JDCC invited Rabbi Yale Butler to come and speak about Kashrut (Kosher). He opened the floor with an invitation to everyone to ask a question so that he would be able to incorporate everyone’s questions into the lecture.
First of all, as Jews, we believe that we received the Torah (Five Books of Moses and the Oral Law and their explanations) from G-d on Mount Sinai over 2,000 years ago. There are 613 Rules or laws or “mitzvots” in the Torah that we are supposed to abide by. However, it is impossible for each individual person to keep them all because there are laws that apply to specific situations such as men, women, children, Cohanim, and to the Land of Israel. But as a nation we can keep them all.
In the Torah, it says three times: “You shall not cook a goat in as mother’s milk and meat together. From here, we learn:
- We can not cook milk and meat together.
- We can not use it or have any benefits from such mixtures.
- We can not eat it.
From here, we learn the basic source for the laws of Kosher. The Rabbis have made a “fence” around the laws so that we won’t make mistakes. Therefore, we have separate dishes and racks for milk and meat. When we do make a mistake, we have to call a Rabbi and find out what to do because he is well-learned and knows what the laws are for every situation.
In order for an animal to be considered Kosher it has to have two things: one is split hoofs and the other to chew its cud. Within the animal world, these kind of animals are those that eat grass and do not prey on other animals. A cow is Kosher, whereas a pig is not because it only has one of these signs. If it has only one of these signs, then it is not Kosher.
Kosher fish have fins and scales. Not all fish have fins, but those with scales have fins. There are more Kosher fish than non-Kosher fish. They do not prey on other fishes in the ocean. Sharks and shellfish are not Kosher, but Tuna, and Salmon are.
In order for a bird to be Kosher, it has to be one that does not prey on other animals or other birds. A turkey or duck is Kosher, but owls are not.
The Torah doesn’t allow us to eat blood of any kind and tells us how to get rid of blood. First we have to wash off the meat with cool water, then we have to soak it. After this, we have to salt it, let the blood drain off, and then rinse it off again. We have to use cool water because ewe use hot water, then the blood will co-gear, form clots, harden and become a part of the meat, then we can’t use it. For the same reason, Kosher chickens are never as clean as non-Kosher chickens because after a non-Kosher chicken is killed, they dunk it in hot water which causes its skin to shrivel and pucker up, making the feathers come out very easily. We are not allowed to do this because this would make the chicken non-Kosher. We have to take the fathers out by hand which makes it difficult for them to be completely cleaned of hair.
There are many people who rely on Kosher symbols. There are many different ones around. The most common and well-known is the OU symbol. Another one that is common but doesn’t mean anything because it is not from a recognized organization and is just a letter in the alphabet is the “K.” For this symbol, you have to check with a Rabbi to find out who gave this symbol. There are 80 million people who rely on Kosher symbols for products that they buy. Aside from Jewish people who keep Kosher, there are people with food allergies, Muslims, Sikhs, and other people from various religions.
Oils and margarine present their own problems. If it is from an animal source, then it is not Kosher. If the pipes in which the oil is hydrogenated contain animal fat, then the margarine is not Kosher either. The U.S. law states that a product can be mixed with something else (up to 9% and still be considered pure.) Kosher laws do not allow for this margin of error. So the companies that rely only on vegetable sources for their oils and do not use these pipes and get kosher certification are okay. This is why it is not possible for someone to eat in a vegetarian restaurant as well. Not all of the products that they use in cooking will be okay. Products from Asian counties such as Japan, China, and Taiwan present the greatest amount of problems for certification because they rely so much on animal fats, so even if the end product looks like it would be okay, it was probably made in a pot that was used for pork so they can’t receive certification. There is another problematic ingredient called glycerin which is an oil derivative. It can either be from animal source or vegetable source, so when you see an OU or other Kosher symbol, you know that it is a vegetable source.
There are also many products on the market which are known to be Kosher that don’t have the OU symbol on them such as Coca-cola. As everyone knows, there are only two people at one time who know the formula for Coca-cola. However, we needed to know what the recipe contains, not the exact formula in order to determine whether or not it was okay. So a couple of Rabbis were allowed into the main plant to find out what the source of the secret ingredient is so they could determine its Kosher status.
Marshmallows are made with gelatin. Gelatin is made from animal bones. There are vegetable sources for gelatin as well as such as agar-agar but they are not as strong as a pork-based gelatin. There are some non Orthodox Rabbis who feel that if a substance is totally changed from it original source, then it is okay, so that is why there are some products like Yoplait that claim to have Kosher Gelatin but really don’t and are not considered to be Kosher.
Cheeses are made with rennet, which is the stomach of a cow. So these are not Kosher when they come from a non-Kosher cow. A Kosher cow’s stomach is meaty, so we can not use it either, so there are artificial rennets which are used in malting Kosher cheeses.
Grapes are used to make wine. A Jew is not allowed to use non-Kosher wine, so therefore, we are also not allowed to use grape flavoring that come from real grapes or any other product that come from grapes without a proper certification that it is okay, and made by Jews.
Therefore, when one goes to a Kosher restaurant, one has to make sure that the certificate is current and up-to-date as well as being certified by a reliable Rabbi from a recognized organization or place.
As you can see there are many things that go into the process of making sure that things are Kosher. It is not a matter of a Rabbi going in and making a blessing, it is a matter of how the food is processed.
