Basics of kashrut, from our friends at generative AI:
Kashrut, or Jewish dietary laws, have several basic rules:
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Animals
The following animals are not to be eaten:
- Fish without fins and scales
- Land animals without both cud chewing and cloven hooves
- Most birds
- Pig
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Meat and dairy
Meat and dairy cannot be eaten together. For example, dairy ice cream may not be served after a meat meal.
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Fish and poultry
Fish must have fins and scales, and seafood must have fins and scales. Poultry is sometimes included in pareve, which is another kosher food category.
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Slaughter
Mammals and birds must be slaughtered according to a ritual that makes the meat "unfit" for use if violated.
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Produce
Produce must not contain insects or bugs, and pesticides must be used. In Israel, the land on which produce is grown must lay fallow every 7 years.
Kashrut is about holiness, not healthy eating. The dietary laws are designed as a call to holiness.
(1) יהוה spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying to them: (2) Speak to the Israelite people thus: These are the creatures that you may eat from among all the land animals: (3) any animal that has true hoofs, with clefts through the hoofs, and that chews (literally, “brings up”) the cud—such you may eat. (4) The following, however, of those that either chew the cud or have true hoofs, you shall not eat: the camel—although it chews the cud, it has no true hoofs: it is impure for you; (5) the daman—although it chews the cud, it has no true hoofs: it is impure for you; (6) the hare—although it chews the cud, it has no true hoofs: it is impure for you; (7) and the swine—although it has true hoofs, with the hoofs cleft through, it does not chew the cud: it is impure for you. (8) You shall not eat of their flesh or touch their carcasses; they are impure for you. (9) These you may eat of all that live in water: anything in water, whether in the seas or in the streams, that has fins and scales—these you may eat. (10) But anything in the seas or in the streams that has no fins and scales, among all the swarming things of the water and among all the other living creatures that are in the water—they are an abomination for you (11) and an abomination for you they shall remain: you shall not eat of their flesh and you shall abominate their carcasses. (12) Everything in water that has no fins and scales shall be an abomination for you. (13) The following (A number of these cannot be identified with certainty) you shall abominate among the birds—they shall not be eaten, they are an abomination: the eagle, the vulture, and the black vulture; (14) the kite, falcons of every variety; (15) all varieties of raven; (16) the ostrich, the nighthawk, the sea gull; hawks of every variety; (17) the little owl, the cormorant, and the great owl; (18) the white owl, the pelican, and the bustard; (19) the stork; herons of every variety; the hoopoe, and the bat.
Hyrax (a/k/a Daman), weighs 4-5 kilos and lives for up to 12 years in colonies. "In spite of the size difference, the Rock Hyrax is the African elephant’s closest living relative, along with sea cows and manatees. These four mammals are unlike any other mammals, and share a few disproportionate physiological similarities in teeth, leg and foot bones, and a few other details."
(2) ושסעת שסע, the hoof being completely split into two parts, unlike the hoof of a horse or donkey which is all in one piece. According to the plain meaning of the text and the opinion of the heretics all the domesticated beasts, free roaming beasts, birds and fish and certain types of locusts and other creeping creatures that G’d has outlawed for consumption by Jews is due to the fact that they cause excessive heat in our bodies when eaten, affecting our health detrimentally, and therefore they are called טמאים, impure. There is support for this theory also among physicians. Even in the Talmud (Shabbat 86) the opinion is offered that gentiles who do consume these creeping creatures damage their bodies thereby.
Samuel ben Meir (Troyes, c. 1085 – c. 1158), after his death known as "Rashbam", a Hebrew acronym for RAbbi SHmuel Ben Meir, was a leading French Tosafist and grandson of Shlomo Yitzhaki, "Rashi".
- Is kashrut a matter of physical health? Can it have any spiritual health aspects?
- Why do we keep (or not keep) kosher?
- How might it connect us with other Jews?
- In what ways can kashrut keep Jews separate from other people? Is that a good or a bad thing?
- Why don't observant Jews eat milk and meat together?
(19) The choice first fruits of your soil you shall bring to the house of your God יהוה. You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.
(א) באיזו בשר נוהג דין בשר בחלב והיאך נקרא בשול. ובו י"א סעיפים:
כתוב בתורה לא תבשל גדי בחלב אמו ג' פעמים אחד לאיסור בישול ואחד לאיסור אכילה ואחד לאיסור הנאה והוציא אכילה בלשון בישול לומר שאינו אסור מן התורה אלא דרך בישול אבל מדרבנן אסור בכל ענין (כל בשר בחלב שאינו אסור מן התורה מותר בהנאה (טור וארוך כלל ל') .
(1) It is written in the Torah: "you will not cook a kid in the milk of its mother" three times (Exodus 23:19; Exodus 34:26; Deuteronomy 14:21); once for the prohibition of cooking, once for the prohibition of eating, and once for the prohibition of receiving benefit [from the cooked meat and milk products]. The prohibition of eating is presented in the language of cooking, to say that there is no prohibition from the Torah [in regard to meat and milk] unless it is in a manner of cooking, but rabbinically it [the mixture of meat and milk] is forbidden in every way. All meat and milk [mixtures] that are not forbidden from the Torah are permitted to benefit from.
(1) FOR THOU ART A HOLY PEOPLE UNTO THE ETERNAL THY G-D. The purport thereof is connected with [the following prohibition], Thou shalt not seethe a kid in its mother’s milk. Although it is not an abhorrent food [for both meat and milk are permitted separately] He prohibited it because we are to be holy in [choice of] foods — or because we [ourselves] are holy — that we not become a cruel people that is not compassionate (See Jeremiah 6:23.) by milking the mother and extracting its milk to seethe therein its kid. And although any meat [cooked] in milk is included in this prohibition [even though it is not its own mother’s milk, a situation without apparent cruelty, nevertheless it is forbidden] because any nursing animal is called “mother” and any suckling offspring is called “kid,” and if they are together in the process of cooking there is [an element of] cruelty in all [cases whether a kid in its own mother’s milk or not].
Now, Rashi wrote: “Thou shalt not seethe a kid in its mother’s milk. This is stated three times, (Here, and in Exodus 23:19, and 34:26) in order to exclude a wild beast, fowls, (However, the cooking and eating of a chayah (clean wild beast) or fowl with milk is forbidden though by the Rabbis (Yoreh Deiah 57:3)) and unclean animals” [from this prohibition]. This interpretation is derived from the Scriptural use of the term kid [an expression that does not apply to any of the excluded categories]. However, the thrice repeated] prohibition itself [teaches the following:] one forbids eating [meat cooked with milk], one forbids deriving benefit from it, and one forbids cooking it. And so did the Rabbi [Rashi] write in the section of And these are the ordinances. (Exodus 23:19)
Mishneh Chullin 8:1-4
(1) It is prohibited to cook any meat of domesticated and undomesticated animals and birds in milk, except for the meat of fish and grasshoppers, whose halakhic status is not that of meat. And likewise, the Sages issued a decree that it is prohibited to place any meat together with milk products, e.g., cheese, on one table. The reason for this prohibition is that one might come to eat them after they absorb substances from each other. This prohibition applies to all types of meat, except for the meat of fish and grasshoppers. And one who takes a vow that meat is prohibited to him is permitted to eat the meat of fish and grasshoppers. The meat of birds may be placed with cheese on one table but may not be eaten together with it; this is the statement of Beit Shammai. And Beit Hillel say: It may neither be placed on one table nor be eaten with cheese. Rabbi Yosei said: This is one of the disputes involving leniencies of Beit Shammai and stringencies of Beit Hillel. The mishna elaborates: With regard to which table are these halakhot stated? It is with regard to a table upon which one eats. But on a table upon which one prepares the cooked food, one may place this meat alongside that cheese or vice versa, and need not be concerned that perhaps they will be mixed and one will come to eat them together.
(2) A person may bind meat and cheese in one cloth, provided that they do not come into contact with each other. Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says: Two unacquainted guests [akhsena’in] may eat together on one table, this one eating meat and that one eating cheese, and they need not be concerned lest they come to violate the prohibition of eating meat and milk by partaking of the food of the other.
(3) In the case of a drop of milk that fell on a piece of meat, if the drop contains enough milk to impart flavor to that piece of meat, i.e., the meat is less than sixty times the size of the drop, the meat is forbidden. If one stirred the contents of the pot and the piece was submerged in the gravy before it absorbed the milk, if the drop contains enough milk to impart flavor to the contents of that entire pot, the contents of the entire pot are forbidden. ... One who places the meat of birds with cheese on the table upon which he eats does not thereby violate a Torah prohibition.
(4) It is prohibited to cook the meat of a kosher animal in the milk of any kosher animal, not merely the milk of its mother, and deriving benefit from that mixture is prohibited. It is permitted to cook the meat of a kosher animal in the milk of a non-kosher animal, or the meat of a non-kosher animal in the milk of a kosher animal, and deriving benefit from that mixture is permitted. Rabbi Akiva says: Cooking the meat of an undomesticated animal or bird in milk is not prohibited by Torah law, as it is stated: “You shall not cook a kid in its mother’s milk” (Exodus 23:19, 34:26; Deuteronomy 14:21) three times. The repetition of the word “kid” three times excludes an undomesticated animal, a bird, and a non-kosher animal. Rabbi Yosei HaGelili says that it is stated: “You shall not eat of any animal carcass” (Deuteronomy 14:21), and in the same verse it is stated: “You shall not cook a kid in its mother’s milk.” This indicates that meat of an animal that is subject to be prohibited due to the prohibition of eating an unslaughtered carcass is prohibited for one to cook in milk. Consequently, with regard to meat of birds, which is subject to be prohibited due to the prohibition of eating an unslaughtered carcass, one might have thought that it would be prohibited to cook it in milk. Therefore, the verse states: “In its mother’s milk,” excluding a bird, which has no mother’s milk.
https://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/kosher-food (believe it or not):
Scholars believe that Jewish dietary laws may be the first food laws on record. The general principles of keeping kosher are in the Torah, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible. It has commandments -- called mitzvahs -- to follow as ways to obey God. Keeping kosher is one of them.
Kashrut is the body of Jewish law dealing with kosher foods. The laws haven't changed from what the Torah commanded, but they've grown over the years to keep up with technology. (not only that)
There are a lot of details, but these are the basics:
- You can't eat certain animals at all, including organs, eggs, and milk of the forbidden animals.
- Birds and mammals must be killed according to Jewish law.
- All blood must be drained from meat and poultry before it's eaten.
- You can't eat certain parts of animals at all.
- You must inspect fruits and vegetables for bugs before you eat them.
- You can't eat meat and dairy together. You can eat fish, eggs, fruits, vegetables, and grains with either meat or dairy.
- Utensils that touch meat can't touch dairy (and vice versa).
- Utensils and cooking surfaces that touch hot, non-kosher food can't touch kosher food.
- You can't eat any grape products made by anybody who isn't Jewish.