Chullin 66b: Copepods in the tap water

Chullin 66b: The Torah says, “This you may eat, from all that are in the water, anything that has fins and scales in the water, in the seas and rivers – those you may eat.” (Vayikra 11:9). This implies that the requirement of fins and scales applies only in seas and rivers. However, if the creature was born in a vessel or cistern, one may bend down and drink the water without removing the creatures.

חולין סו ע”ב: תאכלו מכל אשר במים מה ת״ל ־ שיכול, הואיל והתיר במפורש והתיר בסתם, מה כשהתיר במפורש לא התיר אלא בכלים, אף כשהתיר בסתם לא התיר אלא בכלים, מנין לרבות בורות שיחין ומערות ששוחה ושותה מהן ואינו נמנע? ת״ל תאכלו מכל אשר במים.

In Iyar 5764, creatures called copepods were discovered in all New York City water. The city’s Department of Environmental Protection had always been aware of them but didn’t bother to filter them out (as is done in other municipal water systems) because they don’t present a health risk. The copepods were visible to the naked eye as white objects, but without a magnifying glass, one could not tell that they were organisms (which had once been living but were now dead).

The Original Matirim

Rabbi Yisroel Belsky, Rabbi Shlomo Pearl, and Rabbi Elimelech Bluth ruled that they were permitted. Their reason was based on the Shach on Yoreh Deah 84:4, who says that if a creature was born in a cistern of water (in this case, the reservoir) and subsequently entered a vessel (the pipe), it is forbidden to eat if it leaves the vessel (comes out of the tap and onto the inside wall of your cup), but if it was born in a vessel and went into another vessel, it is permitted even if it comes out of the water. Here we assume the copepods were born in the pipes because of the principle of כאן נמצאו כאן היו (we assume that an object was always in its current location unless proven otherwise).

The copepods are killed by the chlorine, so the above assumption requires us to believe that they must have been born in the pipes before the chlorine was added. Rav Belsky checked with the Department of Environmental Protection and made sure the water enters a pipe before the chlorine is added. Also, he made sure that the water is in the pipe before the chlorine is added for a long enough time to allow for the copepods to hatch and grow to their observed size. Rabbi Yisroel Reisman and Rabbi Yisroel Pinchos Gornish concurred with Rav Belsky’s ruling.

The Osrim

Rabbi Feivel Cohen ruled that they were forbidden. Rabbi Hillel David also forbade drinking the water without a filter, but said that cooked food is mutar, and one may even cook food himself with unfiltered water. This is because the copepods fall apart, cease to be a “berya” (a complete organism) and become nullified. Although usually it is forbidden to intentionally nullify something treif, the Taz in Yoreh Deah 99:7 says that if your intent is merely to cook the food, and there happen to be insect parts in it, it’s allowed to nullify them.

Rabbi Hershel Shechter initially published a letter saying that these copepods are permitted because one cannot tell they are creatures with the naked eye. He assumed that just as one cannot recognize them when dead, one would not be able to recognize them when alive either. But when someone brought him a tray of water straight from the reservoir, full of wiggling specimens, he retracted his heter.

Later, a letter came out signed by Rabbi Dovid Feinstein, Rav Elyashiv and Rabbi Chaim Pinchas Scheinberg saying that the NYC tap water is forbidden because the copepods are visible when alive, and the reservoir is not considered a bor (cistern; rather, it is a river). Moreover, all of the original matirim, except for Rav Belsky, changed their position.

Rav Belsky’s conclusion

Even Rav Belsky, who remained lenient, changed his reason based on the emerging facts. His original heter was based on the assumption that the copepods were born in the pipe. But experts testified that they can’t be born in the pipe, since the water is rushing too fast. It must be that they are born in the reservoir, then enter the pipe and then come out of the tap. Even so, Rav Belsky permitted the water since the copepods die when the chlorine is added, and therefore we can rely on a combination of two factors:  

1. The reservoir has the status of a cistern, and there are Rishonim who hold that once dead, a creature remains permitted, even when separated from the water in the cistern.
2. Not every cup of tap water contains a copepod; it is only a miut hamatzui (a significant minority of cups).