Sabbath food preparation

Sabbath food preparation refers to the preparation and handling of food before the Sabbath, (also called Shabbat, or the seventh day of the week) beginning at sundown Friday concluding at sundown Saturday, the Bible day of rest, when cooking, baking, and the kindling of a fire are prohibited by the Jewish law.

Even when removed from the source of heat, this vessel maintains its status as a kli rishon, and possesses the capacity to enact bishul on any type of food placed within it.

This capacity remains until the pot and its contents cool below the temperature of yad soledet bo (יד סולדת בו, the degree of heat "from which the hand recoils").

The prohibited activity of bishul is separate and distinct from that of havarah (הבערה, "kindling a fire").

Pouring straight from an urn (also considered a klei rishon) would cause the cooking of the substance.

For a solid substance the outer and concrete layer will definitely be cooked (bishul kdai klipah), which would be malacha.

[14] However, many other authorities hold that tea leaves fall under the category of items which cook easily (kalei habishul), even in the diminished heat of a kos shelishi.

The 2015 fire was preceded by at least four other Shabbat fires in Brooklyn in the past 15 years caused by appliances for heating food being left on or candles burning during the Jewish Sabbath in order to comply with Orthodox interpretation of Jewish law.

[15] In 2005, three children died in a fire in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, caused when stove burners were left on during Passover.