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The Kashrut of Lab Grown Meat – Kosher Meat from a Labratory

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The Kashrut of Lab Grown Meat – Kosher Meat from a Labratory

Posted on: February 6th, 2024 by Kosher Michigan

from myjewishlearning.com

Lab-grown meat — also known as cultivated meat, or cultured meat — is an alternative meat product grown from cultured animal cells that are propagated in a laboratory, creating a food that is molecularly identical to normal meat but doesn’t grow inside an animal. Advocates believe it provides a viable alternative to natural meat that is more environmentally friendly and ethically sound since it obviates the need to raise and slaughter an animal.

From the perspective of Jewish law, lab-grown meat poses several novel questions, most obviously if it’s kosher. The short answer is yes, but the details are a bit more complex.

What is Cultivated Meat?
Cultivated meat is meat produced from cells harvested from an animal that is then replicated under controlled laboratory conditions. Once the cells have reached a certain size and density, they are harvested, blended with additives, and sold to consumers. The process requires no farmland, no animals, and no slaughtering. Many believe cultivated meat will help satisfy the growing global demand for animal protein in a more environmentally sustainable way since it eliminates the need for vast tracts of land to be given over to meat production and the ethically and ecologically problematic practice of raising animals in confined feeding facilities. It also addresses ethical concerns about the treatment of animals in industrial-scale meat production.

The first cultivated beef patty was produced in 2013, and Singapore became the first country to approve it for sale. As of early 2024, a small number of producers have been approved for commercial sale in the United States, but the product is not yet widely available.

Is It Kosher?
In a word, yes, but the specifics matter.

For one, the animal from which the cells are harvested must be kosher. Cultured pork would not be considered kosher, even though the meat didn’t grow inside a pig, because the original cells came from an unkosher animal.

The next consideration is the method of extracting the cells from which the cultivated meat will be grown. The most common method is taking them from a living animal. Some Jewish law authorities believe this renders the final product unkosher because Jewish law bars eating meat that is taken from a living animal, a prohibition known as ever min hachai. The Orthodox Union, the largest kosher meat supervising agency in the world, has taken this position, but other authorities disagree. The Conservative movement, in a paper adopted in 2017, argues that culturing tissue from a living animal is acceptable for four reasons: The quantity of cultured cells is tiny, the original cells are present in only trace amounts in the final product, the descendent cells are grown outside the animal’s body, and the final eaten cells may be sufficiently transformed in the course of production as to render them distinct from the originals.

In 2023, the OU gave its first kosher certification for cultured meat to an Israeli startup that solved the extraction problem by culturing cells from a fertilized chicken egg. Since eggs are kosher, the resulting meat is considered kosher. Another Israeli company, Aleph Farms, produces beef cultured from a fertilized cow egg and is pursuing kosher certification.

Is It Meat?
The other central question posed by synthetic meat is whether Jewish law considers it actual meat. This matters for Jews who observe laws about eating meat and dairy products together. If Jewish law doesn’t consider cultivated beef to be meat, then it should be permitted to eat it with cheese.

Rabbis are divided on this question. In 2022, the Israeli daily Israel Hayom reported that a handful of Israeli rabbis had ruled that since fertilized chicken eggs and pre-embryonic cow cells are not considered meat, the meat products derived from them in a laboratory should not be considered meat either. As a result, there’s no reason why they shouldn’t be eaten with dairy. “Despite the end product’s external similarity to meat products, it is no different in essence to the plant-based meat substitutes on the market,” the rabbis said.

Israeli Chief Rabbi David Lau also endorsed this position, ruling that meat produced by Aleph Farms is pareve — that is, neither meat nor dairy — and can therefore be eaten with dairy products. However, Lau introduced an important caveat, determining that this is so only if the product is not marketed as “meat” and is not made to look and taste like regular meat. Lau’s qualifications are rooted in the concern for marit ayin, a rabbinic principle that calls for one to avoid even the appearance of violating the law.

American rabbis have taken a more stringent view of this question. The OU has determined that cultured meat should be considered meat, as did the Conservative movement’s 2017 paper, which cited both marit ayin and the fear that kosher consumers might grow confused and wind up mixing actual meat with dairy. It also argued that in cases of doubt regarding a biblical prohibition (the ban on eating dairy and meat together derives directly from the Bible), the practice is to take a stringent approach.

Explaining kosher certification to non-Jewish customers

Posted on: May 24th, 2023 by Kosher Michigan

By Jonathan Deutsch, Ph.D.

Question:
How do I explain kosher certification to non-Jewish customers? I own and operate a kosher restaurant. Operating a kosher restaurant is extremely challenging because we have to make sure that every morsel of food that comes into the restaurant is kosher. Recently, a customer pointed out to me that another family was feeding their baby food that was not from the restaurant. I approached the guests and politely told them about our outside food policy, and requested they put the food away to eat later.

– Josh Katz, Owner, Ben Yehuda Cafe & Pizzeria, Silver Spring, MD

Answer:
Kosher establishments that appeal to both Jews and non-Jews face particular challenges. A restaurant can lose its certification not just by flouting religious law, but based on the behavior of employees and guests with regard to the law, as you experienced. The importance of obeying the rules to maintain certification cannot be overstated.

If there is a theme to this column over the years it is that clear communication can prevent many problems before they occur. At this point, after explaining the situation to the guest, there’s nothing more to do besides focusing on preventing similar misunderstandings in the future. Rachel Saks, cofounder of TableHealth and author of Jewish American Food Culture says, “I think that there are a few ways to approach it. If it’s a casual place…it would be good to hang up signs that say something like, ‘Because of the dietary laws we adhere to as a kosher business, please refrain from bringing in your own food and drinks.’ I also think that if it becomes an issue with a particular person, as in this case, its best to approach them assuming that they know very little about kashrut [kosher law], while also not talking down to them…I think it’s important to say something like, ‘Because of our religious observances all of our food needs to be checked and watched. The restaurant is a sectioned-off space in which all food that goes in and out and all food that is prepared needs to be checked for certain standards. No one, even the people who make sure our food is held to the proper kashrut standard, may bring in food. If you have questions about what it means for food to be kosher, or how we ensure that our establishment stays kosher, I’m happy to answer them.’”

In addition, try some FAQs targeting non-Jewish guests on your menu. The guests’ dissatisfaction may have as much to do with the embarrassment of not knowing the rules and being called out on it, more than any specific service failure on your part.

A useful primer on kosher law here.

Kosher certification Started a Century Ago

Posted on: April 27th, 2023 by Kosher Michigan

By JUSTIN VELLUCCI (from the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle)

Frank Butler, the grandfather of Squirrel Hill-based Magisterial District Judge Dan Butler, was a Ukrainian man drafted into the Russian army to fight in the Russo-Japanese War around 1905.

After he deserted the army and fled Europe, the Kyiv native settled in Squirrel Hill — in the house where five generations of Butlers have since lived — and, as an observant Jew, entered the world of regulating kosher food.

A mashgiach, or Jew who supervises the status of kosher foods, working on foods produced by the H.J. Heinz Co. in Pittsburgh, Frank Butler helped develop the national Orthodox Union’s familiar logo — a “U” in a circle — in 1923, exactly 100 years ago.

“It was an obvious idea to create a national entity that would supervise kosher foods — at the time, there was nothing like that,” Dan Butler told the Chronicle. “And, as the Jewish community expanded around the country, they realized they needed unified standards.”

“We have deep roots in Pittsburgh, particularly in the Orthodox institutions,” Butler added. “The things my grandfather did and said are still things we teach our children. I got it all from my parents, who got it with their mother’s milk.”

The Orthodox Union has grown immensely in its 100-year history — today it certifies the products of 7,000 companies and 14,000 facilities in all 50 U.S. states and 105 countries, said Rabbi Moshe Elefant, its chief operating officer and executive rabbinic coordinator.

“We’ve been certifying food around the country and around the world,” Elefant said.

The Orthodox Union, though it is based in New York City, started its history with a single account in Pittsburgh, that of the H.J. Heinz Co.

Heinz started using the OU symbol in 1927. (Image courtesy of the Rauh Jewish Archives)
“Heinz was the first major Orthodox Union account,” Elefant said. “Heinz was the first packaged food that was OU-certified.”
Packaged items certified kosher for Heinz in the 1920s included, famously, its baked beans, as well as lesser-known items like its chili sauce.

Kraft Heinz, the parent company of H.J. Heinz Co., did not respond to multiple calls and emails seeking comment.

Heinz first displayed the OU symbol on its goods around 1927, according to Eric Lidji, director of the Rauh Jewish History Program & Archives at the Sen. John Heinz History Center.

Heinz was “all about cleanliness and safety” in the 1920s, packaging its horseradish in clear bottles so people could see the ingredients, Lidji said. Before that, people relied on fresh, locally made and purchased foods.

“When you start to get packaged foods, it just got hard to know what the ingredients were,” Lidji said. “And the OU started to work and talk about ways to address this.”

There also were economic benefits to the drive to certify packaged goods as kosher, Lidji said. A huge immigration wave crested in the United States around 1924, and many companies, like Heinz, were looking for ways to gain the trust — and dollars — of that population.

“This was the largest this immigrant market was and companies wanted to target it,” he said. “Heinz just did it in an innovative way.” PJC

Justin Vellucci is a freelance writer living in Pittsburgh.

Kosher foods market to grow by USD 12.78 billion

Posted on: February 15th, 2023 by Kosher Michigan

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Kosher Foods Market 2023-2027

Kosher foods market insights –

In 2017, the kosher foods market was valued at USD 28.99 billion. From a regional perspective, North America held the largest market share, valued at USD 16.02 million. The kosher foods market size is estimated to grow by USD 12.78 billion from 2022 to 2027 at a CAGR of 6.36% according to Technavio.

Kosher foods market – Vendor Insights

The growing competition in the market is compelling vendors to adopt various growth strategies such as promotional activities and spending on advertisements to improve the visibility of their services. Technavio report analyzes the market’s competitive landscape and offers information on several market vendors.

St. Julian Winery Brings Back Sholom Concord Kosher Wine (Detroit News)

Posted on: January 24th, 2023 by Kosher Michigan

St. Julian’s brings Sholom kosher wine back
Greg Tasker
Special to The Detroit News

St. Julian’s kosher wine — Sholom — is back on store shelves across Michigan after a two-year hiatus.

First introduced in the mid-1940s, Sholom has long been a popular offering from St. Julian Winery but has not been available since 2020. The long-time friend and rabbi the winery had worked with for years died. To be deemed kosher, wine must be made under the supervision of a rabbi, include only kosher ingredients and must be processed using equipment rabbinically certified to make kosher wines.

Sholom, a sweet concord wine, is made in Michigan at St. Julian Winery.
“Kosher certification is something we take very seriously. We want to be respectful of different communities and know that we are providing a legitimate option for those looking for kosher qualification,” said Apollo Braganini II, who is president of the family-owned winery, one of Michigan’s largest.

Thankfully, Rabbi Jason Miller, founder and director of Kosher Michigan, a kosher certification agency in West Bloomfield Township, approached St. Julian.

“Over the past few years, many people — including a local Michigan rabbi and his wife, David and Alicia Nelson — reached out to me about Sholom wine, telling me that they love the product but that it wasn’t available anymore,” said Rabbi Miller, who lives in Metro Detroit and started the kosher certification agency in 2008. “I reached out to the team at St. Julian and they also said they’ve heard from many fans of Sholom who miss it and want it back. We began discussing whether it would be possible for me to certify the wine as kosher.”

After visiting the Paw Paw winery and meeting with the team this past summer, Rabbi Miller agreed to a partnership to assist St. Julian in the production of Sholom.

Sholom is made from Concord grapes grown in southwestern Michigan. Braganini describes Sholom as a sweet red wine, reminiscent of the company’s Sweet Revenge. The company describes Sholom as having a bright bluish-purple hue with vibrant grape aromas. The wine is 10% ABV.

“A lot of people were bummed when we didn’t have it. We’re very excited to have this product again,” said Braganini, noting the company produces about 5,000 cases of Sholom in a typical year. “It’s been a very popular product in Jewish communities. We haven’t changed anything.”

Working with St. Julian, Kosher Michigan is following the exact same kosher supervision procedures as the rabbis who previously certified Sholom wine for decades. Rabbi Miller oversees the entire process, from the harvest in September to the crushing and fermentation process. St. Julian has designated a single tank in its operations for Sholom. Miller returns later to oversee the bottling.

His goal is to make sure no additives, coloring, “or something that would make the wine not natural” are added, he said. Its kosher designation means the wine has been supervised as a kosher production. Wine is used for blessings, blessings on the Jewish Sabbath and major Jewish events like Passover and Rosh Hashanah.

“While this is the first wine that (Kosher Michigan) has certified in its 15 years of existence, it just feels like this is the right one to start with. There’s such a rich history of Sholom, a huge following, and a local Michigan connection,” Rabbi Miller said.

Kosher Michigan certifies thousands of products throughout North America, India and the Middle East. Kosher Michigan’s hekhsher (seal of approval) can be found on food products on supermarket shelves throughout North America.

Rabbi Miller believes Sholom is the only kosher wine produced in Michigan.

Sholom wine is part of St. Julian’s long history, though it’s uncertain how its production initially came about. The company, however, has been producing altar wine since its founding in Canada in 1921 during Prohibition. The company relocated to Detroit after Prohibition and eventually moved to southwestern Michigan to be closer to the source of grapes. St. Julian still produces altar wine, once famously served when Pope John Paul II held mass at the Pontiac Silverdome during a visit in the late 1980s.

Today, St. Julian is the oldest continuously operating winery in Michigan, now home to about 170 wineries across the state.

For Rabbi Miller, certifying Sholom as a kosher wine was something of a coincidence. Earlier in his vocation as a rabbi, someone gave him a metal sign advertising Sholom wine and Paw Paw. “I’ve had it all these years,” he said. “I built a bar in my basement and hung it on the wall. I never thought it would be my signature on those bottles of wine one day.”

The Sholom label includes his signature and the Kosher Michigan symbol, certifying that it is kosher.

The Kosher Status of Cultivated Meat

Posted on: January 23rd, 2023 by Kosher Michigan

Israeli Chief Rabbi Issues Religious Ruling On Cultivated Meat
BY WILLIAM DELONG

Cultivated meat, also known as lab-grown meat or cultured meat, continues to evolve. What started with a lab-grown hamburger worth over $320,000 in 2012, according to WebMD, has become a stronger presence in the food industry in 2023. In November of last year, Time said more than eight dozen companies were vying to expand their market share of cultivated meat. One such company is Israel-based Aleph Farms, a firm that made the world’s first cultivated steak in 2022.

A major concern of the cultivated meat industry comes from the perception that their type of food will be less than ideal for consumers. The relatively new process, which involves growing animal proteins from small amounts of stem cells in order to approximate traditionally produced meat, is very expensive. Another hurdle is regulatory approval. As of early 2023, just one company has been approved by the FDA to produce cultivated meat for human consumption.

But the question of acceptability isn’t limited to regulatory approval. Agricultural companies, farmers’ unions, and advocates of alternative proteins disagree on how to classify cultivated meat, per Food Dive. Beyond industry insiders, there are social and even religious dimensions to consider when attempting to categorize this high-tech method of meat making. A recent statement made by Israel’s chief rabbi, notes Food Dive, may have proved a bit more clarity on how it could be perceived and classified by some groups of people in the future.

Israeli Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau released an 11-page statement after visiting Aleph Farms, based in Israel, and observing how the beef is produced, per Food Dive. In a portion of the statement that was translated from Hebrew to English, the religious leader reportedly stated, “As long as cultured meat is defined and marketed as a vegetable product [that is] similar to meat, and there is supervision over the rest of its ingredients,” it can be labeled as kosher (via The Jerusalem Post). This does not officially make it a kosher product, which must be determined by a kosher-certifying organization. But it could influence future decisions on the matter.

Reuters notes that under Jewish law, kosher meat must be made from an animal that was ritualistically killed, and it cannot come into contact with dairy products. Time says that the stem cells used to grow cultivated meat don’t come from the killing of cattle. They are harvested while the animal is still living and grown with the aid of nutrient baths.

Of course, a preference for kosher foods doesn’t necessarily mean someone is following Jewish dietary restrictions. Around 80% of people who consume kosher products don’t subscribe to the Jewish faith, OK Kosher’s executive manager of certification claimed in an interview (via Food Dive) Some consider it healthy due to the certification process. Whether people will one day view cultivated meat the same way remains to be seen.

How and Why Companies Go Kosher

Posted on: August 9th, 2022 by Kosher Michigan

Originally published at Yahoo.com
Author: Hoang Samuelson

Once upon a time, Oreo cookies were made with lard. For many years, lard, made from the rendered fat of a pig, was used as a cooking fat, until vegetable shortening made its appearance in the 20th century. Lard is what makes fried chicken taste so darn good; it also does wonders for a flaky pie crust. But lard is also strictly forbidden in Jewish cuisine. Eating pork products is not condoned by Jewish dietary laws, called kashrut. In other words, lard is not kosher, meaning Oreos weren’t either.

The road that Nabisco took to make Oreo cookies a kosher-certified product was an expensive one that took three years. By 1997, they were officially certified by the Orthodox Union (OU), the largest kosher certification agency in the world. Today, they join millions of other products at grocery stores around the country with a tiny “U” symbol on the package.

The Pew Research Center estimated that in 2020, there are 7.5 million people in the United States who identify as Jewish. That’s only 2.4% of the total US population. Why, then, should a company go kosher? The answer lies in what being kosher represents, an identity that is not limited to the bounds of religion.

A mark of quality and health
Walk along the aisles at your local grocery store and pick out ten items at random. Chances are, four of them are certified kosher, marked by either a “U” or a “K” symbol encased in a circle. The symbols are so small that unless you’re looking for them, you might not see them—but their presence can mean everything. It indicates that a company has gone through the process of being certified kosher, though thankfully that process doesn’t always take years as it did for Oreos.

For a product to be kosher, it has to be entirely kosher. Kosher comes from the word kasher, which means “fit” or “proper” for a Jewish person to eat. Keeping kosher means adhering to Jewish dietary laws that were determined thousands of years ago. That includes keeping dairy and meat separate at all times, eating only certain types of mammals and a limited number of birds and poultry, and staying away from blood and other parts of the animal, as well as any insects and reptiles.

Once a standard aspect of Jewish culture and cuisine, kosher food now carries the mark of quality and healthiness, of purity and high standards, across a range of consumer demographics. It’s a choice that many can make, even if they’re not adherents of the Jewish faith. Kosher-certified products are also for those who observe other religions; Muslims, for example, who cannot find halal meat can go the kosher route. Those with particular allergies (such as lactose intolerance) and followers of specific diets like veganism can also find suitable alternatives in kosher products.

Why companies seek kosher certification
For most of our history, food was produced and consumed locally. Thus, it was easier for people to determine whether or not something was kosher. Technological advances in industrial food production changed all of that as more and more food became produced in factories thousands of miles away.

“Today we live in a global community,” said Rabbi Chaim Fogelman of the Jewish Learning Institute. “Products can start in one continent and be shipped to another part of the world.” The result? More ingredients are in nearly every product purchased today. Many of those ingredients are preservatives used to extend a product’s shelf life.

Kosher food is a $24 billion industry, with a healthy 15% annual growth rate. Having a mark of quality on a product means that consumers are better equipped to make choices relevant to their diet, but it also gives the company a competitive edge to compete with those products that aren’t certified kosher. Simply put, kosher certification widens a brand’s potential customer base.

How to achieve kosher certification
Becoming certified kosher takes about to four to six weeks, according to OK Kosher, a kosher certification agency. (This timeline may differ with other organizations and circumstances). While there are hundreds of certification agencies around the world, OK Kosher and the OU are the two biggest ones. The OU has thus far certified over 1.2 million products in over 105 countries from around the world. It provides the “OU” symbol, while OK Kosher provides the “K” symbol on product packaging.

The process involves a lengthy application and fees paid to the certification agency, followed by a comprehensive evaluation of the facility’s raw materials and equipment. If the equipment has previously been used to produce non-kosher goods, it must be fully sanitized; as OK says in its certification materials, “This can entail one or more of several procedures such as boiling, sanitizing or running with the use of a bittering agent.”

A Rabbinical Coordinator (RC) assigned by the agency oversees the certification process at each facility. The RC visits the production site to observe changes and make any appropriate recommendations if necessary—even the way items are transported to and from a kosher facility must adhere to proper standards. Like any health and safety inspection, site visits from either the RC or a certified professional in the area might happen without warning, to check that the facility is continuing to comply with dietary laws.

Some items, such as pork and lobster, cannot be certified kosher no matter what procedures are adopted to produce them. For those items that are able to be made kosher, dairy and meat must always remain separate at the facility, potentially requiring some companies to reconfigure production lines. Dairy itself involves a secondary, even more rigorous oversight from the RC.

Finally, when everything is deemed kosher, the company receives a contract and approval to print the “OU” or “K” symbol on their products. As a consumer, all of this has happened behind the scenes; you need only look for that little symbol, the symbol that changes everything, the next time you shop.

Association of Kashrus Organizations Conference 2022

Posted on: May 28th, 2022 by Kosher Michigan

Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 914

Last month’s AKO conference brought together some 150 kashrus experts. Their primary motivation: making sure Klal Yisrael has kosher food to eat

The Jewish world today has hundreds of agencies making sure that all kinds of food is kosher, from the salmon off the Norwegian coast and Peruvian beef to French wines and Stella D’oro Swiss fudge cookies.

Once a year, the organizations get together for three days of camaraderie and enlightenment. From a business perspective, many of them are direct competitors, but at this conference, the focus is on what really motivates them: making sure people have kosher food to eat.

Under the umbrella of the Association of Kashrus Organizations (AKO), this year’s conference, held last month at the Delta by Marriott Hotel in Iselin, New Jersey, was certainly an eye-opener for me. I met people in kashrus organizations I’ve never heard of — Oregon Kosher, Top-K, Rhode Island Kosher — and from parts of the world, like South Bend, Amsterdam, and Panama, that I never even dreamed would have an organized hashgachah.

“People are always asking us, ‘What’s new?’ ” notes Rabbi Moshe Elefant, the chief operating officer of the OU Kosher. “What do you mean, ‘what’s new?’ There’s always something new happening in our industry.”

And so it was that I found myself striding into the hotel for the kashrus world’s biggest annual convention.

The Humans of the Kashrus Field
I came at the tail end of breakfast on a Tuesday morning, as kashrus experts from dozens of groups scurried to begin the day of presentations.

“Who gives the hechsher on this place?” I called out after them.

I’ve always been somewhat of a risk-taker and was grateful that the joke landed sturdily. It turns out that the caterer was Greenwald’s, which happened to have done my bar mitzvah some years back. The mini knishes I remember from that special night were nowhere in sight, but they did have quite a bash set-up.

Kashrus experts, it emerged, can have quite a sense of humor. One speaker, whose name I no longer remember, began his session, “I want to introduce to you a concept you may not know of — day and night.”

At one point I tweeted a photo of Chaikel Kaufman, who spoke on the topic of — and I quote — “Why not to use a travel agent.” Within minutes I got a text from the travel agent I’ve been using for years. “Did my boss speak well?”

Yes, Mr. Kaufman is apparently a travel agent of good standing.

“The first question I get when I meet people, and I tell them what I do is, ‘A travel agent? Who uses a travel agent today?’ ” Kaufman said. “And I don’t have a good answer for that.”

Mashgichim are frequent travelers, and Kaufman was there to give them some tips on how to make the most of their experience.

There were some fascinating moments as well. Rabbi Sholem Fishbane, the executive director of AKO, as well as the kashrus administrator of cRc Kosher (Chicago) announced three new initiatives to make people more kashrus aware. The first, which you may have heard of, is a series of videos and articles from the Kashrus Awareness website. The second is providing free kashrus consultation to summer camps for their camp kitchens, and the third is still under wraps and all information I received was off the record.

Lab Meat: The Modern Ben Pakuah
Modern science has promised us the miracle of meat grown in a laboratory, as a humane alternative to slaughter. But is it kosher?

Rav Moshe Heinemann, head of the Baltimore-based Star K certifying agency, delivered a shiur on the kashrus of lab-grown meat. The first patty made from cultured meat was created not even a decade ago, but Rav Heinemann found ample precedent for it in the rich body of halachah. A fundamental issue is whether the culture begins with cells taken from a living animal, and that seems to be “not kosher,” since we cannot eat meat that did not result from shechitah.

One part of his shiur was based on the sugya of ben pakuah — a living fetus discovered in the womb when the mother is slaughtered. Mid’Oraisa, the shechitah of the mother “covers” that of the fetus, and it would be permitted to eat it without a separate shechitah. But due to maris ayin, Chazal were concerned that onlookers would not realize this is a ben pakuah, and therefore decreed that it must have its own shechitah. However, if there were something very unusual about this animal — aside from it being a ben pakuah — then it would be permitted to eat it without shechitah. Everyone would realize that this was something unusual, and that would alert them that there might be some reason it was being eaten without shechitah.

What are examples of “unusual” things that allow the ben pakuah without shechitah? The Rema (Yoreh Dei’ah 13:2) gives an example of a ben pakuah whose hooves are not split. Rav Sherira Gaon permitted two calves that were ben pakuah to be served at his child’s wedding, arguing that the presence of two bnei pakuah at the same time was unusual enough to qualify for this exception. Rav Heinemann said that he knows of a ben pakuah that was born without a tail — a prime example of a double oddity. The lack of a tail tremendously affected the animal’s ability to disperse the hundreds of flies that are attracted to its skin and Rav Heinemann thought that was peculiar enough to be another example of one that can be eaten without shechitah.

Based on all this, Rav Heinemann proposed that if the cultured meat were labeled as coming from a ben pakuah, that would also be considered unusual enough to permit its cells (and meat) without shechitah, and the meat could be cultured from it.

Assuming we overcame the shechitah issue, would the cultured meat be considered pareve?

“If it looks like meat, it tastes like meat, it smells like meat, it’s meat,” Rav Heinemann declared. “Fleishigs.”

Kosher Raspberries: Coming Through
Could raspberries soon be rejoining the pies and cocktails of the Jewish fruit bowl? They’ve been banished for many years due to insect infestation, but a new technology could make them grow as bug-free as greenhouse cabbage, according to Rabbi Lazer Fischer of Cincinnati Kosher.

Vertical farming, Rabbi Fischer said in his session, arose from scientists’ fears that the world’s existing arable land will no longer be able to feed the global population by 2050.

“You know why?” he asked. “Because the scientists say that the world has issues. The globe as we know it is in danger due to global warming, over-farming, and soil erosion.”

To solve this, environmentalists invented vertical farming.

He took attendees through a virtual tour of 80 Acres Farms, located on the outskirts of his home city of Cincinnati. The facility produces over 1.6 million plants at any given time. A dark room contains hundreds of peat mosses, each containing a single seed ensconced in dirt. Every few days it gets transferred to an increasingly larger “grow zone” to give it more space to grow. Lights of blue and red, which together emit a purplish tinge, are shone on the plants. These are the only two colors that have an effect on plants, Rabbi Fischer explained.

80 Acres Farms has designed its facility to filter all venues that could serve as conduits for bugs — humans, air, and water — eliminating the odds that insects are in the produce. How they do it is a commercial secret, though they have let the kashrus agency in on the secret. There is minimal contact with humans and air, and water consumption is 97 percent less than the 70 liters per plant per year used by traditional farming.

For now, vertical farming is used for leafy vegetables like lettuce, but 80 Acres is experimenting with strawberries and raspberries.

“It’s not a given that if it’s a vertical farm, then it is bug free,” Rabbi Fischer said. “But there is a very good chance that you could get to that point if the facility is designed properly and has proper oversight.”

No Compromises: Are We Back to the Bad Old Days?
The glut of kosher food, lamented Rabbi Moshe Elefant, the chief operating officer of OU Kosher, has made many Yidden complacent that if “everyone eats” a food then it must be kosher. This threatens to take the community back to the bad old days when anything went.

“When we were younger, we ate just about everything,” he said. “If it looked kosher or it sounded kosher, we ate it. Then, the world got better. But what I’m seeing today is that people are going back to deciding based on assumptions and guesses. Did the proliferation of ‘lists’ of approved items — such as the liquor lists or Slurpee lists — create an environment in which people are satisfied with saying that a food is probably okay?”

He pointed to the Grey Goose vodka controversy last year, in which it was suggested that the spirit contained grape-based alcohol (stam yayin), rendering it not kosher. While it ultimately turned out to be fine, the scare set Rabbi Elefant thinking — even if one day it is okay, what stops Grey Goose from mixing in grape alcohol some other day? Yet people were not worried and went right back to sipping their vodka without hashgachah.

Rabbi Elefant has a plethora of similar stories: discovering that Southern Comfort, a once-popular drink in the heimish community, contained grape-based alcohol; finding out that After Eight Dinner Mints, produced by a British company, and eaten with tea by London’s Jewish community every Friday night after the seudah, had butter oil mixed in, making it milchigs.

He said that the time has come for this attitude to change. He recalled how many years ago he told Rav Chaim Yisroel Belsky ztz”l, one of the OU’s poskim, that he was hesitant to inform companies under his supervision that wholesale changes may be coming. How can we insist that they change from what we’ve always allowed them to do?

“Anyone who has that attitude,” Rav Belsky answered firmly, “should not be working in kashrus. We must always be checking and reevaluating ourselves.”

Mooo, You’re on: Candid Camera
The recent Covid pandemic hung heavily over the conference, which was dedicated in memory of two kashrus giants who were niftar during the outbreak — Rabbi Dr. Zecharia Senter, the founder and rabbinic director of Kof-K, and Rav Don Yoel Levy, the rabbinic director of the OK. In addition, many of the sessions were devoted to lessons learned from the virus years.

Can cameras, for example, replace human oversight? The experience of the past years has proved to be a mixed bag, said Rabbi Moshe Gutnick, from the kashrus authority of Australia and New Zealand.

Rabbi Gutnick spoke about the use of cameras in the production of chalav Yisrael. Cameras have been used extensively during the Covid pandemic, but they have turned out not to be as foolproof as they initially thought.

“There are many things that you can’t see,” Rabbi Gutnick declared, “You have to be careful that you weren’t hoodwinked when using a camera.”

So what are cameras good for? Rabbi Gutnick explained that they are good as a hiddur, or if you need a specific task to verify.

He then offered a pilpul on the effect witnesses have: In some cases, they create the event, such as at a wedding. In other cases, they merely provide proof of an occurrence, such as with monetary transactions. When it comes to chalav Yisrael milk production, Rabbi Gutnick said, one could argue that a mashgiach watching the milking on a camera would be sufficient. But on the other hand, the Chasam Sofer says that the rabbinic decree prohibiting chalav akum was given for a reason that was not revealed. According to this, having a camera would not suffice, since perhaps that “other reason” requires a human physically observing the milking process. He further noted that all would agree that a Jew watching a camera would not be enough to create gevinas Yisrael (for cheese).

Other issues with cameras are that (a) they are technological, which means that they are bound to fail and break every so often, and (b) it is hard for a mashgiach to stare at a screen for extended periods of time.

“The fact of the matter is,” Rabbi Gutnick said, “watching a long row of cows walk to be milked is very boring, and it’s easy for a mashgiach looking at a monitor to fall asleep or get distracted.”

The ideal mashgiach is someone who pays attention to what is happening and reports back to the rabbinic supervisor.

One person who knew little about farms or animals was once serving as a last-minute substitute mashgiach at a dairy plant, Rabbi Gutnick recalled. He called his rabbinic supervisor, breathlessly yelling into the phone, “They’re milking a horse! They’re milking a horse!”

The kashrus agency sent someone down to check out what was happening and discovered a herd of black and white cows, with the mashgiach screaming “There’s the horse!” as he pointed at the one brown jersey cow mixed into the herd.

“We had to explain to him that a brown cow is a cow, not a horse,” Rabbi Gutnick said. “But at least that mashgiach was paying attention.”

Ask and Answer: Rav Dovid Cohen
One of the most fascinating sessions was a Q&A with Rav Dovid Cohen, the rav of Congregation Gvul Yaavetz and a prominent posek in Flatbush. Laden with wisdom and delivered with wit, he began with the pronouncement that a shiur must begin with a milsa d’bedichesa — a joke.

“Three years ago,” he began, “when Rabbi Sholem Fishbane asked me to speak at this conference, I said, ‘Everything is fine, I just have to check out the kashrus.’ ”

Rav Cohen was asked whether a kashrus organization may hire a mashgiach currently employed by a different agency.

He prefaced his answer with a fascinating, behind-the-curtains look at how rabbanim rule on halachah. The mesorah of Lita, from Rav Chaim Volozhiner to Rav Moshe Feinstein, was to study the sugya and issue a psak based on their understanding of its conclusion, even if it differed with Rishonim. The mesorah in Hungary, though, was to cite all opinions, and then rule based on the majority.

As to the question itself, Rav Cohen said that all such queries — hiring a chef away from a different caterer, offering a higher salary for a cleaning lady, or hiring a rebbi who teaches at a different mosad — have the same answer. One may not directly ask the employee to leave his place of work, but one may advertise in a place that the person will notice it and call him on his own.

“This is the minhag ha’olam, and this is the acceptable psak,” Rav Cohen declared.

Some of the questions dealt with thorny issues that had no clear answer. What is the kashrus agency’s responsibility regarding the “ambience” of a facility where it provides a hechsher? One kashrus organization recalled having a Christian symbol at an event, and another recoiled at having to provide a hechsher at an event that featured inappropriate activity.

“I don’t know,” the rav responded. “It’s a judgmental thing.”

If there is pritzus, he said he would advise against it, but if it’s primarily a staid affair that also has some objectionable content, then he would permit it. But he emphasized the responsibility kashrus organizations have to save uninformed Yidden from eating treif.

What should a kashrus organization do if a mashgiach it employs is credibly accused of withholding a get from his wife or not paying child support? These things are a massive chillul Hashem, Rav Cohen responded.

“You are part of Klal Yisrael, and Klal Yisrael must help free an agunah,” he said. “I’m not saying to fire him yesterday. But you should replace him. Tell him that we are going to look for another mashgiach. You’ll probably find someone else.”

Are there grounds to be lenient when it comes to kashrus issues in retirement homes? Rav Cohen said yes, noting that a common expression in the Shulchan Aruch is that “a sick or elderly person is allowed.” He said, “It doesn’t say that the elderly people are sick, it says sick or old.”

I left the conference with a new appreciation of the Mishnah in Avos, “Hafoch bah v’hafoch bah, d’kula bah.” Turn the Torah around and examine it from every angle, because if you do so, you will discover that it addresses every issue and every question.

Tossing Rivalry to the Winds
One of Rabbi Moshe Reich’s early assignments after coming to work at the Kof-K kashrus agency was to take a senior Pepsi official out for lunch. It was approximately 13 years ago, and the soft drink giant’s vice president of operations was coming to the Kof-K headquarters in Teaneck.

Pepsi was the agency’s client, and Kof-K CEO Rabbi Dr. Zechariah Senter tasked Rabbi Reich with handling the executive. Rabbi Reich searched for an upscale kosher restaurant and took Rabbi Senter and the executive there.

As they were seated, a waitress came over to take their order.

“I’ll take a Diet Pepsi,” said Mr. Pepsi.

“I’m sorry, we don’t carry Pepsi,” she responded. “Can I get you a Coke?”

“No,” he said. “I’ll just have some water.”

Rabbi Reich, mortified for not thinking of this simple hitch, questioned him: Would he really not drink a Coke?

“I don’t understand, Rabbi,” Sherman replied in astonishment. “You’re from the Kof-K, would you eat from the OU?”

“Sure,” Rabbi Reich said.

Sherman stared at him in shock. He then told him that he had once taken his son to a game at Yankee Stadium, where Coke has the franchise. He told his son beforehand that there would be no drinks at the game. However, in middle of the game, his son begged for a drink.

“You know the rules, we only drink Pepsi,” he told his son. “I’d rather buy a beer and get arrested than drink a Coke.”

“That,” Rabbi Reich tells me, “is what real competition looks like in the outside world.”

The Jewish version of competition was on intense display at the recent Association of Kashrus Organizations conference, where 150 representatives from 75 kashrus agencies hobnobbed, traded tales from the field, and swapped ideas.

Rabbi Reich, who organized the confab, said it was “the largest conference AKO ever had.”

“I appreciate that Mishpacha is dedicating time for this, because I don’t think the kashrus world realizes how much we actually work together,” he said.

As a symbol of the unity, the conference was dedicated in memory of Rav Senter and Rav Don Yoel Levy. Rabbi Levy was niftar on Acharon shel Pesach at the height of Covid and had a quick levayah; Rabbi Senter was niftar a year later to the day and also had a rushed levayah to make a flight to Eretz Yisrael for kevurah.

Rabbi Ari Senter, the current director of kashrus standards at Kof-K, wanted to do something for them, and he worked with AKO to dedicate the conference in their memories. He asked each kashrus organization attending to take one of the ArtScroll Shas’s seventy-some volumes so they could make a siyum haShas, which took place alongside a hachnassas sefer Torah.

Rabbi Senter of Kof-K spoke about Rabbi Don Yoel Levy of OK, and Rabbi Meir Fogelman, Rabbi Levy’s son-in-law, paid tribute to the late Rabbi Senter.

“Everyone thought we made a mistake,” Rabbi Reich said. “People were asking, ‘Why is Rabbi Senter talking about Rabbi Levy, shouldn’t it be the opposite?’ But we told everyone we did this on purpose.”

This was Rabbi Reich’s third stint as AKO conference organizer.

“I felt like I was making a chasunah but I didn’t have to pay for it,” he joked. “I had to make a seating chart, trying to make sure that people who have things in common sit near each other.”

His first conference was in 2018, followed by another in 2020, which ran alongside the Siyum HaShas on daf yomi on January 1. The AKO organization was established in 1985 but reached its current format two decades ago. Responsibility for the annual conventions rotates among several agencies.

The current one was originally scheduled for the end of December, but with the Omicron variant spreading, Rabbi Senter felt it would be a chillul Hashem if there was a Covid outbreak because of it, so it was canceled.

Aside from the US and Canada, four other countries were represented — South Africa, Britain, Israel, and Australia. Several heimishe agencies attended for the first time. Rav Dovid Cohen was there as a guest the entire time, making himself available to answer questions privately.

One priority of conference organizers was the smaller kashrus agencies, since the Kof-K regularly travels to their cities to train in their mashgichim. There are seven major kashrus certifiers in North America — OU, OK, Star-K, Kof-K, and cRc in the United States, and COR in Ontario and MK in Montreal — and some five dozen smaller ones spread out throughout the country, from AKC in Atlanta to OVK in St. Louis to the Rabbinic Council of California. The conference held a special session on how to certify kashrus properly utilizing just one or two staffers.

Reflecting on the conference, Rabbi Reich said, “You had the new guard and the old guard getting together, having that handshake and getting to know each other. It was a tremendous display of achdus. I’m still getting messages from people who say they are still riding the coattails of the conference. That should be the ultimate message.”

Kosher Certification Has Gone Mainstream

Posted on: April 14th, 2022 by Kosher Michigan

Republished from Food Safety News

By Cookson Beecher on April 19, 2022

For the approximately 15.2 million Jewish people in the world, this is a time to celebrate Passover — the festival commemorating the exodus of the Israelites from Egyptian slavery in the 1200s BC. This year the holiday runs from April 15 through April 22.

As with other holidays, food is an important part of this annual celebration, with the main observances centering around a special home service called the seder, which includes a festive meal. The foods served must all be kosher.

Derived from Hebrew, kosher means to be “pure, proper or suitable for consumption.” It’s a term that describes foods that comply with dietary guidelines set by traditional Jewish law. Not only do these laws set forth which foods may be consumed, but also how they must be produced, processed and prepared. And which foods should not be eaten.

With the extra supervision required to be accepted as kosher, with oversight by rabbis for example, kosher food is perceived by many people — Jewish and non-Jewish alike — as being healthier and cleaner.

No wonder then that a kosher label on food attracts shoppers of all kinds. In fact, according to research in 2017 by Kosher Network International, the global market for kosher foods was worth $24 billion, with growth expected to hit 11.5 percent by 2025.

OK Kosher, one of the largest kosher certification organizations in the world, has certified about 700,000 products made by 4,000 manufacturers, which include Kraft, Heinz, Kellogg and General Mills. Even Coca Cola has gone Kosher.

Rabbi Eli Lando, executive manager of OK Kosher, said that by and large, “consumers see a kosher certification as a verification that a product is healthy, clean and safe. And while the certification has roots in religious traditions that are thousands of years old, it now speaks directly to the modern consumer’s demand for wholesome foods.”

Although there are 6 million Jews in the United States, according to World Population Review, Lando said Jewish people represent only 20 percent of the kosher product consumer base.

In other words, kosher has gone mainstream, with social media helping to boost people’s awareness of it.

Roger Horowitz, author of “Kosher USA,” describes a Kosher seal as a “silent salesman.

“It may seem ancient,” he said, but the people doing it are modern and in the modern marketplace.”

What’s kosher and what isn’t
Food that is kosher must adhere to specific Biblical-based dietary laws. Some of these rules require only eating animals that are kosher — cloven (split) hooved mammals that chew cud. These include cows, sheep, goats, lambs, oxen and deer. Cuts of beef from the hindquarters of the animal, such as flank, short loin, sirloin, round and shank, are not considered kosher.

Some meats, such as meat from pigs, rabbits, squirrels, camels, kangaroos and horses are not considered kosher.

Pigs? Pigs can transmit trichinellosis, or trichinosis, a disease transmitted by eating raw or undercooked pork contaminated with the parasite Trichinella, which is not visible to the naked eye. Symptoms range from nausea to heart and breathing problems. In the past, trichinosis was fairly common and can still be a problem in rural areas.

The best way to prevent trichinellosis is to cook meat to a temperature of 71 degrees C (160 degrees F). Freezing, curing or salting, drying, smoking, or microwaving meat may not kill infective parasites. Of course, In the case of kosher, you can prevent infections by not eating pork altogether. In Biblical days, this was a practical safeguard against it.

Certain domesticated fowl, such as chicken, geese, quail, dove and turkey may be eaten. But predator birds such as eagles and hawks may not.

Fish is considered kosher only if the fish has fins and scales. This would include tuna, salmon, halibut and pickerel. But shrimp, crab, oysters, lobster and other types of shellfish are not permitted. That’s because they have spread typhoid and are also a source of a type of hives.

Meanwhile fish and eggs and plant-based meats are classified as “neutral,” meaning they don’t contain milk or fish.

Fruits in their unprocessed forms are kosher but they can’t contain insects, which means they must be inspected to make sure no insects or larvae are present before being sold or eaten. Specially trained rabbis do the inspections.

Nuts and seeds and the oils from them are kosher, although sometimes the processing of these foods can make them non-kosher because of possible cross-contamination from equipment that was used for meat or dairy products.

Also, under kosher rules, meat and dairy may not be made or eaten together. In other words, it’s one or the other at mealtime. This is based on the belief that dairy foods and meat digest at unequal rates, which is hard on the body.

Grains for the most part are fine. But during Passover, all leavened grain products — those made with yeast or a leavening substance — are forbidden. But unleavened breads such as matzo are allowed.

Kosher slaughtering . . . and after
Kosher requires that an animal or bird be slaughtered by a trained kosher slaughterer. The process involves severing the trachea and esophagus with a special razor-sharp knife. This also severs the jugular vein, which kills the animal or bird instantaneously and is said to cause a minimal amount of pain to the animal or bird.

After the animal has been slaughtered, the internal organs are inspected for any abnormalities that would make the animal non-kosher. The lungs are also checked for abscesses and other health problems.

The blood, which is a medium for the growth of bacteria, is drained. Meat must be “koshered” within 72 hours after slaughter so that the blood won’t congeal. Eating the blood of an animal or bird is forbidden.

Labeling is important
Because foods nowadays can contain so many different ingredients and also because of the complexities of modern food processing, it would be hard for a consumer to know if a product is kosher or not. That’s where labeling comes in. A kosher label on the packaging indicates that the product has met all of the necessary requirements. For those who want to adhere to kosher dietary guidelines, the advice is to choose only foods with these labels as a way to avoid accidentally eating something that isn’t kosher.

In North America, kosher certification ranges from around $5,000 to $15,000 for annual certification. As well as regular inspections, unannounced inspections are also part of the certification process. Rabbis are involved throughout the certification process. This gives consumers added trust in kosher products because an extra set of eyes are involved.

According to the JIFA, the Jewish Initiative for Animals 74 percent of Americans chooses kosher based on concerns for food safety. In fact, of the people who buy kosher products, the majority point to food safety as their key concern. And previous research has shown that American shoppers believe that kosher food is safer.

Washington state dairyman Dick Klein, who isn’t Jewish, is one of them. He said he always buys kosher, if it’s on sale, because “it’s healthier and safer.”

Some problems
Meanwhile, JIFA, says that despite the fact that people think kosher food is inherently better, this is despite the fact that almost all kosher and non-kosher meat, poultry, dairy and eggs come from animals raised on factory farms, which raises concerns about the overuse of antibiotics.

When it comes to how kosher animals are bred and raised, JIFA says that kosher certification has no relationship to antibiotic use, health genetics, confinement, or access to pasture.

Food safety enters the picture
Although many people consider kosher foods to be safe when it comes to standard food-safety requirements, that isn’t necessarily the case.

Kosher Check, a Canadian certifying company, is a full-service certification agency — but one with an important difference, according to its website. While kosher agencies worldwide aim to certify that the ingredients and manufacturing processes of their clients follow the Jewish laws of kosher as set out in the Torah (the Jewish Bible) Kosher Check goes further.

Formerly BC Kosher, it was the only agency in the world that required its clients to be in good standing with all applicable food safety rules as a condition of kosher certification.

Now Kosher Check certification has been introduced for those manufacturers that want to promote not only their kosher compliance but their commitment to food safety as well.

The company says that certification of a company’s products and manufacturing processes by Kosher Check is a mark that “not only guarantees your ingredients and products kosher status, it also acts as a mark of assurance that food safety laws have been strictly followed to a minimum level of HACCP compliance.”

Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) compliance requires businesses to identify potential food safety issues and review their entire food storage and handling processes and procedures. The goal of using HACCP is to ensure a business is HACCP compliant. Compliance implies all aspects of food storage and handling are conducted in a safe manner.

Kosher Check says it can work with companies that don’t meet this standard to achieve it.

The company’s website also says that this double-layered guarantee formalizes and reinforces the widely-held belief among consumers that Kosher products are safer to consume. Besides attracting Jewish shoppers, the Kosher Check label will attract “the throngs of shoppers concerned about food safety issues,” thus greatly expanding the market for a company’s kosher products.

Keeping Kosher – Spiritual Eating (By Rabbi Warren Goldstein)

Posted on: March 24th, 2022 by Kosher Michigan

Spiritual Eating
by Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein

Keeping kosher is a vital part of Jewish life. The word “kosher” comes from the Hebrew word kasher, meaning “fit” or “proper”. And, indeed, the term itself has even entered the general vernacular. When something is kosher, it is considered “above board” and meets certain required standards. As we shall see, kosher is an entire worldview – a philosophy on food, and on life in general.

Before delving into the ideas and philosophy behind kosher, it’s important to acknowledge two things. Firstly, the basis for all of the mitzvot is that God commanded us to perform them. With loyalty and commitment, we dedicate our lives to fulfilling His will, whether or not we understand the true meaning and significance of the commandments. While acknowledging that we cannot truly probe the ultimate Divine wisdom and motivation behind the mitzvot, nevertheless, we are called on to do our best to understand them so the mitzvot can have a maximum impact on who we are and have a maximum transformative impact on making us into better people. This follows the philosophy of the Ramban when it comes to mitzvot, which he says is about how the mitzvot transform and make us into better people.

Secondly, kosher encompasses a wide range of halachic principles and applications, each immensely detailed. There are the laws governing which animals are kosher and which are not, documented in this week’s parsha, Shemini. There are the laws governing how animals are slaughtered and prepared for consumption. There are the laws governing the separation of milk and meat. Each of these aspects of kosher comprises its own world of details and ideas and meanings, and we can’t possibly do justice to them in a short discussion.

But, we can make a start. Let us embark on a journey of discovery. And perhaps, the best place to begin is with our perspective on non-kosher food. Is there something intrinsically wrong with non-kosher food? Is it simply unhealthy? Rav Yitzchak Don Abavarnel, one of our great sages, argues forcefully that kashrut has nothing to do with health. He explains that the Torah is a book of Divine wisdom, not a health manual. Furthermore, he says, there is no indication that non-Jews who eat nonkosher foods are any less healthy than Jews, and also, that there are a number of unhealthy foods and even toxic substances not even mentioned in the Torah as being unkosher.

According to the Abarbarnel, and many other sources, keeping kosher is about spiritual health. The Maharal of Prague has a particular perspective and maintains that this doesn’t mean there is anything bad intrinsically, whether spiritually or physically, with non-kosher food. Rabbi Azriel Chaim Goldfein cites the halachic ruling that if you have three indistinguishable pieces of meat, two of which you know for certain are kosher, and they become mixed up, you are in fact permitted to eat all three, since the two kosher cuts are in the majority, and the non-kosher cut gets subsumed into them. (If you have a question of this nature, you should consult a competent halachic authority just to clarify all the details and make sure that the halacha is being properly applied.) If there were something intrinsically wrong with the non-kosher meat, then how could this principle of nullification in the majority apply?

So, what is the distinction between kosher and non-kosher? The Maharal explains that the Torah is the spiritual blueprint of the world. He says that keeping kosher, as with all the other mitzvot, aligns us with this spiritual blueprint, and helps us actualise our latent spiritual potential. And so, the laws of kosher follow the framework of spiritual principles that God created. And that framework exists external to the food itself. Eating kosher is living in harmony and in sync with the spiritual blueprint of the universe, and not doing so is departing from that framework, and that is spiritually damaging.

To illustrate this, the Maharal cites the Midrash, which describes kashrut as a way “to purify people”. This purification takes place through the connection of a person’s soul to the ultimate spiritual blueprint of the world, which was created by God. But, it is not about the intrinsic nature of the food itself. He cites another Midrash which says: “A person should not say I do not want pork… but rather I would like it, but what can I do that my Father in Heaven has decreed upon me [not to have it].” (Torat Kohanim Kedoshim) So the laws of kashrut follow a framework of Godgiven spiritual principles embedded in the Torah – a framework that exists external to the food itself.

Rabbeinu Bechaye shares a different perspective on kosher. In his commentary on this week’s parsha, he refers to the verse that concludes the section dealing with the laws of kashrut: “And you shall sanctify yourselves and you shall be holy, for I am holy.” (Vayikra 11:44) Rabbeinu Bechaye says that we see from this verse that keeping kosher helps us to live a life of holiness.

There are two primary components to the human being – the physical and the spiritual. These two components are naturally in conflict with one another, and the fact that they co-exist in a single organism is itself something wondrous. But to help us navigate this power struggle and ensure the spiritual force within us ultimately frames and guides our physical drives, the Torah provides for the expression and fulfilment of these physical desires within a spiritually and ethically enriching framework. This framework helps us infuse meaning into even the most mundane, basic activities such as eating. It is in this context that the laws of kosher need to be seen.

Rabbeinu Bechaye says the more immediate physical needs of the body can easily overwhelm our spiritual selves. This natural predominance of the physical over the spiritual is rooted in the fact that human beings are physical before we are spiritual; as children we are consumed by our physical wants and needs, and only later do we develop a spiritual muscle, a capacity to reflect and to channel, to exercise self-restraint. There’s also the fact that the world we inhabit is very much a physical, material one; the soul is a stranger in this world.

And so, we need all the help we can get to transcend this material world, and our physical selves, and become truly elevated, spiritual beings. Keeping kosher does this because it places a spiritual framework around what we eat. We can’t just eat whatever we want. We learn self-restraint. And we immerse ourselves in this holy framework from a young age. The Sforno says the laws of kosher help us achieve Godliness, even holiness, in this world.

Kosher fits into a broader philosophy of food and of eating, one that is saturated with holiness, spirituality and meaning. We have in the Torah the mitzvah of Birkat Hamazon – Grace after Meals – in terms of which we give thanks to God after eating, that the process of eating is not just one of self-gratification, but also one connected to gratitude. The sages of the Talmud added to that, and formulated blessings to be said before eating food to acknowledge where it comes from. It is part of acknowledging that this world and everything in it belongs to God, and that, when we take from it, we express our gratitude.

We don’t just consume. We stop. We give thanks to God, we give thought to whether or not the food is kosher. We acknowledge the source of the food and give thanks for its tastiness, its nourishing goodness. Eating becomes a more refined, uplifting and meaningful experience in this way.

This idea of elevation is embodied in the mitzvah of washing our hands before eating bread. The blessing we recite is al netilat yadayim. The word netilah, explains Rav Yaakov Zvi Mecklenberg, comes from another Hebrew word, meaning elevation. The implication is clear. When we wash our hands before eating, we elevate ourselves, we connect the act of eating to something higher, something greater than merely satiating our hunger.

Rav Mecklenberg connects the mitzvah of washing before bread to the requirement that the Kohanim, the priests in the Beit Hamikdash, wash their hands before beginning the sacred Temple service. He says we, too, should view this world as one great Beit Hamikdash, a world filled with holiness, with God’s presence, where we are called on to serve God and to live lives of meaning and dedication and spirituality. The world, and everything in it, was created by God, and therefore belongs to God, like the holy property of the Temple. And when we reach out to take anything from this world, from God Himself, we should do so in a state of holiness and purity, with a sense of reverence for the sacred task at hand.

Ultimately, we see that kosher and the laws around eating are about transcending the self, transcending our own selfish physical needs, and creating a holy framework for them. In doing so, we get in touch with our souls, our spiritual selves. We attain a sense of self-mastery, and become not merely a body, but a soul clothed in physical garments. Whatever our bodies take from this world needs to be done in a framework of morality and ethics, in a framework of kindness and compassion, of spirituality, meaning and elevation. And then the experience of eating food gets transformed from an animalistic self-gratification experience into one that is truly holy, and elevated into something meaningful, refined and ethical, and we ourselves become transformed.