Seen drinking coffee in a treif restaurant

ANT KATZ

“Coffee beans, like potatoes, are inherently kosher,” says Dayan Boruch Rapoport, the senior dayan of the Johannesburg Beth Din, who has served there for over 30 years.

However, says Rapoport, when it comes to drinking coffee, there are other factors at play. One is the question of kashrut of the coffee; and the other, lesser known factor, is the perception: “What does it look like to others?”

Rapoport is referring to the halachic concept of marit ayin, which literally translates to: “appearance to the eye”. This concept refers to certain actions, which are intrinsically permitted, but are prohibited in situations where it might seem to other people to be in violation of Jewish law.

Put plainly, says Dayan Rapoport, a person passing by might wonder if the person inside the non-kosher restaurant could be consuming treif.

So, while it may be permissible in terms of kashrut to drink a coffee or a Coke in a treif restaurant, it is not allowed due to rabbinic enactments that were put in place to prevent surrounding onlookers from arriving at a false conclusion.

The same question could be asked of drinking a Coke from a can in the same restaurant. Kosher Coke is kosher wherever it is consumed. But, says Rapoport, “you shouldn’t do anything which can be misperceived as a prohibited act”.

Dayan Rapoport – who was instrumental in co-founding Ohr Somayach of Johannesburg – gives another example, namely that of a woman who goes into labour on Shabbos. It is halachically okay for her husband to drive her to hospital, he says.

However, the Chazon Ish (a leader of Haredi Judaism in Israel, who was recognised as an authority on matters relating to Jewish law and life) recommended that the husband should put on a tallis so that anyone seeing the observant husband driving on Shabbos, will realise that these are special circumstances.

Of course, the question of the kashrut of the coffee per se is also in question: From original roasting to the addition of flavours and colourants, to the packaging, grinding and even the machine at the coffee shop. This is why the drinking Coke from a can analogy better explains the concept.

Another well-respected rabbi, who asked not to be identified, said that “many, many frum people drink coffee in treif coffee shops.” He himself would have no qualms about drinking a glass of Coke, poured from a tin, in a non-kosher eatery, he said.

He told Jewish Report that in general, modern Orthodox Jewry would not apply marit ayin in this instance.

However, he agreed with the Chazon Ish example and of its application, such as the wearing of a tallis when driving during a medical emergency on Shabbos.

In all, three dayanim who spoke to the SA Jewish Report this week, said they would not personally drink coffee in a non-kosher establishment, but acknowledged that they were speaking in their personal capacities.

The Beth Din does not take an official stance on the issue, because as far as can be established, they have never been asked to.

And so, it seems, there is no black-and-white answer, and that this question remains a slightly grey area.