Ask Rob: I would like to buy lunch for the movers. Can I order from a non-kosher restaurant?
by rabbi Chaim Hillel Ruskin – Lob of Anash on Petah Tikvah
Non-kosher foods prohibited for profit (such as foods containing) Basar Boucharav or Yain Nesek— may not be provided for an obviously useful purpose. Giving it to your employees or acquaintances will be beneficial, as they will receive some benefit along the way.
Chazal prohibited trade in non-kosher food, even if the food was allowed to benefit. If the item came to him by chance, for example, if it turned out to be an animal; Trayfa Alternatively, any non-kosher fish you catch can be sold because it is not considered “doing business.” Another exception is Cherev, a prohibited fat whose sale to non-Jews is expressly permitted by the Torah. (Chazal may add statutes, but cannot violate the words of the Torah by prohibiting what is permitted in the Torah.)1
This prohibition stipulates that Rama may not purchase non-kosher food to feed non-Jewish workers. It was common practice to feed the workers, so it was like paying off a debt, doing a kind of “business” using cheap non-kosher food.2
other acharonym They argue that buying food for workers is not considered a commercial enterprise. Some say that even Rama only mentioned purchasing non-kosher animals to raise at home for this purpose, and not simply purchasing such food from the market.3
It is certainly permissible for workers to provide money to buy their own food, even if they purchase non-kosher food.Four Others allow workers to buy their own food and if Eid pays the bill because Eid did not make the financial choice. (Still, the prohibited food is not allowed as a profit, because he will get the profit at a lower cost.)Five
If a Jew owns a nursing home, the meals served there are considered part of his business. Therefore, he cannot serve non-kosher food to non-Jewish residents. poskim Write that you may hire a company to manage all meal arrangements and expenses. As such, he is not considered to be in the non-kosher food business.6
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from Weekly Farbrengen Written by Merkaz Anash
