Kashrut: Waiting Three Hours Instead of Six Hours

My rabbi in school (I’m 15) Said if I ask my father if I can wait 3 hours instead of 6 hours to wait from meat to dairy and he allows that I can, the thing is I don’t have a connection nor speak with my father. What can I do?

Shalom!

Thank you for your question!

You bring up a very important point worth elaborating upon, namely, what is the source for the three hour wait!?! It is very unclear where, why, and how this practice developed!

While it is said to be the German Jewish customs, there is no clear source for this. While people believe that the source is the works of Rabbeinu Yerucham, there is reason to believe that it is actually a misprint because in another work of his he writes explicitly to wait six hours! Indeed, most German rabbis actually kept six hours, such as, Rabbi Yonason Eibeshutz; Rabbi Yosef Yuzpa Koschmann, Rabbi Yitzchak Dov Bamberger, Rabbi Samson Refael Hirsch, and many others.

So as one can see, the origins of the three hour custom are not clear, (although a number of theories have been put forth to defend the practice).

As such, only one who has a tradition from his ancestors to wait only three hours between meat and milk may do so (or any other waiting-time-tradition). All others must wait six hours between meat and milk. No father or rabbi can allow someone to begin waiting less than six hours when there tradition is clearly such. One who abandons his true custom to adopt a more lenient practice is described by our sages as “fence-breaker,” and as one who violates “Do not forsake the teachings of your mother.”

YD 89 and commentaries;