All year long, I find myself being asked the same question again and again: “What’s the halachah— and what’s the kashrus status— of vaping?” And all the time – particularly before Pesach – I run into the same wall: silence, confusion, and a sudden rush to talk about hashkafah instead of halachah.

Let me be clear. I am not here to promote vaping or to defend it. I do not sell vapes, I do not encourage vapes, and I am certainly not arguing that it is “mutar l’chatchilah.” But as someone who has spoken to many rabbonim, poskim, kashrus professionals, chemists, and medical people, I cannot help but be bothered by one glaring truth: Not everyone who knows halacha knows the metzius.

When asked about vaping, too many rabbonim simply respond, “It’s assur.” Full stop. Now, maybe that is the correct psak— perhaps it really should be assur. But this “psak” doesn’t come with the normal halachic analysis we expect in every other area of kashrus or issur v’heter. If vaping is a halachic issue, why don’t we treat it with the halachic rigor we apply to toothpaste, deodorant, essential oils, vitamins, and all the other non-food items people ask about daily?

There are major kashrus questions in vaping. Real ones. Complicated ones. Flavorings and extracts. Non-kosher solvents. Real chametz concerns on Pesach. Potential issues all year. If people are unfortunately vaping anyway—and we all know they are—how can we just turn our heads and refuse to give guidance?

Since when do we decide that withholding halachic information will magically stop an aveirah? Did we stop certifying eateries because some people overeat or don’t wait six hours between meat and milk? Did we stop guiding people on using Shabbos clocks because some people misuse them? When muktzah gets complicated, do we say “Just don’t touch anything”?

The Torah doesn’t hide from reality. Klal Yisroel faces the metzias and finding the correct halachic path within it.

If vaping is assur, then let’s hear it fully, with sources and analysis. If it’s not so simple, then let’s say that too. If there are kashrus concerns, let’s publish them, so those who are already vaping do not also stumble into eating treif. If there are real medical dangers, let’s hear from doctors who understand the science.

But what we cannot do is pretend that pretending will solve the issue.

Avoiding a subject because it’s uncomfortable is not the Torah way. Our poskim have fought through complex questions from electricity to IVF, from organ donation to CBD and pharmaceutical ingredients. Suddenly a vape pen is too complicated? Suddenly “hashkafah” becomes a convenient way to close the discussion?

If people are falling, we do not push them underground. We do not let them be nichshal in kashrus because we don’t “want to talk about it.” We address reality head-on.

I am begging rabbonim and kashrus organizations to stop avoiding this discussion. Teach it. Clarify it. Face it. Whether the psak is mutar, assur, or complicated, the tzibbur deserves clarity, not silence.

A yid who is struggling should not feel like he has to choose between vaping and keeping kashrus.

If we truly care about Klal Yisrael, then even when we disagree with their choices, we help them avoid issurim, we don’t pretend the metzius doesn’t exist.

Respectfully,
A member of the community seeking clarity

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