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Everyone I know does this, including the strictest. That is, if ordering a cold drink at a non-kosher restaurant or bar, they will have it in the glass the institution provides, not ask for it in a disposable cup. Why is this, if Ashkenazim are supposed to be machmir regarding absorption of taste in glass?

(This page says that drinking from the glass is permitted only derech arai--on an occasional basis--and because the glass is presumed clean and to have only been used with cold drinks. If these presumptions are enough that the glass can be considered kosher, then I don't understand why derech arai would apply; even less if these presumptions are not enough to consider it kosher.)

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  • Related: judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/21833/…
    – SAH
    May 29, 2017 at 4:12
  • As far as i know absorption typically requires heat, which never occurs in a type of glass that only takes cold drinks. And even if there was a hot drink in it, the likelihood that the glass is eino ben yomo is very high.
    – Aaron
    May 29, 2017 at 6:07
  • Closely related: judaism.stackexchange.com/q/936
    – msh210
    May 29, 2017 at 6:18
  • btw, I don't drink from glasses in bars etc. but I admit that my craziness is not lfi the mainstream halacha.
    – rosends
    May 29, 2017 at 13:07
  • @SAH There is a distinction between a bar and a restaurant in many cases. Bars do not generally wash glassware in a unit where food would be ever be present. There is a special glassware cleaner and separate set of sinks where temperatures are never to the level of cooking. Many of the leniencies from the OU rely on that. Restaurants pose more problems because there is common, fixed washing with greater heat. In that circumstance, paper cups would be a better choice. May 29, 2017 at 19:09

1 Answer 1

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As you said -- Shulchan Aruch allows one to use a cold, clean non-kosher dish or cup "derech arai" -- occasionally. No taste will transfer, and if only done on rare occasion, we're not concerned you will forget and use it for hot.

(When we say a non-kosher dish, we mean someone baked ham on this plate; this plate went through the dishwasher, cooled off, and now I want to put some cold watermelon on it.)

This would apply to a metal or ceramic cup/plate, which everyone agrees can become truly non-kosher. Ashkenazim therefore apply it as well to glass.

As for what constitutes "derech arai" (the crux of your question), the point is that if I'm not using this glass frequently, I'm unlikely to use it with something hot. Rabbi Hershel Shachter shlit'a is of the opinion that if I use this glass no more than once every thirty days, that's "derech arai." Therefore, if your hotel changes the glasses in your room every day, you're not using the same non-kosher glass for more than one day, and it would be okay.

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  • Note many assume Chametz is more strict than ham in this regard
    – Double AA
    May 29, 2017 at 17:10
  • Can you provide a source for the Shulchan Aruch's ruling on this
    – Josh
    May 30, 2017 at 2:56

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