of using them on Shabbos and Yom Tov; appliance pre-purchase advice; as well as articles about other Sabbath Mode technologies, such as medical devices and elevators.

See the list of articles and videos below.

ARTICLES ABOUT COOKING APPLIANCES

ARTICLE ON OVEN USE (PUBLISHED IN YESHURUN, VOL. 36) – HaRav Moshe Heinemann shlit”a

TESHUVA ON OVEN USE ON YOM TOV – HaRav Moshe Heinemann shlit”a

USING AN OVEN ON SHABBOS & YOM TOV – Rabbi Avrohom D. Mushell (March 2024)

OVEN KASHRUS 101: USING THE SAME OVEN FOR MEAT, DAIRY, FISH AND PAREVE – Rabbi Dovid Heber (Spring 2016)

OVEN KASHRUS: FOR SHABBOS USE – Rabbi Avrohom D. Mushell (Winter 2005)

OVEN KASHRUS: FOR YOM TOV USE – Rabbi Avrohom D. […]

Oven Kashrus: For Shabbos Use

By: Rabbi Avrohom Mushell

To download and print a handy UPDATED summary of these halachos, click here.

Winter 2005

Cookin’ just ain’t what it used to be. Technological advances have taken the old stovetop and oven and upgraded them to be safer, more efficient, and smart for today’s lifestyle. They are also far more complicated. With these transformations, the observant Jew is faced with challenges that did not confront him in the past.

To understand how these changes affect the halachic use of the stovetop on Shabbos and Yom Tov, it is worthwhile to review some laws and concepts as they relate to cooking on Shabbos and Yom Tov.

DEFINITION OF MELACHA

Cooking on Shabbos is a Torah prohibition derived from the constructive acts performed in erecting the mishkan. This forbidden act is known as a melacha. There are 39 categories of prohibited acts.

MELACHA OF COOKING

The prohibition of cooking on Shabbos is defined as the act of using […]