Blech

A blech (from Yiddish) is a sheet of metal used by many observant Jews to cover stovetop burners (and for some, the knobs/dials too) on Shabbat (The Jewish Sabbath), as part of the precautions taken to avoid violating the halachic prohibition against cooking on the Sabbath by stirring the fire.

An unblech or K'Deira Blech (Water Blech) is not technically a blech but can be used for similar purposes. An unblech consists of a shallow metal pan filled with hot water and covered by another metal pan. An unblech can be used in more flexible ways than a true blech for halachic reasons. However, the temperature of an unblech is limited by the boiling point of water and is not as hot as a typical blech.

See also

• Chamin
• Cholent
• Sabbath preparations

External links

• Cooking and Baking on the Sabbath from aish.com
• An image of a blech (commercial website)
• Star-K Kosher's "Oven Kashrus" including discussion regarding the blech
• Jewz.com's Shabath tips page, includes a paragraph on the use of the blech
• Daily Halakha articles (and audio files) regarding the use of the blech
• Pictures of different types of blechs (commercial website) from Blechs.com