Nadene Goldfoot
Trying to follow Kashrut today can be difficult for many Jews, especially Seniors living alone on social security or those in assisted living. Here are some highlights important to know when trying to do your best under your circumstances since Kosher meats are more expensive than the daily norm. The hardest to accomplish is to separate meat and dairy and not eat them both in the same meal. In other words, no hamburger and chocolate milkshake. You can have a hamburger and a coke or water drink or a milkshake alone later, but not together. Be sure to read to the very end of this article.
It goes without saying that the animal used must be healthy. Jewish law requires that animals be healthy and free from any defects or diseases before they can be considered kosher. When choosing kosher, you're guaranteed to consume only the finest, healthiest meats. Kosher is often associated with Jewish dietary laws, but its benefits go far beyond religious observance. Of the meat slaughtered for kosher use, only 20% of beef and around 12.5%-14% of chicken in the US meet the standards of health and quality to be labeled kosher. For this reason, kosher has become an indication of exceptional quality and a healthier lifestyle that anyone can embrace.
Judaism emphasizes treating animals with compassion and respect. This includes ensuring that animals are raised in comfortable conditions and slaughtered as humanely as possible. In large meat packing houses today, this is almost impossible. Original qualifications call for cutting the neck for an immediate death. Many places today call for shooting them in the head as they walk up the ramp to the site, and that is not the kosher way.
Judaism forbids the mixing of meat and milk, a practice called "basar bechalav," because the Torah commands it three times: "Do not cook a kid in its mother's milk". This commandment serves to highlight the sacredness of life and the distinct roles of physical nourishment (meat) and spiritual sustenance (milk), separating them to prevent the blurring of life and death, or the physical and spiritual. While some interpret it as a reminder of the mother-child bond, leading to a compassionate view of avoiding cruel treatment of animals, the primary reason remains divine instruction.
In the book , Rabbi Hayim Halevy Donin suggests that kashrut laws are designed as a call to holiness. The ability to distinguish between right and wrong, good and evil, pure and defiled, the sacred and the profane, is very important in . Imposing rules on what you can and cannot eat ingrains that kind of self control. In addition, it elevates the simple act of eating into a religious ritual. The Jewish dinner table is often compared to the Temple altar in rabbinic literature. If you obtain self control in your eating habits, you will probably have developed your own self control over your life and even think before you act. Here's another point. The quality of an animal’s feed plays a significant role in the taste, texture, and nutritional value of the meat it produces. Kosher guidelines stipulate that animals should be fed a clean, natural diet free from harmful additives. Many animals are fed special diets in order to gain weight they may have lost, which would mean a loss in costs. Dedication to these principles ensures that our meats not only taste great but also provide the nutrients you need to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
The Fundamental Rules of Kashrut
Although the details of kashrut are extensive, the laws all derive from a few fairly simple, straightforward rules:
- Certain animals may not be eaten at all. This restriction includes the flesh, organs, eggs and milk of the forbidden animals.
- Of the animals that may be eaten, the birds and mammals must be killed in accordance with Jewish law.
- All blood must be drained from the meat or broiled out of it before it is eaten.
- Certain parts of permitted animals may not be eaten.
- Meat (the flesh of birds and mammals) cannot be eaten with dairy. Fish, eggs, fruits, vegetables and grains can be eaten with either meat or dairy. (According to some views, fish may not be eaten with meat).
- Judaism prohibits eating meat and dairy together because it is a commandment found in the Torah, specifically the verse "Do not cook a kid in its mother's milk" which is repeated three times. Sages explain that the repetition implies that it is forbidden to cook, eat, or derive benefit from the mixture of any meat with any milk. While the Torah doesn't explain the reason why it's forbidden, interpretations include it being an act of compassion for the mother animal, a symbolic act of separating life and death, or a way to distance from ancient idolatrous practices.
- Utensils that have come into contact with meat may not be used with dairy, and vice versa. Utensils that have come into contact with non-kosher food may not be used with kosher food. This applies only where the contact occurred while the food was hot.
- Grape products made by non-Jews may not be eaten.
Of the "beasts of the earth" (which basically refers to land mammals with the exception of swarming rodents), you may eat any animal that has cloven hooves and chews its cud. ; . Any land mammal that does not have both of these qualities is forbidden. The Torah specifies that the camel, the rock badger, the hare (rabbit) and the pig are not kosher because each lacks one of these two qualifications. Sheep, cattle (bull and cows), goats and deer are kosher.
Of the things that are in the waters, you may eat anything that has fins and scales. ; . Thus, shellfish such as lobsters, oysters, shrimp, clams and crabs are all forbidden. Fish like tuna, carp, salmon and herring are all permitted.
For birds, the criteria is less clear. The Torah lists forbidden birds (; ), but does not specify why these particular birds are forbidden. All of the birds on the list are birds of prey or scavengers, thus the rabbis inferred that this was the basis for the distinction. Other birds are permitted, such as chicken, geese, ducks and turkeys.
Of the "winged swarming things" (winged insects), a few are specifically permitted (), but the Sages are no longer certain which ones they are, so all have been forbidden.
Rodents, reptiles, amphibians, and insects (except as mentioned above) are all forbidden. .
As mentioned above, any product derived from these forbidden animals, such as their milk, eggs, fat, or organs, also cannot be eaten. Rennet, an enzyme used to harden cheese, is often obtained from non-kosher animals, thus kosher hard cheese can be difficult to find.
Are we expected to give up if we can't follow all these obligations? Heck no! We try to do as much as we can of them. It's something to hold onto. Too many might just throw the towel in and give up completely. I've seen that happen and then the person winds up in denial of who they are.
I'm going to tell you something that happened to me on the 1st day of Passover this year. In trying to do the minimum in my non-Jewish assisted living center, a new chef added some very small pieces of diced ham into the morning's entree of scrambled eggs with veggies, a new addition to the usual eggs of which I had always ordered fried. There was no writing including the ham on the menu we receive each day. I dug in and took a bite and tasted the ham. I have been following kashrut the best I can under these circumstances, and usually wind up with a lot of cottage cheese!! I hit the ceiling. At 90 1/2 I was dangerous to that chef. I could have killed him! This was on the 1st day of Passover, yet. I stormed out of the dining room and went back with my matzo for the morning (my own ---and imported from Israel, too, and tried to bring down my high, very high blood pressure causing my shaking.
Yesterday, I was still thinking about it as I filled out my order for fried eggs, and saw one of our new young med techs with a scarf over her head indicating she was a Muslim. I hadn't met her before, and I called out to her, asking if I could ask her a personal question. She complied.
"Are you Muslim?" I asked, and she said "Yes." I ask because...and I told her my story.
She looked at me and told me she had had the same experiences, too, and we both wound up hugging each other.! I felt so relieved and so good, you can't imagine! Two women facing the same problem of trying to keep to our faith and running into such brick walls! Here I am, THE JEWISH BUBBA of Portland, Oregon holding dual citizenship with Israel, writing daily defending Jews and Israel, writing of our daily happenings of Israel at the moment, our ancient history, of Passover, etc, and I just found a new special friend, a Muslim!!! And at the end days of my life, this should happen. It's special. I'm not one who continued beating the drums for a 2-state solution! I've been against that ever since getting into our history and affairs and events of our people and knowing it wouldn't happen in my day, anyway -The Gazans were not ready. Maybe in the next 100 years. Not now.
I don't know what will happen, but now I have some hope. If I can have this experience, anything can happen. Something must bring people together to share a connection, and right now .....there is just unbridled hatred. Israel needs all the love it can get at this time when the world has quickly turned against her without knowing facts. I'll continue trying to share what I can in defense of her. And besides all that, this is the first time I've felt that really, things do happen for a reason.
Resource:
, Rabbi Hayim Halevy Donin
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