Meat After Dairy

Question

Hello! I read on chabad.org that one needs to wait six hours after having meat to have dairy because bits of meat can be stuck in between the teeth or that the taste of the meat is still in the mouth. If that is the case, what if I just brush my teeth right after and use mouthwash to rinse out my mouth to get rid of the taste/bits of meat? Wouldn’t that solve it since there will be no more remnants?

Also, why do we not wait between dairy and meat if either way the dairy food will still be in the stomach when having meat (as in, I had macaroni and cheese and now want a hot dog)?

They did mention its best to wait around 30min-1hour after having dairy but why isn’t it six hours like meat before dairy?

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Answers

  1. The Just Ask! - AskTheRabbi.org Team

    While it would seem that cleaning out the residue of the meat from one’s mouth should be enough, it is not. Even though two reasons are offered by the Rabbis for waiting after meat, there are many other “hidden” reasons for this practices as well. The ultimate reason is that there is a purely spiritual dimension that was commanded to the Jewish nation.

    Dairy products such as milk, cream cheese, cottage cheese, yogurt, ice-cream, butter do not require any waiting period at all before partaking of meat. However, the mouth should be cleaned first. After eating Cheddar, Dutch or Swiss cheese etc., it is obligatory to wait about 6 hours before eating meat.

    In order to understand why we have to wait for hard cheeses it is necessary to understand why we wait between eating meat and milk. There are two reasons given. The first is that meat leaves a taste in the mouth for up to six hours after it is eaten. The second reason is that any meat stuck between the teeth is still considered meat until about six hours afterwards.

    According to the first reason the Ashkenazic authorities rule that one should wait after eating cheeses that have a strong taste. They explain that that means cheeses that have matured for at least six months. Such cheeses are considered to be “strong tasting” and will leave a taste for six hours. Other authorities maintain (and this is the common custom) that one should wait after any strong tasting cheese even if it has not matured six months. The Aruch Hashulchan mentions Dutch, Swiss and cheddar cheeses as being examples of this.

    Sephardim do not wait after cheese since the stringency is not mentioned in the Talmud.

    Waiting a half-hour or hour after dairy is a matter of custom that depends on the customs of one’s family and community. Each person follows their own customs in this matter.

    Best wishes from the AskTheRabbi.org Team