9) MARIT AYIN – THE POSSIBILITY OF MISLEADING ANOTHER

MARIT AYIN can be defined as a situation where an uninformed observer can quite reasonably mistake another’s perfectly lawful action, for something unlawful.

We have seen that even under Rabbinical law we can cook chicken[1] together with milk, provided we do not eat the cooked entity. This could conceivably lead a person witnessing the cooking process to mistakenly think that it is also permitted to EAT chicken cooked with milk (see post 8).

THE ARGUMENT BETWEEN RAMO AND SHACH REGARDING MARIT AYIN:

According to the Ramo, the only time we have to worry about MARIT AYIN, is when the confusing issues involve a Deoraita (Torah prohibition), but not a Derabanan (Rabbinical law).

In our case: EATING chicken cooked with milk, is only Derabanan. So MARIT AYIN would not apply.

However, according to the Shach[2], we do need to be concerned about MARIT AYIN even when the issues involve Derabanan.

In our case: although EATING chicken cooked with milk is only Derabanan, we would nevertheless still have to take MARIT AYIN into consideration.

Another case in point would be cooking BASAR BEHEIMA (meat from a domesticated animal), with almond milk. Almond milk looks like real milk, but is of course PAREV.

According to the both Ramo and Shach, since the suspicion revolves around a Deoraita (i.e. cooking meat with what looks like real milk), MARIT AYIN would apply.

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[1] I.e. OFF (fowl) or CHAYA (wild animals).

[2] This is also the view of the Acharonim (latter day authorities).