The Laws of Kashrut

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The Laws of Kashrut

1. The first category of kashrut laws deals with animals and their byproducts.

a. A kosher animal must be a ruminant (chew its cud) and have split hooves - so cows, sheep, goats and deer are all kosher, whereas camels (ruminants without split hooves) are not kosher, and pigs (having split hooves but not chewing their cud) are not kosher. Most common fowl are kosher, like chickens, ducks and geese, but the birds of prey (hawks, eagles, owls, parrots) are not kosher. A sea creature is only kosher if it has fins and scales, so most species of fish are kosher (tuna, salmon, flounder, trout, etc.) but all shellfish are not kosher; dolphins and whales are not kosher, jellyfish, sea slugs (my sincere apologies about this one) and squids are not kosher either. There are four species of locust that are kosher, but are not commonly consumed by the majority of Jews (Thank G-d for that). Any product of a non-kosher animal is also non-kosher (e.g. milk, gelatine, rennet). The exception to this rule is bee's honey.

b. In order to eat an animal or bird it must be slaughtered according to