Kashrut is the word given to the whole set of Jewish food laws, which are found in the Torah. These laws have been developed through the ages by the rabbis.
Food Choices
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(14) And the LORD commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and ordinances, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it.
Biblically prohibited foods include:
- Non-kosher animals and birds. Mammals require certain identifying characteristics (cloven hooves and being ruminants), while birds require a tradition that they can be consumed. Fish require scales and fins (thus excluding catfish, for instance).
- All invertebrates are non-kosher apart from certain types of locust, on which most communities lack a clear tradition. No reptiles or amphibians are kosher.
- Carrion (nevelah): meat from a kosher animal that has not been slaughtered according to the laws of shechita.
- Injured (terefah): an animal with a significant defect or injury, such as a fractured bone or particular types of lung adhesions.
- Blood (dam): blood of kosher mammals and fowl is removed through salting, with special procedures for the liver, which is very rich in blood.
- Particular fats (chelev): particular parts of the abdominal fat of cattle, goats and sheep must be removed by a process called nikkur.
- The twisted nerve (gid hanasheh): the sciatic nerve
- Limb of a living animal (ever min ha-chai):
- Untithed food (tevel): produce of the Land of Israel requires the removal of certain tithes, which in ancient times were given to the Kohanim (priests), Levites and the poor (terumah, maaser rishon andmaaser ani respectively) or taken to the Old City of Jerusalem to be eaten there (maaser sheni).
- Fruit during the first three years (orlah): according to Leviticus 19:23, fruit from a tree in the first three years after planting cannot be consumed (both in the Land of Israel and the diaspora). This applies also to the fruit of the vine - grapes, and wine produced from them.[17]
- New grain (chadash): in Leviticus 23:14 the Bible prohibits newly grown grain (planted after Passover the previous year) until the second day of Passover; there is debate as to whether this law applies to grain grown outside the Land of Israel.
- Wine of libation (yayin nesekh): wine that may have been dedicated to idolatrous practices.
Biblically prohibited mixtures include:
- Mixtures of meat and milk (basar be-chalav): this law derives from the broad interpretation of the commandment not to "cook a kid in its mother's milk" (Exodus 23:19, Exodus 34:26, and Deuteronomy 14:21); other non-kosher food may be used for other benefit (e.g. sold to non-Jews), but mixtures of meat and milk are prohibited even with regards to other benefit.
- Plants grown together (kilayim): in the Land of Israel plants are to be grown separately and not in close proximity according to Leviticus 19:19 and Deuteronomy 22:9-11. A specific subdivision of this law is kil'ei ha-kerem, the prohibition of planting any grain of vegetable near a grapevine; this law applies to Jews throughout the world, and one may not derive benefit from the produce.
Rabbinically prohibited foods include:
- Non-Jewish milk (chalav akum): milk that may have an admixture of milk from non-kosher animals (see below for current views on this prohibition).
- Non-Jewish cheese (gevinat akum): cheese that may have been produced with non-kosher rennet.
- Non-Jewish wine (stam yeinam): wine that while not produced for idolatrous purposes may otherwise have been poured for such a purpose or alternatively when consumed will lead to intermarriage.
- Food cooked by a non-Jew (bishul akum): this law was enacted for concerns of intermarriage.
- Non-Jewish bread (pat akum): this law was enacted for concerns of intermarriage.
- Health risk (sakanah): certain foods and mixtures are considered a health risk, such as mixtures of fish and meat.
(ד) וכן בשר חיה ועוף בין בחלב חיה בין בחלב בהמה אינו אסור באכילה מן התורה לפיכך מותר לבשלו ומותר בהנייה ואסור באכילה מדברי סופרים כדי שלא יפשעו העם ויבואו לידי איסור בשר בחלב של תורה ויאכלו בשר בהמה טהורה בחלב בהמה טהורה שהרי אין משמע הכתוב אלא גדי בחלב אמו ממש לפיכך אסרו כל בשר בחלב.
(4) Similarly, the meat of a wild beast and the meat of a fowl together with the milk of a wild beast or the milk of a domesticated animal is not forbidden according to Scriptural Law. Therefore it is permitted to cook it and it is permitted to benefit from it. It is forbidden to partake of it according to Rabbinic Law so that people at large will not be negligent and come to violate the Scriptural prohibition against milk and meat and partake of the meat of a kosher domesticated animal [cooked] in the milk of a kosher domesticated animal. For the literal meaning of the verse implies only the meat of a kid in the milk of its actual mother. Therefore, they forbade all meat in milk.
Eco-Kashrut: Environmental Standards for What and How We Eat
Is it eco-kosher to eat vegetables and fruit that have been grown by drenching the soil with insecticides? Is it eco-kosher to drink Shabbat Kiddush wine from non-biodegradable plastic cups? Is it eco-kosher to use 100 percent unrecycled office paper and newsprint in our homes, our synagogues, our community newspapers? Might it be eco-kosher to insist on 10 percent recycled paper this year, 30 percent in two years, and 80 percent in five years?