Power Up!

Communication is so central to our relationships... and ultimately our happiness! After all when our relationships are strong, we feel much happier! Learn how silence and empathy can really help us in our communication and our relationships!

We all have the power to create life with our words, hear from the inspiring and popular Yaffa Palti about accessing our power to give life to others.

Day 4 of the clean speech challenge with Rebbetzin Joanne Dove where she shares with us how to make intentional positive speech a lasting force in our life.

Join the challenge! Oops! We've all been there, we've said something we shouldn't have said, or said something that came out wrong. Now What!?! He reminded us how it can be almost impossible to take the words we say so we need to be so careful with our words, but also showed us how repair is possible. Your Challenge! Think of one person you may have hurt with your words -- we've all done that, and acknowledge to yourself that you owe them an apology. Even if you don't feel courageous enough right now to apologise to them at least acknowledge to yourself that they deserve that. Remember that as hard as it is to be honest with ourselves about our mistakes, it gives us an opportunity to repair and strengthen our relationships.

Day 2! Rabbi Yisroel & Leanne Binstock talk about how our speech is the greatest asset we have and how we can use reflection to improve the speech we use. Join the challenge for a chance to win one of 3 prizes! Email gilaross@gmail.com for details!

Jordana Bachurov from drinkitin launches the clean speech challenge with an inspiring story of snakes, car seats and challenges us to upgrade our morning cup of coffee/tea/water with deciding who you will say something positive to. Join the challenge for a chance to win one of 3 prizes! Email gilaross@gmail.com for details!

Hear the story of Dovi Halpern, from Hashem's Warrior, who grew up religious, moved away from it and fought to find his own place in Judaism. Hear how he was inspired by the words of King David to find hope in darkness and start a metal band to spread messages of spirituality.

Blimie Heller, of Unconditional Parenting, talks to us candidly about her journey to gentle parenting and shares some truths and tools to parenting gently. Can you guess the lie? 1. Initially this way of parenting is harder, but it becomes more meaningful and makes parenting more enjoyable 2. Gentle parenting is permissive 3. We don't prioritize the child's needs over the parents needs and we don't prioritize the parent's needs over the child's. Now listen and see if you were right! Any questions please reach out to Gila on Instagram @itsgilaross

Can you guess which one is the lie? - You deserve beautiful things! - Your words create your reality! - You're either confident or not! We chat with Rivky Itzkowitz from Impact Fashion about body confidence for our kids... and  ourselves!

Question 1) Is it OK to add food colouring to water for decorative purposes? Question 2) Can you use a toy fork that will change colour, eg when touching ice cream? Question 3) What about using lipstick? Question 4) Can you spill dark juice on a white table? Question 5) Pinching a kids face that turns red, ok? Question 6) Wearing eyeglasses that darken in sunlight? Question 7) Invisible ink? The melacha of dying was necessary for the manufacturing of the special curtains and tapestries of the mishkan. Colouring of any materials or substance is the melacha whether accomplished by changing the colour of the material or by adding a coating to it. Even darkening an existing colour is problematic. Any material is included, including painting a wall, adding food colouring for decorative purposes etc. Even if the colour will fade after a while on it's own its still not ok to use, eg cosmetics like lipsticks, eye shadows etc or kids toy plastic cutlery that changes colour with heat/cold. To be the melacha it must entail a measurable change to the surface itself, so to pour dark juice on a white table is ok as there is no meaningful change to the surface. If the colouring is brief and unintentional it's ok, eg to pinch a kids cheek. It would be ok to sit outside on a hot day even though one could become tanned as it's unintentional. If brief colouring occurs indirectly its ok even if intentional, so you can wear photo gray lenses, even though the purpose of them is to become darker with sunlight as the colouring is indirect and subsequently disappears when you return indoors. There are other reasons it's ok too, including that it's  purpose is a protection from the sun and not to create any colouring effect. Invisible ink or dye is not ok

Question 1) Can you hang wet clothes to dry on Shabbos? Question 2) Can you wet a garment with coloured wine or drink? Question 3) Can you go for a walk on Shabbos in the rain, where you know your clothes will get wet? Wet laundry is usually muktza, but if it became wet whilst it was being worn it's not muktza but you can't hang it out to dry due to the principle of "viewed by the eye" - any situation that can arouse suspicion to an onlooker, as he may feel they were washed on shabbos itself.  Note, it's ok to hang it out washing done before shabbos even though it will be hanging out and drying over Shabbos. It's also OK to hang out your wet clothing that got wet on Shabbos if either it isn't "that wet", or if you hang it in an *unusual way like on back of a chair etc. And its always ok to hang out a wet raincoat as it's obvious it got wet on Shabbos, and as we saw a plastic coat can even be shaken out to remove moisture. The reason wet laundry is muktza is 1 can be anxious to wear a wet garment and may forget himself and wring it out. If you know with certainty that the washing will dry on Shabbos, eg you hang it out friday in your   house left overnight to dry and the house is hot, the clothes stop being muktza upon them becoming dry. If washing is in your dryer, the only way to get the washing out is to open the door if there is no light. You then can't close the door unless it's in the way as it's muktza! Once you remove your wet clothing that became wet on Shabbos from the rain, and put on dry ones, the wet ones shouldn't be moved anymore and considered muktza. We have seen over past couple of sessions that under the melacha of melabain - scouring, one can't remove dirt from a material, even if done without a liquid. The purpose of this melacha is to improve the appearance of the garment. There is an exception where the soaking or wetting has a negative or spoiling effect on the appearance of the fabric. For example you can soak a fabric with dirty water because the dirty water doesn't cleanse the garment, but soils it more. Similarly you can wet a garment with colored wine or drink has this has a detrimental effect on the appearance of the garment. Think spills! Also, it's only a problem where you want the fabric to get wet, so is ok if you want to dry your hands on a towel or go for a walk in the rain whereby your clothes will get wet.

We saw in episode 32 that any method of removing soil or impurities from a material is the melacha of melabain- scouring, even without liquid. Question 1) what about brushing dust from a hat without liquid? Question 2) or brushing icing sugar off your jacket? Question 3) shaking out flour from your hair? Question 4) if chullent falls on your couch how best to remove it? Question 5) ketchup splatters onto your blouse and dries, can you peel it off? Question 6) can you shake snow off your coat? Brushing dust or powder that has settled into a fabric or an absorbent material is this melacha, even without the aid of water or liquids. The idea is that dust is similar to a stain in that it becomes deeply embedded into a fabric. Even talcum powder, chalk dust, flour or icing sugar can't be brushed off a garment or couch, or even shaken off a fabric. Even to sweep a carpeted floor is problematic with a broom, solution is to use a soft broom to collect large food particles. Larger particles like crumbs are fine to remove as they don't get embedded. If dust, sand, flour etc gets into your hair it can be shaken out as this doesn't apply to human skin or hair. When a substance is thick and moist like wet mud or chullent a small amount does become absorbed in the fabric, like clothing or a couch. The best way to deal with is to scrape it off with the back of a knife or a spoon. Or you could use a dry cloth or napkin if it doesn't remove the stain. A thick wet substance like a sauce that splatters on a fabric and dries may not be pealed off on shabbos unless a stain remains, as then your just removing the upper layer. Chewing gum, candy, silly putty etc that became pressed into the carpet can't be pulled out as they are firmly in the weave. Again, if some of the substance still remains in the fabric it's ok. A coat or hat etc that become wet in the rain or snow that begins to accumulate on a coat one cant shake it off as it will cause squeezing. With snow, if it has not yet begun to melt, shaking or blowing off is ok because the snow isn't embedded in, u like dust for example as a contrast. It is hard to be sure no snow has melted so it may be safer to only shake gently.   Anything rubber or plastic like a raincoat or shoes can be shaken vigorously.

Question 1) Is it OK to scrub your leather shoes to get mud off them? Question 2) What about to clean your couch with some water? Question 3) Are you allowed to wash a metal pot on Shabbos? Question 4) Is it OK to remove a stain a baby has made on your shirt by rubbing it, even without water? Question 5) What about shaking out a wet coat after coming in from the rain? Cleansing absorbent materials that have absorbed soil grime or other impurities is the melacha of Scouring. Any type of washing, soaking, squeezing or even scrubbing a material that is dry is included in this melacha. It applies to any soft or pliant materials including natural or synthetic fabrics, leathers or canvas materials. It applies to non garments too, so it's also a problem to wash or the like to carpets, leather and fabric upholstery, or string. The melacha applies even if the stains are not removed but only improved, eg its not ok to dab water onto a wine stain on a blouse to dilute the stain because causing a stain to fade is a significant improvement to the garment. It is only a problem with pliable or porous materials so hard completely non absorbent materials like glass, ceramic, wood etc are not included, as they don't absorb any tangible dirt or grime.  This explains why it's ok to wash dishes, pots and pans on shabbos (assuming they are needed for shabbos use, you don't pour boiling hot water onto the grease, and it's done with a type of sponge that's acceptable, ie don't use a wet sponge or rag!). There are 3 methods through which 1 can violate this melacha: 1) Soaking When liquid saturates a cloth it has the effect of loosening soil and stains. So, soaking a fabric in any clear liquid is a problem even if no scrubbing or squeezing is done, and even if the stain doesn't disappear, eg, you can't sprinkle water onto a clean shirt. Paper napkins and paper towels (that has been pre cut before shabbos) may be wetted for wiping a counter top, but don't squeeze them while wiping. 2) Scrubbing Rubbing or scrubbing a garment even when dry to remove a stain is the melacha because the friction of the scrubbing forces out dirt. This can be whether you scrub with a brush, another part of the garment or even with your hands, eg one can't remove a stain by folding over part of the garment and rubbing it against your skin.  Even to rub a leather belt clean is a problem! 3) Squeezing Squeezing or exerting strong pressure on a wet fabric effectively flushes out the saturated moisture, eg squeezing, wringing etc. Any form of forcing out liquid is a problem even by vigorous shaking, so one mustn't shake out their wet raincoat. Note, a plastic raincoat could be, as it's non absorbent. Even to walk or step on carpet that's wet to press out the moisture isn't ok! The way to deal with a spill is to gently place paper towels over the area to absorb the surface liquid. It's not ok to use a mop as it's designed to be wrung out regularly.

Question 1) Pulling out a grey hair on Shabbos, ok? Question 2) What about tweezing eyebrows? Question 3) How about pulling a hair from a fur coat? Question 4) Removing feathers from a cooked chicken?? Question 5) Is it always OK to comb hair on Shabbos? Question 6) How can you remove nits on Shabbos? Gum?! This "melacha" is the first in a group of 13 that comprises the essential steps in the processing of wool fabrics and garments. Shearing the wool of a sheep is the 1st stage in the manufacture of woolen garments. It can be *defined as the severing or uprooting of any growing part of the body of any creature*, even one no longer alive. Also included is *cutting or tweeting hair from one's head or body.* Even cutting a single hair is this "melacha". Biting or pulling out hair is also prohibited. *Tweezing eyebrows or other excess hair or using a hair remover isn't ok.* As a dead animal is included in this "melacha" you can't pull a hair from a natural fur. But, it's *ok to remove feathers from a cooked chicken* for various reasons, including that the cooking causes the feathers and hair to loosen their grip and come off easily, therefore they are considered "flicked" through the cooking. *Cutting or brushing hair is this "melacha", as it will inevitably pull out hair.* In order to *brush hair in a permissable* way; 1) use a *soft bristle brush* as the bristles usually bend. 2) use in a *gentle way*. 3) designate a *special shabbos brush* (due to a different issue). However if someone knows their hair will come out no matter what, this wouldn't help. *Nits* would appear to be a similar issue. The way to deal with this is to remove them *without any comb in a gentle way so it's not being tugged from its roots.* This can be done by gently grasping the long strand of hair with one's thumb and forefinger, between the root and the knit while sliding the nit upwards and out of the hair with the thumbnail and forefinger of another hand. Additionally, shampoos should not be used. What would you say about *removing gum* from hair?! It can't be forcibly pulled out as it will definitely cause hair to be pulled out. Possible solution is to apply *ice to the spot where the gum is embedded which usually causes the gum to harden and lose some of its stickiness and after a couple of minutes should slide off without pulling hair!* A few drops of oil could accomplish the same result. And.. what about removing a bandaid/plaster from male skin?! Try using oil or nail polish remover to devolve the adhesive. Otherwise leave plaster on till after Shabbos. *Cutting or removing fingernails or toenails is a problem*, or even a part of a nail. Similarly, one shouldn't remove a wart, a pimple or even loose bits of dried skin.

how can we tap into Shabbos to look after our soul and keep it going into the week? Question 1) Why is the "kedusha" in the amida longer on shabbos than during the week? Question 2) Why should we care about this?! Question 3) Is it OK to take a shower or bath on Shabbos? Any limitations? Question 4) What to do when hot tap is accidentally turned on? A) We don't beat raw eggs because this is almost exclusively for frying, cooking or baking, and so looks like cooking preps. B) Another ordinance connected with this melacho is not bathing ones entire body. One can't do this even if the water was warmed before shabbos. Bathing and showering were prohibited amongst other reasons because one could forget themselves and warm up the water on Shabbos for the bath. You can wash parts of your body, such as face, hands arms and feet and even in hot water. One must be careful not to wash most of one's body at one time as this would be considered like washing ones whole body. Even when washing parts of ones body in warm water please bare in mind: 1) the water must be heated before shabbos. 2) a wash sponge and the like can't be used. 3) hard soap may not be used. 4) shampoos may not be lathered into ones hair. Swimming in a lake or swimming pool isn't OK for a number of reasons. A lady whose mikva night is Friday night does go in its warm water, she should be wary of not squeezing her wet hair and not comb it. Bathing a child who is soiled in warm water that was heated from before shabbos is ok, eg you can pour hot water from a kettle into a dry wash tub and then add hot water to make it lukewarm. C) Using a hot water tap isn't ok, as its "cooking". Check out how the boiler works! If the hot water was accidentally turned on there is a problem with turning it off, especially if left on for say 15 minutes full force the water in the tank probably cooled and by shutting the tap it will cause the cold water remaining in the tank to stay and become hot thereby doing "cooking". You could hint to a non jew to turn it off. Note, depending on type of system you have that is warming your water, it may be a problem even if on for a shorter period of time, so safest is to not turn it off yourself even in this circumstance.

1) Can you wrap a schnitzel in aluminium foil to keep it hot? 2) Can you put chicken soup in a thermos flask to stay hot? 3) What about putting kishke in aluminium foil so it doesn't dissolve in a chullent in a crockpot? 4) Can you put a towel over your food on a hotplate on shabbos morning to warm food up? *Insulating is forbidden on Shabbos.* The concern is that someone will be anxious that his food isn't being kept warm enough and may forget it's shabbos and then place the food on a proper flame. Some forms of insulating are forbidden even before shabbos begins. Read on. In order for something to be *forbidden under insulating it requires 4 conditions to be present:* 1) *Total enwrapment, ie the food must be totally covered by insulation.* It is *therefore permissable to partially cover or wrap any hot food or hot container of food.* As long as a significant area is left exposed it's ok, eg one may not completely wrap a hot potato on shabbos with aluminium foil to keep it warm. However, if you keep it open slightly, thereby exposing a part of the potato, it's ok. Note, it's likely that the first layer of foil is ok if it's main purpose is to prevent food drying out. However a second layer isn't necessary. Also, please note the aluminium foil would need to be precut. Another example is it's ok to put towels over an urn or hot pot of soup as long as a significant part of the urn/pot is exposed. 2) *Original container, ie still in the first vessel.* *However if the food was transferred to a second container, its ok to insulate it*, eg its allowed to cover a hot tea with a towel to keep it warm as it's in a second vessel, or another example is you could pour hot coffee into a thermos to retain it's heat as the thermos is a second vessel. 3) *Intention, ie the intent must be for insulating purposes.* *However if the purpose is to protect the food, covering it even totally is permitted*, eg its allowed to cover a hot pot of soup with the lid even though the lid acts as an insulator, as the primary purpose is to protect the food. Even if your intention is also to keep the food warm, its ok. Another example is leaving a kishke inside a chullent pot which is wrapped in silver foil is ok. The main purpose of covering the kishke is to separate it from the chullent, and so not an issue when aim is to prevent it dissolving into the chullent or to prevent it absorbing to much of the flavour of the chullent. 4) *Direct Contact, ie the wrapping material must be in direct contact with the food or container.* *Therefore if the towel or wrapping is not touching the walls of the pot, it's ok to insulate.*, eg one can place a large plate on top of a pot and drape a towel over it as the insulating materials will envelope the pot whilst not touching its walls. *If any of these 4 conditions are absent, insulating is permitted.* There are 2 categories of insulation; one which generates added heat and 1 which only retains heat. 1) Generates added heat; when materials that are used do more than just insulate, as they produce heat, eg hot sand, salt, grass etc. This is a problem even when done before shabbos, eg wrapping a pot in an electric blanket is not ok even before Shabbos. 2) Only retains heat; eg blankets, dry straw, wheat etc. It's ok to insulate in this way before shabbos, but not on shabbos, eg it's forbidden on Friday night to completely cover a pot of hot soup with a blanket after the pot was removed from the blech. However on Friday afternoon you could do this to keep it warm until the meal. Crockpots we looked at in an earlier session in terms of insulating. It could be that the crockpot with its cooked food inside it's metal cylinder is a form of generating added heat, which would deem it potentially forbidden to set up even before shabbos if so!? The way to circumvent the issue is by lining the inside wall of the

Question 1) is it OK to put a tray of cold roast chicken on the blech to reheat it? Question 2) Is there a way to return a hot cholent pot back into a crockpot after you serve from the pot? Question 3) Is it OK to take pot from fire and put on hotplate? It is prohibited to return any food even if fully cooked directly onto the heat source, ie the "blech" during the course of shabbos. So, this prohibition even applies to foods that one is otherwise permitted to reheat, eg you can reheat a cold tray of roast chicken if placed near to the blech, but you can't place it on the blech to warm up. The reason it's forbidden to return food to the fire is it has the outward appearance of cooking and could lead people to think that cooking is allowed. There are 4 conditions under which it's permitted to return a cooked food to the fire: 1) it must be fully cooked. 2) it must be the intention to return it. 3) it must be held the entire time even if held on a surface, eg a table. 4) it must be returned to a properly covered flame. In the case of a mistake, as long as the food is fully cooked and returned to the blech, ie conditions 1 and 4. You could transfer a pot from an oven to blech but not the other way round.  You couldn't transfer a pot from the blech to the hotplate as transferring is like returning. The only way to do this acceptably would be to put the pot on the hotplate with a sheet of foil or another blech would cover the hotplate. There are 2 ways without the 4 conditions to permissibly warm food: 1) to place food near to the blech, even if the food to get properly hot. 2) to place food on a pot that's on the fire already or even to put down an empty pot on the fire. Eg if you want to heat up a cold kugel put it on top of an upside down tray. Now it lacks the appearance of cooking. How does one return a crockpot to its cylinder? On the surface this would be an issue of returning. The way to allow this is to cover the interior of the cylinder with aluminium foil. Then you would have to know its fully cooked, have the intention to return it and hold it whilst serving from it.

Question 1), could there possibly be any issue with leaving raw food on a flame before shabbos? Normally no issue with a melacha with setting it up ahead of shabbos, what about here? Question 2) If your using a hotplate or crockpot is there anything you need to do to it ahead of shabbos to allow you to put food into it before shabbos? Mishna teaches us that a raw food that has began cooking may not be left on an uncovered flame over shabbos. This is despite the fact that the act of positioning the food on the flame was done before shabbos. This restriction is called "shehiyoh". The reason our Rabbi's forbade this was that one might be inclined to adjust the flame in order to make it cook faster. The general custom is to cover the range top with a sheet of metal called a "blech" before shabbos and even when the food is fully cooked. The blech does 2 things: 1) it diminishes the heat of the fire 2) it serves as a visual reminder that adjusting the flame is prohibited. On modern stoves one should cover the flame and preferably the control knobs too. A sheet of metal placed over the grates and burners is adequate. Note that when a blech is in place you could even leave raw food on it, such a raw chullent which is placed there just before shabbos. When this is done, the pot may not be moved or tampered with until after the food is definitely cooked. If you forgot to put a blech on, as long as the food is 1/3 cooked you can use the food. It's best not to put uncooked food into an oven before shabbos to finish cooking. The only way to deal with this would be to cover the source of the heat. In most ovens it comes out of the bottom of the oven so only the bottom of the oven must be covered with a piece of heavy duty foil. To add to this issue, if the thermostat is very sensitive a sudden change in temperature can cause the oven to ignite instantaneously.  A crockpot or hotplate without a temperature settings doesn't need a blech, ie it doesn't require a piece of aluminium foil as there is no possibility that you may adjust the source of heat on shabbos. But please note that for other reasons (insulating) it's best to line the inside of the cylinder of a crockpot with aluminium foil and allow the foil to extend noticeably higher than the cylinder walls. However if the crockpot or hotplate have a temperature control it can only be used if the food was mostly cooked before shabbos, and the controls should be taped or covered before shabbos. For a hotplate, put heavy aluminium foil or a few layers of regular foil as a blech. There is an exception to the requirement of covering the heating element when maintaining food on a flame from before shabbos; this is when raw meat is placed in a slow cooker where it cooks slowly and will therefore only be available for the day meal and not the Friday night meal.

1. Warming cold noodles in a hot pot of soup? 2, reheating boiled chicken on shabbos, is there a way? 3, dipping challah in hot soup? 4, heating a dessert on hot plate where margarine will melt? Although we can't heat a food to the point of the heat where the hand would not touch it as its so hot, we can reheat foods under certain circumstances. This is because a food can't undergo halachik cooking twice.  If you recall cooking is defined as the changing of a food or substance by use of heat.  However in the case of a previously cooked food this doesn't hold true as the food has already undergone a major change when it was first cooked, so reheating isn't considered cooking. There is a big difference between solids and liquids. To be able to reheat a food, it must be a solid food and dry. A cooked liquid can only be reheated if still warm.  Additionally a food may only be reheated with the same method that was used to heat and prepare it the first time, eg a roasted food by roasti ng it and a cooked food by re cooking it. Some examples, 1) it's allowed to take a cold baked potato from the fridge and to place it near flame where it can become hot. 2) one can place cold boiled chicken from the fridge into a hot pot of soup (1st vessel) that was removed from the flame ). 3) matzah or challah may not be put into a hot pot of soup since challah and matzah are baked, and you are now cooking them.  How dry does dry have to be? It doesn't have to be literally dry. As long as no significant accumulation of gravy or liquid its OK. Eg meatballs are considered dry even if moist, as long as not in gravy. Margarine, congealed fat are regarded as "dry" as there current status determines them and they are dry at room temperature. Examples include rewarming chicken with congealed fat or a dessert being rewarmed that has margarine in it.  Anything that is a liquid can't be rewarmed.  Examples include meatballs in sauce, pouring ketchup into a hot pot of chullent, a pot of soup etc.  The reason liquids are different is that heat doesn't have an intrinsic transition in a liquid, which therefore means that a change in temperature of a liquid to a hot point is itself the state of cooking. As long as the liquid remains warm it can still be reheated. "Warm" would mean it could be used for a hot drink. Eg if leftover soup is hot enough it would still be enjoyed, it can be poured back into a the hot pot. It should be noted that only intense dry heat radisting from a direct flame is an issue, therefore boiled chicken or noodles can be put on a hotplate isn't intense enough to cook it.  Foods that were both roasted and cooked go after status of last process, eg a lokshen kugel. So back to our questions. 1) Warming cold lockshen in hot soup ok as long as pot off the fire, as its same way the lokshen was cooked. 2) Reheating boiled cold chicken is ok either by placing it into a pot of soup or by putting it onto a hot plate as the heat isn't hot enough to be an issue. 3) Dipping challah into hot soup is an issue as the challah was baked and you would now be cooking it. The way to do this permissibly would be if either the soup in bowl is no longer terribly hot or if your the hot soup is in a 3rd vessel. 4) Heating a dessert is ok even though the margarine will melt as its considered a dry food as we look at it's current status.

Question 1) Putting spices into a pot that's on the flame? Ok? Question 2) Putting milk and sugar into a hot coffee? Ok? Question 3) Making a cup of tea on shabbos how to do? There are a number of different categories of how heat can be used to heat uncooked liquids and foods. 1) 1st vessel 2) 2nd vessel  3) 3rd vessel For our purposes please note that we are going to use halachik rather than scientific principles. Ultimately we are saying that the first vessel can cause cooking when its really hot, whereas the second vessel can't, even when it's hotter.. So, it must be dependent on more than simply how hot a vessel is but other factors too, including how the "walls" of the vessels are regarded in terms of "cooling" things off. 1) First vessel - the container into which a food or liquid was cooked or heated. This can be on the flame itself, eg a pot of soup boiling on the fire where its absolutely forbidden to put any uncooked food or liquids into it, eg one can't put salt into a pot that's on the flame on shabbos. Or it could even be a hot pot that's been removed from the flame. You also can't put a baked item into a first vessel, eg croutons into a hot pot of soup.  So, what can be put into a first vessel? Any solid food that is completely cooked may be placed into it once its been removed from the fire, eg a piece of cold cooked chicken could be put into a pot of hot soup. 2) second vessel - it has a lower heat than a first vessel. Its any container into which hot food or liquid from a first vessel is directly poured, eg a cup of hot water filled directly from the hot water urn. The rule is, anything that's deemed "sensitive" to heat can cook even in a second vessel.  As its uncertain exactly what this includes the only items to put into a second vessel are things already cooked like warming a bottle of milk as the milk is pasteurised or to add cold milk or sugar to a coffee. Additionally water, oil, ginger, cinnamon, salt, pepper. 3) Third vessel - it's a different level of heat than a second vessel. We can rely on saying that a third vessel does not cause any cooking, no matter how hot it is. So, use a 3rd vessel anytime you prepare hot drinks or food. So, make your tea or coffee this way.