Kashrut


is a set of dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jewish people are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to Jewish religious law. Food that may be consumed is deemed kosher, from the Ashkenazi pronunciation of the term that in Sephardi or Modern Hebrew is pronounced kashér, meaning "fit". Food that may not be consumed, however, is deemed treif, also spelled treyf. In case of objects the opposite of kosher is pasúl.
Although the details of the laws of are numerous and complex, they rest on a few basic principles:
  • Only certain types of mammals, birds, and fish, meeting specific criteria are kosher; the consumption of the flesh of any animals that do not meet these criteria, such as pork, frogs, and shellfish, is forbidden, except for locusts, which are the only kosher invertebrate.
  • The most basic eating rule in the Torah is that blood is not to be consumed; therefore, as a step to being kosher, mammals and birds must be slaughtered according to a process known as, in which a certified ritual slaughterer, called a shochet, severs the trachea, esophagus, carotid arteries, and jugular veins in a single, quick cut using an ultra-sharp instrument called a chalaf; doing so causes rapid and massive blood loss.
  • The meat must still go through a process known as koshering or kashering to be considered fit for consumption. The three approved methods are broiling, roasting, and soaking & salting.
  • Meat and meat derivatives may never be mixed with milk and milk derivatives. Separate equipment must be used for the storage and preparation of meat-based and dairy-based foods.

    Categorizations

Every food that is considered kosher is also categorized as follows:
  • Meat products are those that contain kosher meat, such as beef, lamb, or venison; kosher poultry, such as chicken, goose, duck, or turkey; or derivatives of meat such as animal gelatin; additionally, non-animal products that were processed on equipment used for meat or meat-derived products must also be considered as meat.
  • Dairy products contain milk or any derivatives such as butter or cheese; additionally, non-dairy products that were processed on equipment used for milk or milk-derived products must also be considered as milk.
  • Pareve products contain neither meat, milk, nor their respective derivatives; they include foods such as kosher fish, eggs from permitted birds, grains, produce, and other edible vegetation. They remain pareve if they are not mixed with or processed using equipment that is used for any meat or dairy products.
While any produce that grows from the earth, such as fruits, grains, vegetables, and mushrooms, is always permissible, laws regarding the status of certain agricultural produce, especially that grown in the Land of Israel such as tithes and produce of the Sabbatical year, impact their permissibility for consumption.
Most of the basic laws of are derived from the Torah's books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy. Their details and practical application, however, are set down in the Oral Torah,, and elaborated on in the later rabbinical literature. Although the Torah does not state the rationale for most laws, some suggest that they are only tests of obedience, while others have suggested philosophical, practical, and hygienic reasons.
Over the past century, many certification agencies have started to certify products, manufacturers, and restaurants as kosher, usually authorizing the use of a proprietary symbol or certificate, called a, to be displayed by the food establishment or on the product, which indicates that they are in compliance with the kosher laws. This labeling is also used by some non-Jewish people, examples of which include those whose religions expect adherence to a similar set of dietary laws, people with allergies to dairy foods, and vegans, who use the various kosher designations to determine whether a food contains meat or dairy-derived ingredients.
The laws of Kashrut are a major area covered in traditional rabbinic ordination; see and. And numerous scholarly and popular works exist on these topics, covering both practice and theory.

Explanations

Philosophical

divides the 613 commandments into three groups—laws that have a rational explanation and would probably be enacted by most orderly societies, laws that are understood after being explained, but would not be legislated without the Torah's command, and laws that do not have a rational explanation.
Some Jewish scholars say that should be categorized as laws for which there is no particular explanation since the human mind is not always capable of understanding divine intentions. In this line of thinking, the dietary laws were given as a demonstration of God's authority, and man must obey without asking why. Although Maimonides concurs that all the statutes of the Torah are decrees, he is of the view that whenever possible, one should seek out reasons for the Torah's commandments.
Some theologians have said that the laws of are symbolic in character: kosher animals represent virtues, while non-kosher animals represent vices. The 1st-century BCE Letter of Aristeas argues that the laws "have been given to awake pious thoughts and to form the character". This view reappears in the work of the 19th-century Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch.
The Torah prohibits "cooking the kid in its mother's milk". While the Torah does not provide a reason, it has been suggested that the practice was perceived as cruel and insensitive.
Hasidic Judaism believes that everyday life is imbued with channels connecting with Divinity, the activation of which it sees as helping the Divine Presence to be drawn into the physical world; Hasidism argues that the food laws are related to the way such channels, termed 'sparks of holiness', interact with various animals. These 'sparks of holiness' are released whenever a Jew manipulates any object for a 'holy reason', ; however, not all animal products are capable of releasing their 'sparks of holiness'. The Hasidic argument is that animals are imbued with signs that reveal the release of these sparks, and the signs are expressed in the biblical categorization of ritually 'clean' and ritually 'unclean'.

Medical

Although the reason for is that it is a decree from the Torah, there have been attempts to provide scientific support for the view that Jewish food laws have an incidental health benefit. One of the earliest is that of Maimonides in The Guide for the Perplexed. Most other traditional scholars have rejected this theory outright.
In 1953, David Macht, an Orthodox Jew and proponent of the theory of biblical scientific foresight, conducted toxicity experiments on many kinds of animals and fish. His experiment involved lupin seedlings being supplied with extracts from the meat of various animals; Macht reported that in 100% of cases, extracts from ritually 'unclean' meat inhibited the seedling's growth more than that from ritually 'clean' meats.
At the same time, these explanations are controversial. Scholar Lester L. Grabbe, writing in the Oxford Bible Commentary on Leviticus, says "n explanation now almost universally rejected is that the laws in this section have hygiene as their basis. Although some of the laws of ritual purity roughly correspond to modern ideas of physical cleanliness, many of them have little to do with hygiene. For example, there is no evidence that the 'unclean' animals are intrinsically bad to eat or to be avoided in a Mediterranean climate, as is sometimes asserted."

Rules

Prohibited foods

The laws of can be classified according to the origin of the prohibition and whether the prohibition concerns the food itself or a mixture of foods.
Biblically prohibited foods include:
  • Non-kosher animals—any mammals without certain identifying characteristics ; any birds of prey; any fish without fins or scales. 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. There are also no rodents that are kosher.
  • Carrion —meat from a kosher animal that has not been slaughtered according to the laws of. This prohibition includes animals that have been slaughtered by non-Jews.
  • Injured —an animal with a significant defect or injury, such as a fractured bone or particular types of lung adhesions.
  • Blood —the blood of kosher mammals and fowl is removed through salting, with special procedures for the liver, which is very rich in blood.
  • Particular fats —particular parts of the abdominal fat of cattle, goats and sheep must be removed by a process called.
  • The twisted nerve —the sciatic nerve, as according to Genesis 32:32 the patriarch Jacob's was damaged when he fought with an angel, so may not be eaten and is removed by.
  • A limb of a living animal —according to Jewish law, God forbade Noah and his descendants to consume flesh torn from a live animal. Hence, Jewish law considers this prohibition applicable even to non-Jews, and therefore, a Jew may not give or sell such meat to a non-Jew.
  • Untithed food —produce of the Land of Israel requires the removal of certain tithes, which in ancient times were given to the , Levites and the poor or taken to the Old City of Jerusalem to be eaten there.
  • Fruit during the first three years —according to Leviticus 19:23, fruit from a tree in the first three years after planting may not be consumed. This applies also to the fruit of the vine—grapes, and wine produced from them.
  • New grain —the Bible prohibits newly grown grain 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 —wine that may have been dedicated to idolatrous practices.
Biblically prohibited mixtures include:
  • Mixtures of meat and milk —this law derives from the broad interpretation of the commandment not to "cook a kid in its mother's milk"; other non-kosher foods are permitted for non-dietary use, but Jews are forbidden to benefit from mixtures of meat and milk in any way.
  • Different species of plants grown together —in the Land of Israel different species of 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, the prohibition of planting any grain or vegetable near a grapevine; this law applies to Jews throughout the world, and a Jew may not derive benefit from such produce.
Rabbinically prohibited foods include:
  • Non-Jewish milk —milk that may have an admixture of milk from non-kosher animals.
  • Non-Jewish cheese —cheese that may have been produced with non-kosher rennet.
  • Non-Jewish wine —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 —this law was enacted for concerns of intermarriage.
  • Non-Jewish bread —this law was enacted for concerns of intermarriage.
  • Health risk —certain foods and mixtures are considered a health risk, such as mixtures of fish and meat.