R.

Ysoscher Katz penned a responsum that permits one to eat meat after eating pizza that was
sprinkled with Parmesan cheese, without waiting a long time in between, if it is too much of an
imposition for the person to wait.
I issued a critique of R. Katz' responsum, pointing to errors in Halacha and in facts on the
ground that formed the basis of R. Katz' responsum.
R. Katz replied with a rebuttal, to which I responded in similar fashion as earlier. R. Katz'
rebuttal and my response appear here.
R. Katz then issued a lengthier attempt to refute my arguments, claiming that my presentation
was "overlooking pertinent sources and obvious halakhic concepts". Let's take a look at R.
Katz' new attempted refutation:
R. Katz asserts that:
"The Taz (Yoreh Deiah 89:4) writes I in my humble opinion think that the stringency [of waiting
extra time after eating hard cheese] only applies to cheese that is aged AND moldy but if the
cheese is merely aged, the stringency does not apply unless to those who are extremely
punctilious and generally take upon themselves additional stringencies. Many observant
communities have adopted the opinion of the Taz to only follow the stringency of waiting extra
time after eating cheese that is aged and also moldy. Therefore, since waiting longer after nonmoldy cheese is already an exaggerated stringency, to still be machmir even when the cheese
has been melted is extreme and unreasonable."
R. Katz overlooks the fact that the accepted Halacha is according to the Shach, P'ri Megadim,
Chochmas Adam, Aruch Ha-Shulchan and others (cited here), who rule that one should indeed
wait the extra time after eating aged cheese (even absent other characteristics of the cheese,
such as potency of flavor/meshichas ta'am) - unlike the Taz. The Taz' rejection of a
special waiting period after cheese that has been merely aged was not adopted or codified as
the Halacha. Those who study Yoreh Deah are of course very familiar with the Taz invoked by R.
Katz, but the Taz' opinion was not accepted against the majority view.
It is interesting that R. Katz claims, in error, that the Taz stipulates that cheese which
necessitates an extra waiting period must be "moldy". The Taz there writes that the cheese is
"metula'as" - "maggoty" - not moldy. The Taz refers to European cheeses that contain maggots
(yuck!!), whose activity in cheese curd causes the curd to ferment and breaks down the curd's
fats, endowing the cheese with an unusual potency of flavor. The Rema actually writes about
such cheese merely five simanim prior (YD 84:16). The reason that the Taz maintains that one
should wait extra only after eating cheese that is maggoty is due to his ruling just one sentence
earlier in the paragraph of the Taz cited by R. Katz: that only after cheese with meshichas
ta'am need one wait. Maggoty cheese has extraordinary meshichas ta'am. The Taz does not
speak about moldy cheese, as it is irrelevant to his rationale. In fact, the Taz writes in the very
sentence paraphrased by R. Katz that one should wait after maggoty cheese "for the reason

that I mentioned" - i.e. meshichas ta'am. It is maggoty and not moldy cheese about which the
Taz writes.
R. Katz then introduces another rationale for permissibility in the case under discussion, based
on the rule that one need not wait after consuming soup into which meat was dissolved or
liquefied (a "tavshil shel basar" - YD 89:3), arguing that:
"Melted cheese is undoubtedly no different than liquefied meat. If liquefied meat does not
require extra waiting time before eating dairy, nor should one who consumes liquefied cheese
have to wait extra time before eating meat."
R. Katz' argument is incorrect, due to a dispositive error about the facts on the ground.
Parmesan cheese does not liquefy when melted. Due to Parmesan's protracted aging process,
which renders Parmesan far less moist and much more brittle than most other cheeses, it does
not turn into liquid when exposed to even boiling temperatures. Parmesan has a much higher
melting point than most cheeses, and even when grated into specks, melting Parmesan will
render it a putty, and not at all a liquid. It will remain a solid, but a pliable one. In fact, melted
Parmesan on the surface of hot foods, even at a boil, will not assimilate into the rest of the
food (even though one may not readily notice it, due to Parmesan's white color and typical tiny
size when grated). Thus, contrary to R. Katz' assumption, pizza onto which Parmesan cheese has
been sprinkled is not a tavshil shel basar and does not qualify for the leniency cited by R.
Katz.
Based on his analysis, R. Katz concludes that:
"Given all this, it is very likely that the Chatam Sofer (who condemned unjustified chumros, with
a wordplay on the term "chamor" - donkey) would have considered the chumra of waiting extra
time after eating melted Parmesan cheese, if such a chumra is too much of an imposition, a
chumra that crossed the line from machmir to chamor; going from hyper punctiliousness to
extreme unreasonableness."
The rationales employed by R. Katz to arrive at a permissive ruling are based on an
assortment of errors - something certainly not sanctioned by the Chasam Sofer or any other
halachic authorities.
My contention is one of methodology and accuracy - similar to the contentions in other recent
critiques (e.g., here and here) of R. Katz' responsa. I continue to stay away from discussion
of the ideological issues of Open Orthodoxy, and I have no plans to further challenge R. Katz on
the present matter either.