Q. Flying a night flight towards New York from Eretz Yisroel on an El Al plane, probably most passengers are Jewish. A passenger boarded the plane and put his large stash of nuts in the pocket of the seat in front of him. In the morning, he is about to start noshing, when he realizes the passenger ahead of him slept the night on the plane, and had tilted his seat to the maximum.
Were the nuts considered under the sleeping Jewish man when he slept and should they be discarded? If they should not be eaten, may one plant them or feed them to animals?
A. Talmud (Pesachim 112a) and Shulchan Aruch Y.D. (116: 5) mention that food and liquids placed under the bed, ruach ro’oh or a harmful spirit will rest on them, even when covered, and therefore one should avoid placing them there. Pischei Teshuvos (ibid. 4) quotes Shvus Yaakov. that after the fact, they are permitted, others are stringent.
There are also other limitations to this proscription mentioned by various Poskim. Maggen Avraham quoted by Mishna Berura (173: 4) writes that the natural world has changed, and in our times these restrictions may not apply; Hagra and others remain strict. The Ran (Pesachim ibid.) mentions that this applies only to cooked food. Mizmor Ledavid (110) Yafe Lalev (3: 116: 6) maintain that it is restricted to food placed only on uncovered ground or earth, not on land covered by stones or wooden floors etc.. Therefore, Yabia Omer (Y.D. 1: 9, O.H. 9: 95) is lenient of food left on pockets, when one fell asleep. He suggest to wash them three times if possible. Shalmas Chaim (2: 7) adds that it applies only to a bed, therefore children’s bottles left under their carriage are permitted. Shevet Halevy (quoted in Avnei Yashfa 141) asserts that when double wrapped the food is permitted. (as in a bag placed inside a seat pocket). He also maintains that it may not apply to sleeping during the day.
Taking into account all the above and the fact that food placed on an angle in the back of a plane seat, can hardly be considered under, Horav Shlomo Miller’s Shlit’a opinion is that you can eat the nuts.
Rabbi A. Bartfeld as revised by Horav Shlomo Miller Shlit’a
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