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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.

Kosher Status of Lab Grown Meat - Cultivated Meat and Kashrut

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.

Kosher Near Me

Posted on: February 4th, 2024 by Kosher Michigan

KosherNearMe, globally acclaimed as the premier kosher mobile app with over 500,000 downloads, announced its rebranding and relaunch as YeahThat’sKosherNearMe. This enhanced app is not just a directory; it’s a dynamic portal to find kosher restaurants and shops across the globe. Bolstered by content from YeahThatsKosher, the new YeahThatsKosherNearMe app offers an unparalleled, robust experience for users, featuring expanded, up-to-date information and resources. The app is available for download at www.YeahThatsKosher.com/app

Kosher-Near-Me

Complementing the already popular content on YeahThatsKosher.com and its extensive presence across social media platforms and WhatsApp groups, the integration of these two entities will significantly enhance the app experience for kosher consumers globally.

“The launch of the new YeahThatsKosherNearMe directory marks a revolutionary step in the kosher industry,” stated founder Dani Klein. “By merging the rich content of YeahThatsKosher.com with the comprehensive directory of YeahThatsKosherNearMe, we are creating an unprecedented tool for discovering exciting kosher dining options, irrespective of the country.”

Founded in 2008 by Klein, YeahThatsKosher began as an online resource for kosher-observant travelers, offering insights into kosher restaurants and Jewish travel experiences worldwide. Over its 15-year journey, the website has published more than 3,000 articles, attracts approximately 100,000 monthly visitors, and boasts nearly 60,000 Instagram followers.

Similarly, KosherNearMe, conceived by Jonathan Myron in 2010, has become a cornerstone in the kosher community, garnering over half a million downloads across iOS (with a 4.9-star rating) and Android devices (with a 4.7-star rating).

The YeahThatsKosherNearMe app is readily available for download for all iOS and Android devices at YeahThatsKosher.com/app and at https://YeahThatsKosher.com/app.

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.

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.

St. Julian has partnered with Rabbi Jason Miller and Kosher Michigan to resume the production of Sholom Concord wine.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.

St. Julian has partnered with Rabbi Jason Miller and Kosher Michigan to resume the production of Sholom Concord wine.

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.

St. Julian has partnered with Rabbi Jason Miller and Kosher Michigan to resume the production of Sholom Concord wine.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.

Home-Grown Wine | Sholom Concord Wine is Back (Detroit Jewish News)

Posted on: January 24th, 2023 by Kosher Michigan

Home-Grown Wine
By Barbara Lewis

Kosher wine is again made in Michigan.
If Michigan-made sweet kosher wine pleases your palate, thank Alicia and David Nelson for making it available.

Alicia discovered Sholom, a kosher sweet Concord wine, soon after her husband retired as rabbi of Congregation Beth Shalom in 2003.

In retirement, Rabbi Nelson officiated several times a month at Temple Israel in Bay City (now merged with Temple Beth El of Saginaw to be Temple Beth Israel). The congregation used Sholom wine at the after-service kiddush. The Nelsons liked the taste, and they liked the fact that it was Michigan-made. Working with a drugstore in Oak Park, the Nelsons would buy a case several times a year.

Sholom Wine Rabbi

The Nelsons were nonplussed when the store told them a year or so ago that Sholom wine was no longer available.

The wine had been produced by St. Julian Wine Company in Paw Paw, Michigan, a town the Nelsons pass through frequently as they drive I-94 to their second home in Bridgman, near Benton Harbor. They visited the company’s store and talked to the manager. They learned that the Chicago rabbi who for many years had supervised the production of the kosher wine had died, and no one in his family wanted to take over that responsibility.

St. Julian traces its origins to 1921, during the Prohibition era when Border City Winery was founded in Ontario. The St. Julian Wine Company broke off as a separate entity in 1941, headquartered in Paw Paw.

The winery is headed by Apollo Braganini II, the great-grandson of the founder, Mariano Braganini, and his wife, Avelia. During World War II and well into the 1950s, the company built its volume on juice-grape-based wines, particularly Concords.

Mariano engineered a method for shipping tankfuls of wine — 1,000 to 3,000 gallons at a time. The company would ship bulk quantities of its Concord wine to a well-known New York winery to supplement its production of kosher wine. Eventually, St. Julian started making its own-label kosher wine, Sholom, producing 5,000 cases annually.

Sholom wine gained enthusiastic customers in Detroit and Chicago, which have large Jewish populations, but it is shipped to almost every state. “This particular wine has one of the strongest followings in our customer base,” said Apollo Braganini II.

Alicia Nelson asked the company’s managers if they’d be interested in finding another mashgiach to supervise the production of the wine, and they were. She contacted Rabbi Jason Miller, head of Kosher Michigan, a kashrut supervising agency, who agreed immediately.

“Someone gave me a metal sign with the Sholom wine logo on it. It has hung on the wall by the bar in my basement for several years,” said Miller. “I never thought that my signature would appear on the label of this iconic bottle of wine!”

Rabbi Jason Miller - Kosher Michigan - Sholom Concord Wine - St Julian Winery

 

For a wine to be certified kosher, its production has to be supervised by a trained Jewish person from start to finish. Miller started last summer by overseeing St. Julian’s Concord grape harvest and the heating, fermentation and filtration of 20,000 gallons of juice to make sure no preservatives or artificial colors were added. He personally turned on the machines that heated the grape juice and supervised the rest of the production process, which took 40 days.

Sholom wine’s labels now say the product is “Certified by Rabbi Jason Miller, Kosher Michigan Kosher Certification Agency,” with a replica of his signature.

Sholom Wine - Concord Grapes 2022 (10)“Kosher Michigan is following the exact same kosher supervision process as the rabbis who previously certified Sholom wine for many decades, so there should be no concern that the highest kosher standards are not being followed,” said Miller.

Kosher Michigan certifies thousands of products throughout North America and India. Miller said he hopes to certify other St. Julian products as kosher. “I look forward to a longtime relationship with the winery,” he said.

As for the Nelsons, they purchased a case of Sholom from Lincoln Rx Pharmacy in Oak Park as soon as they could. They serve the wine on Shabbat and Jewish holidays and have given some to friends. They were happy when Congregation B’nai Shalom in Benton Harbor, where Nelson officiates once a month, also started using it again.

St. Julian has a Detroit-area tasting room and retail store in Troy. Other outlets, in addition to the one in Paw Paw, are in Dundee, Frankenmuth, Rockford and Union Pier.

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.

Kosher Status of Lab Grown Meat - Cultivated Meat and Kashrut

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.

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.

Kosher Certification Agency Near Me - Kosher Supervision

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.

Kosher Certification in America – Why Kosher for Passover is Thriving

Posted on: April 14th, 2022 by Kosher Michigan

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN FOOD DIVE

The ‘silent salesman’: How kosher certification went mainstream

By Megan Poinski

Right now, Jewish people around the world are scrutinizing their cabinets and pantries, trying to get rid of any food items that aren’t kosher for Passover.

Hanan Products has been ready for this year’s holiday, which runs from the evening of April 15 to 23, for months.

Every January, the New York manufacturer of whipped toppings and creamers converts its entire factory to kosher-for-Passover production for a little more than two weeks.

In an interview in late January, as the special manufacturing period was drawing to a close, Chief Operating Officer Ryan Hanan described the process. Several rabbis were moving around the factory floor, scrutinizing every detail as the factory churned out non-dairy whipped toppings and coffee creamers that can be used during the eight days of Passover. Specialized sealing tape was everywhere. Only one line in the facility was running, and workers spent long hours making the specialized products that the commercial bakery customers Hanan Products serves will need for the annual holiday.

“It’s a little hectic,” Hanan said.

But the hectic time pays off at Passover. This year, Hanan Products made about 250,000 pounds of kosher for Passover items. The company is one of the few in the space that makes a product that can be enjoyed by observant Jews during the holiday. Rabbi Eli Lando, executive manager of certification organization OK Kosher, said that kosher for Passover is an especially hot market because most people in the Jewish faith — not just those who follow a kosher diet on a daily basis — will stick to those products during the eight-day holiday.

Every day of the year, however, kosher is a hot market, period. Research in 2017 by Kosher Network International — commonly abbreviated KNi — found that the global market for kosher foods was worth $24 billion, and was projected to grow 11.5% by 2025. OK Kosher, which is one of the largest kosher certification organizations in the world, has certified around 700,000 products made by 4,000 manufacturers, Lando said. Its clients include Kraft Heinz, Kellogg and General Mills.

Kosher is one of the most popular certifications in the food industry today. According to one commonly cited estimate, the certification is on about 40% of all products in a U.S. grocery store.

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

What is kosher?
In essence, food that is kosher adheres to specific dietary laws for members of the Jewish religion. Different religious texts and their interpretations lay ground rules about the types of food items and ingredients that observant Jews need to eat, as well as which foods and ingredients they need to avoid. Some of these rules involve not cooking meat and dairy together and only consuming products from animals that are kosher — generally cloven-hooved mammals that chew a cud, certain birds, and seafood with scales — and killed and prepared according to kosher rules.

In the days before widespread CPG food and drink manufacturing, it was relatively easy for observant households to be able to make choices based on those dietary laws, said OK Kosher Project Coordinator Ilana Klein.

As CPG-style food became more popular, different ingredients, additives and processes changed the ultimate composition of food and drink. It became much more difficult for individual consumers to know whether items met with their dietary laws. So, Klein said, kosher certification groups formed to visit manufacturing facilities, scrutinize and study ingredients and offer advice to CPGs and consumers about which foods, processes and ingredients were kosher.

OK Kosher has been certifying food products since 1935, and is one of the larger certification organizations today. The ingredients and manufacturing processes for every product that has the organization’s circled K on its packaging have been scrutinized by OK Kosher’s staff of experts. In addition to all of the CPG products OK Kosher has verified, Lando said there are more than 1 million ingredients that the group monitors.

“Any certification worldwide has their standards based on regulations that were developed by mankind, people who have come together and decided that this would be the standard,” Lando said. “The standard of kosher is the interpretation of the Bible, which has been in Jewish tradition for thousands of years.”

Kosher certification is not about ensuring food is high quality or healthy, Lando said. It attests certain processes related to safety and purity enshrined in Jewish law are followed. And it means that those who work with certification — many of whom are rabbis — continue to make site visits and investigate processes and ingredients.

“Any certification worldwide has their standards based on regulations that were developed by mankind, people who have come together and decided that this would be the standard. The standard of kosher is the interpretation of the Bible, which has been in Jewish tradition for thousands of years.”

Geller, who is known as the “Queen of Kosher” for her presence in Jewish lifestyle media — writing cookbooks, hosting online cooking shows and founding KNi — said that the halo of a kosher certification has deep roots. While it is important to consumers who only eat kosher products all year long, it’s also become synonymous in popular culture for something that is pure and honest. After all, she said, it’s not uncommon for people making any kind of agreement to talk about whether it is “kosher.”

“People have a lot of reverence for a religious set of eyes, which cannot be compromised,” Geller said. “So they really know that whatever is in the package is actually in the package — nothing more, nothing less. And there’s an independent board or body governing that process. That’s why it’s become so much more mainstream.”

Kosher continues to be top-of-mind for both consumers and manufacturers. According to Innova Market Insights, almost a third of all product launches in 2021 had a kosher claim. More than half of all dessert and ice cream launches were certified kosher, and 17% of the new kosher launches came from the bakery category.

Read More in Manufacturing
Roger Horowitz, author of “Kosher USA: How Coke Became Kosher and Other Tales of Modern Food,” said that in this day and age, a kosher certification is almost a need-to-have. Unless a product is something that could never be kosher certified — for example, something containing shrimp — or it would be extremely expensive to create a kosher version — like a budget product that contains meat — the default is for it to become kosher certified.

In kosher we trust
While kosher certification began as a way to tell members of a religious community what they could eat, the symbol means much more to a wider swath of consumers today.

“If the product has a kosher symbol on it, it says … [it is] a company that invests in quality, a company that cares about the product they make,” OK Kosher’s Lando said.

Lando recalls something an attorney told him: Kosher certifiers answer to a higher authority. For that reason, he said, they don’t let things slide. When examining manufacturing facilities, kosher certification groups point out any issues and force the manufacturers to deal with them.

Because of the vital role a kosher certification plays to observant consumers, Lando said that transparency is key. The effect of that transparency, as well as the trust the community places in rabbis, adds to the deference that consumers give the certification.

The popularity of kosher certification is something that has snowballed through the years. Horowitz said that one impetus for manufacturers to get the certification is simply access. There are areas of the U.S. with larger Jewish populations — like the New York City region, as well as several other East Coast cities. Grocery retailers that serve those populations may prefer to put more kosher products on their shelves simply for those customers. And if these stores are part of larger chains, the kosher products will spread to new locations.

Geller said this begins a validation loop for kosher food. As there are more kosher certified products available throughout the store, she said, they become both more prevalent and prominent. The sheer numbers, she said, increase demand among consumers.

Kosher also has the connotation of being healthy, Geller said — though the certification has nothing to do with nutritional qualities. Kosher certifications are usually next to the other labels and symbols that show a product’s nutritional and ingredient qualities, such as “vegan friendly,” “organic,” “all-natural” or “gluten-free,” providing the association.

Kosher certification offers other helpful information to consumers, Horowitz said. If a consumer is lactose intolerant, for example, kosher certification can indicate whether a product contains dairy.

“People have a lot of reverence for a religious set of eyes, which cannot be compromised. So they really know that whatever is in the package is actually in the package — nothing more, nothing less. And there’s an independent board or body governing that process.”

The 2017 KNi study found that kosher products drive three times larger basket sizes among shoppers, though only 10% of those products come from specialty kosher sections that provide Jewish ethnic food. Geller said the reasoning behind this is two-fold. For consumers eating all kosher food for religious reasons, they follow other Jewish traditions, including weekly entertaining on the Sabbath. This is akin to having a Thanksgiving-style meal each week, she said, inviting friends, extended family and neighbors.

For consumers who have no religious reason to buy kosher food, the ones who pay close attention to the certification tend to be more affluent, Geller said. These people usually buy more at the store anyway, but they are also more apt to pay premium prices for the branded products they most want.

Because kosher traditions date back thousands of years and find their beginnings in a religious, ethnic and cultural community, Geller said that kosher presents a sense of authenticity. As people are embracing more genuine forms of food and drink, items that are kosher fit into that space for consumers.

“They really, really feel that it’s authentic, and from the source and it’s timeless,” Geller said. “…If you want to really learn how to make tomato sauce, I want an Italian grandmother to teach it to me. That’s the idea with kosher food.”

How to be kosher
While hundreds of thousands of products have kosher certifications, the right to bear a kosher seal is something that is hard earned. OK Kosher’s Klein said that the certification goes far deeper than filling out a form and checking boxes.

“It became more and more sophisticated as time went on, and it’s definitely one of the major pioneers in the United States and across the world,” Klein said. “Our organization is constantly upholding the standards, setting the standards, determining new standards, always examining the new technology and new practices.”

Lando said that earning kosher certification through OK Kosher is no different than working with any other regulatory agency. After a CPG manufacturer applies online, OK Kosher discusses product specifics with the company and visits its manufacturing facility. It puts together a certification plan and requirements, and schedules visits to ensure that the manufacturing lines remain in compliance. The manufacturer also signs a legal agreement to use the OK Kosher trademark.

It can take as little as four weeks for a product to get an initial kosher certification, depending on how ready the item and facility are. OK Kosher’s certification lasts a year, meaning all companies are subjected to at least an annual reinspection. However, Lando said, kosher inspectors do make unplanned visits to ensure companies are continuing to follow the proper procedures to maintain certification.

In his book, Horowitz wrote about some of the specific challenges CPG companies have dealt with as they sought kosher certification. Many involved single ingredients that were not kosher. Horowitz said that gelatin has caused problems through the years. The ingredient can be sourced from a variety of places — including red meat, fish and vegetables — but the mouthfeel varies depending on its source. Horowitz said that finding a kosher source of gelatin that does not impact the eating experience has been challenging, especially because the ingredient must be sourced from an animal killed in accordance with kosher law.

“If you’re a large manufacturer making large sorts of products, if you have to disrupt the assumptions and the habits of consumers by changing their product mix by changing the gelatin, it’s not worth it for you to do that,” Horowitz said.

“If you want to really learn how to make tomato sauce, I want an Italian grandmother to teach it to me. That’s the idea with kosher food.”

In the 1950s, Coca-Cola faced a similar ingredient challenge, Horowitz said. At the time, its signature soda contained a small amount of animal-derived glycerin, which is not kosher. However, industrial ingredient producers found that petroleum-derived glycerin is kosher, edible and less expensive than the animal variety, Horowitz said. All of those contributed to Coca-Cola — and other manufacturers — turning to the petroleum-derived ingredient.

Lando advises companies today to go into designing products and manufacturing processes already thinking of kosher certification. If a company has to make big changes in order to become kosher, or if attaining certification gets in the way of doing business, he often counsels them not to do it. For a food manufacturer to make kosher products, the ingredients, equipment and production lines all need to be certified. And it all needs to be kept in order — a non-religious person may not mind if a product with a kosher seal was made on a production line that did not undergo proper sanitization processes, for example, but it means much more to someone who is observant.

Like many trends today, KNi’s Geller thinks that kosher’s popularity has been magnified by social media. Historically, while many large CPG brands have offered certified kosher products for decades, not many had promoted it, and the certification seal itself isn’t especially prominent on packaging. Geller said manufacturers seemed to not consider kosher as an earned certification that every consumer would want to know about.

About 10 to 15 years ago, Geller said, that started to change. The ability to do specific marketing on social media helped drive the realization of how important a kosher certification really is to consumers.

“They started to actually target the kosher customer, and then saw that value expand out to … the international community or those that just see kosher as a symbol of approval,” Geller said. “Then the explosion really happened and the certification went mainstream.”

On KNi, the huge popularity of kosher food is evident. Geller publishes an array of KNi cooking videos featuring different cuisines and cooking styles, in which all of the recipes are kosher. The most popular videos are on KNi’s homepage — with 187.3 million views for a video on Middle Eastern dips, 74 million views for one on the Arabic dip matbucha and 44.2 million views for one on cheese-stuffed falafel.

“There are only 15 million Jewish people in the entire world,” Geller said. “People. We’re talking about men, women, children and babies. And we have videos with over 10 million, 15 million views.”

As far as certifications go, kosher is relatively inexpensive. OK Kosher is a nonprofit, Lando said, and most companies in North America pay somewhere around $5,000 to $15,000 for an annual certification. The cost is based on aspects like the location, number, size or volume of facilities where the food is made and the amount of supervision and monitoring needed based on the product type.

When manufacturers ask what the return on investment is for making a product kosher, Lando responds that they should also consider the “return on ignoring.” He noted that certification costs are a fraction of what a company pays for larger marketing expenses, like a Super Bowl ad.

“If you take off the kosher symbol, you will find out how many customers you chased away, and that is going to be a much more expensive lesson to learn,” Lando said. “…It’s not a mistake that companies large and small, have kosher symbols on their products year after year after year after year.”

Horowitz said studies have shown only about one in 10 consumers seeking a kosher certification on products actually follows a kosher diet.

“You’re talking about millions of people who are looking for a kosher label on products,” Horowitz said. “And if that label can be obtained for a relatively modest cost, then it becomes an asset to the marketing activities.”

Kosher certification organizations — and CPG manufacturers as well — all realize that a kosher seal on a package is like a “silent salesman,” Horowitz said. And while certification organizations have a primary interest of ensuring products with the seal truly are kosher, there is a secondary goal of encouraging consumers to buy the products.

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

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.