How Can the Chef Be Non-Jewish and the Restaurant Kosher?
Exploring the complex kosher rules when non-Jewish chefs work in certified kosher restaurants
There is a disagreement among halachic authorities when a Jew lights the fire, and a non-Jew places the food on it. Some say that if a Jew lit the fire, even though afterward a non-Jew placed the food on the stove, this does not constitute the prohibition of bishul akum (food cooked by non-Jews), and this is the ruling of the Rama.
However, the opinion of the Ran, the Rashba, and most early authorities is that the lighting of the fire by a Jew does not help regarding bishul akum (unlike the rule of "pat akum" [bread baked by non-Jews], which we won't elaborate on here). This is also the ruling of Maran, the Shulchan Aruch.
Therefore, we learn that according to the Rama, whom Ashkenazi Jews follow, as long as a Jew lit the fire, there is no concern of bishul akum. According to Maran, the Shulchan Aruch, whom Sephardic Jews follow, one cannot be lenient regarding the law of bishul akum until the Jew himself places the food on the fire.
Can Sephardic Jews be lenient?
Our master, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef shlita, has written about this issue in several places. He ruled that when dealing with a restaurant owned by a Jew, where the Jew lights the fire in the morning, there is room for leniency even according to Maran, the Shulchan Aruch.
This is because according to some authorities, if a non-Jew cooks in a Jew's home, there is no concern of bishul akum. Since this is done in the Jew's home (particularly when the non-Jew does so as an employee of the Jew), there is no concern either of "the non-Jew feeding forbidden food to the Jew" or of the Jew coming to intermarry with the non-Jew.
Although we do not rule according to this opinion alone, when both factors come together—meaning a Jew lit the fire and the non-Jew who places the food on the fire does so in a Jewish-owned restaurant as his employee—one may be lenient and eat food cooked by a non-Jew in such a case.
However, Sephardic Jews are prohibited from eating in a (kosher) restaurant owned by non-Jews, even if a Jew lights the fire in the morning, because according to Maran, the Shulchan Aruch, this would violate the prohibition of bishul akum. Only in a Jewish-owned restaurant is there reason to be lenient, even according to Maran, the Shulchan Aruch, as we explained.
In summary: In a Jewish-owned restaurant where a Jew lights the fire in the morning, and afterward a non-Jewish employee places food on the fire, one can defend those who are lenient and eat in such a restaurant, even if they are Sephardic. However, ideally, the kosher supervisor in the restaurant should personally place the food on the fire.
Rulings of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef shlita courtesy of the "Daily Halacha" website
