Sechora - Non-Kosher Deli Employment

QUESTION: Is it permissible to work in the deli department of a non-kosher supermarket, slicing meat and serving customers?

ANSWER: Rav Ovadya Yosef zt”l (Yebia Omer YD 4:6) writes that this is in fact a machlokes HaPoskim It was noted in a previous Halacha Yomis that there is a disagreement among Rishonim as to the reason why selling non-kosher foods is forbidden. According to some Rishonim (Rambam and Rosh) it is a Torah prohibition which applies to the seller. According to this approach, since the worker in the deli does not own the meat, he is simply hired to slice it and package it, he is not included in this prohibition. However, according to the Rashba, the prohibition is to prevent one from accidentally eating non-kosher. According to this reason, it would be forbidden to work in the deli, because he might end up tasting it while he works.

Rav Ovadya Yosef writes that although there are poskim who are lenient, he should be strict and not take the job. However, if this person cannot find another job, he may take the job temporarily until he finds other employment. He reasons that one may view temporary employment as being included in the leniency of “nizdamen lo.” As was mentioned in an earlier Halacha, a Jewish hunter who happens to catch non-kosher fish or animals, may sell them [to non-Jews]. This is because the non-kosher products were just “nizdamen lo” (appeared to him). The hunter did not intentionally catch these items. In the case of the deli worker, since this job was the only employment that came his way, it is as though the non-kosher came to him by chance.

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