Question
Hello,
I have a question about my sinks. Our dairy and meat sinks are side by side and sometimes when I wash dishes one one side, splashes of water go on the other side. Here’s a specific example:
After preparing chicken, my husband washed his hands in the meat sink, but splashes of water (and chicken residue, I guess) went into the dairy sink. I don’t know if the water he used was hot, but I don’t think he used soap. There were dishes in the dairy sink - a big mixing bowl full of water (but no soap) with some plates inside. The bowl and most of the plates were not used for actual dairy things before being put in the sink, but some of the plates were. What becomes of those dairy dishes in this case? And what about the splashes that happen while I wash the dishes (I usually use soap)?
Thank you.
Answer
Shalom,
Thank you for your question. Your desire to keep all your meat utensils completely separated from the milk side is certainly praiseworthy. In general you are correct that one should try to avoid any contact between them. However, in the case you outline you have no cause for worry. Firstly, only hot contact of "splashes" can raise any halachic questions. As long as the splashes are less hot than "yad soledet bo" (which is so hot that one's hand retracts from contact with it) they do not impart taste from meat to milk, or visa versa. So, water that your husband was washing in was obviously less than yad soledet bo – and as such it caused no problems.
Even when the water is hotter than this, there are many halachic considerations that nearly always mean that one does not have to worry about splashes from one side to other. Unless you have a case of directly pouring from a hot meat pot onto the milk vessels, or similar situation, you do not have to worry about indirect splashes from one sink to the other.
Blessings.
