Soaked Myrtles

I have heard some people talking about a crazy new humrah of not keeping hadassim and aravos in water because that will make them kavush - soaked/cooked. Let us go through the issue so that we can see that this is neither crazy nor new.

I. Kavush

There is a dispute in the Gemara whether kavush is ke-mevushal, i.e. whether soaking something in a liquid is similar to cooking it. The classic example is placing a cucumber in pickling juice with a meat flavor. The cucumber is left in that liquid for a time and eventually thoroughly absorbs the pickling juice without the use of any flame or heat. It would seem quite counter-intuitive to claim that since the cucumber-pickle was never cooked in that meaty liquid it remains pareve (non-meat) and may be eaten with a dairy meal. Clearly, it has absorbed the meat flavor.

Similarly, if one were to take the pot or barrel in which the pickling was done and clean it thoroughly, and then put water in it and let it sit for a long time, the water will develop the taste of the pickling. The pot had absorbed the taste of the liquid and, to a lesser extent, the cucumber and that remained in its walls.

The near-unanimous conclusion of medieval halakhists is that kavush is ke-mevushal. However, the question is to what extent.

According to Rashi, soaking is cooking only if the liquid used is sharp. Thus, if a piece of cheese and a piece of meat are placed in water and left there for a week, according to Rashi one can take each one out, rinse it off, and eat it. The meat is not considered to have absorbed cheese flavor, nor vice versa. According to most others, even water can create a situation of kavush, and that is how the Shulhan Arukh (Yoreh De'ah 105:1) rules.

There are three views of the time period required for soaking to be an effective form of cooking: three days (i.e. 72 hours), one day (24 hours), the time necessary for that food to be cooked on a flame. The Shulhan Arukh (loc. cit.) splits the ruling on this and concludes that for sharp liquids the soaking time is the equivalent time for cooking on a flame but for non-sharp liquids (such as water) the soaking time is 24 hours.

What all that tells us is that hadassim left in water for 24 straight hours (without any interruption) are considered to have absorbed taste from the water and from whatever was absorbed in the container in which it is being held. The next question, though, is whether that makes any difference.

II. Hadassim and Aravos

The Beis Yosef (Orah Hayim 645) writes that hadassim and aravos that are kevushim are invalid for use on Sukkos. This would mean that, as above, hadassim and aravos that are kept in water for a 24 hour period - and this is a particular problem on Shabbos of Sukkos - may no longer be used. However, the source for this claim is very questionable. The Piskei Teshuvos (649:1) quotes the Pis'hei Teshuvah (Yoreh De'ah 87:19) and Bikkurei Ya'akov (647:19) who dispute this ruling, the latter suggesting that it is a typo. Similarly, the Darkhei Teshuvah (105:16) writes that the practice is not to follow this ruling, as does his son in Minhas Elazar (2:69). However, the Hasam Sofer (Responsa, 2:81) and his son the Kesav Sofer (Responsa, 122) support the ruling of the Beis Yosef. (See Piskei Teshuvos for all this.)

In other words, there are major authorities on both sides of this old debate. However, based on my reading of the Shakh (Yoreh De'ah 105:1), if only the bottom of the hadassim and aravos are in the water and the majority not, then that part which is not in the water is not considered to be kavush.

Furthermore, this only applies to actually soaking in water. But keeping the plants in wet paper towels does not involve this issue (Peri Megadim, Yoreh De'ah 105:MZ 1).