Pas Yisroel - Purchased Dough

QUESTION: If I purchase dough from a non-Jewish company and I bake it myself, is it Pas Yisroel?

ANSWER: Yes. Whether bread is Pas Yisroel or not is solely based on who baked the bread. If a Yisroel baked the bread it is Pas Yisroel, even if the dough was made by a non-Jew, and even if it still belongs to a non-Jew. If a non-Jew baked the bread, even though it belongs to a Yisroel, it is not Pas Yisroel. Moreover, the Taz (YD 112:7) writes that dough which is owned by a Yisroel and baked by a non-Jew takes on the status of bishul Akum and is forbidden under all circumstances.

It should be noted, however, that if one purchased dough from a non-Jewish baker, there is no mitzvah of hafrashas challah. The obligation of hafrashas challah depends on who owned the dough when it was formed. If when the flour was kneaded it belonged to a non-Jew, the dough is exempt from hafrashas challah, even if it was later sold to a Jew. Conversely, if the dough was owned by a Jew at the time it was formed, there is a chiyuv to separate challah, even if the dough was subsequently sold to a non-Jew.

Why is there a distinction between Pas Yisroel and hafrashas challah? The status of Pas Yisroel (literally, Jewish bread) is attained at the time of baking, because that is when the dough becomes bread. Therefore, Pas Yisroel is contingent on who performs the baking. On the other hand, the Torah states (Numbers 15:21) that challah must be separated from “arisoseichem,” your dough. The implication of this verse is that the obligation to separate challah takes effect when the dough is made, and it applies only to arisoseichem, dough belonging to a Jew.

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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.