Waiting after eating 'hard cheese'

Hi Rabbi Can you explain to me the custom of having to wait six hours after eating 'hard cheese'?

Thank you for your question. There is a dispute among the Rishonim regarding the necessity to wait six hours after eating meat.

Rashi, in Tractate Chulin on page 105, writes that the reason is that the taste of the meat stays in one's mouth for an extended period of six hours; therefore, during that time the rabbis forbade one from eating dairy foods.

The Rambam (Hilchot Ma'achalot Asurot, Perek 9, Halacha 28) writes that the reason is that pieces of meat may still remain stuck in one's teeth, and during that time, it is considered food, as we find in the verse (Numbers 11,33), 'While the meat was still between their teeth.' After six hours though, the pieces will have broken down through the saliva in one's mouth and are no longer considered meat."

"The Shulchan Aruch, Siman 89, Halacha 1, incorporates both opinions le'chumra (stringently). For example:

1. If meat is trapped between one's teeth one is obligated to remove it even after six hours, since it is only the opinion of the Rambam that after six hours it is not considered food. However, according to Rashi food that is stuck between one's teeth is always considered food and needs to be removed (one should afterward drink and eat something parve to clean out the mouth)
2. If one chewed a piece of meat for a child, for example, and then removed it, one does need to wait six hours, according to the opinion of the Rambam since pieces of meat are stuck between one's teeth even without digesting (according to Rashi, it would have been permitted since no taste stays in one's mouth if the food was not digested).
3. If one, after eating, cleaned his teeth thoroughly and made sure that there was no meat stuck between his teeth, according to the opinion of the Rambam, he would therefore be permitted to eat dairy. Nevertheless, one needs to wait six hours since, according to the opinion of Rashi, since he digested meat, there will be a lasting taste in one's mouth, and therefore one has to wait six hours.

Now, it's clear why one needs to wait after eating meat before eating dairy; however, we need to understand the halacha when it is the other way around: if one eats hard cheese, then why does one need to wait six hours?

The Rema writes in Siman 89, Se'if 2 that after eating hard cheese, one should not eat meat or even chicken, and the Taz explains in Se'if Katan 4 that this stringency is according to the opinion of Rashi, that the taste stays in one's mouth for a period of six hours, like meat. According to the Rambam, we only find that food trapped in one's mouth is called food only with regard to meat, not cheese.

The Shach writes that it is only cheeses that were aged for six months, leaves a strong taste in one's mouth like meat does so one may ask why yellow cheese is considered hard cheeses since it wasn’t aged for six months?

The explanation is, that the producers add ingredients to speed up the process of aging, giving the cheese a taste of aged cheese. Therefore, sharp cheddar, Emmental, Kashkabal, Maccabi blue, Original Tsafed cheese, Parmesan, Gouda, and Camembert, all have a taste of hard cheese, and many have taken on this stringency to wait six hours.

However, In a case where one has to eat a Shabbat meal on Friday night or a time when one has to eat a meaty meal b'shas hadchak (in pressing circumstances), one can be lenient since this is considered a chumrah (a stringency). One can also be lenient in a case where one ate the hard cheese when it was melted.

Since the source of this halacha is the opinion of the Rema, so this stringency doesn’t apply to Benei Sefarad. According to Benei Sefarad, after eating dairy or cheese, one needs to do Kinuach ve'Hadacha (eat a parve food like bread — not flour, dates, or leafy vegetables e.g. lettuce — and then wash out one's mouth by drinking water) and check that one's hands are clean from any dairy residue, and then one can eat meat. Some are stringent to wait half an hour in between.

Wishing you well.

Rashi, Tractate Chulin, page 105.

Rambam, Hilchot Ma'achalot Asurot, Chapter 9, Halacha 28.

Shulchan Aruch, Siman 89, Halacha 1.

Rema, Siman 89, Se'if 2.

Taz, Se'if Katan 4.

Shach ibid