Kashruth, or Jewish Kosher Laws

Hey everyone,


       One of my interests and something I like to think I know a bit about is religion. Different types of religion, to be specific. Right now, I'd like to talk about Kashruth, or Jewish Kosher Laws. The non-Jewish community knows relatively little about the Kosher laws, mostly to the extent of knowing that Jews can't eat pork. While that's part of it, by no means is it the end. I'll start off by explaining exactly what kosher means. A food is kosher if it complies with the Jewish Halakhic laws outlined in the Torah. First of all, things that live under the water are kosher if they have both fins and scales. So, no shellfish for Jews, and be careful when eating seafood. When it comes to insects, they're completely banned, except for locusts. So if you're into that, it's kosher, so go ahead! With animals, they have to have cloven hooves and chew their cud. That's why pigs aren't kosher. Not that I'm suggesting that the average person enjoys drinking blood, but in regular, non-kosher food, there is always a certain amount of blood. Jews cannot even have those nominal amounts. So when preparing kosher meat, techniques such as melihah and roasting must be used. According to Halakha, the preparer, known as a schochet, must be a pious Jew. Food prepared by a non-Jew is automatically considered non-kosher, or forbidden. Following these preparation rules guarantees kosher food, and these are the types of food that are branded as kosher. Symbols such as the OK , the OU, the cRc, the KOF-K, the Triangle-K, and the Star-K are all indicators that a food is kosher to eat. Different symbols belong to different Jewish ruling bodies, and are held up to different standards of judging. Lastly, there are three types of food under Jewish law. The first is meat, and the second is dairy. These two must not be eaten within 6 hours of each other. The third is pareve, which is a non-dairy, non-meat food that may be eaten in between meals of meat and dairy. I hope this helps you better understand the complicated rules of Kashruth.


-Kaetie Mulhern