Of animals permitted, all birds and mammals must be slaughtered in accordance with Jewish law. No blood must be left in an animal when it is eaten so the blood must be drained or broiled before eating. Meats cannot be eaten with any dairy products, however fish, vegetables and grains etc… can be eaten with dairy or meat.
Of all the land mammals (excluding swarming rodents) a Jew may eat any animal with cloven hooves and is one that chews the cud. Any land mammal without both these qualities is forbidden.
Of the animals of the water a Jew may not eat any creature minus its fins or readily removable scales. Creatures with these qualities are permitted. This includes tuna, salmon, and pike….
The torah lists forbidden birds but does not give reason why (Lev.11: 13-19; Deut. 14:11-18). Those forbidden are birds of prey and scavengers. Rabbis so set this as the basis for the distinction. Other birds were permitted. A possible reason for the disallowance of the forbidden birds may have been their association with evil. Winged insects are forbidden but there are a few special species of the locust/Grasshopper family that can (Lev. 11:22). Most Jews cannot readily recognise these so do not eat them.
Rodents and reptiles are all forbidden as this is clearly stated in the torah.
If the lungs of cattle are free from any adhesions then it is deemed “glatt”. Animals can be kosher without being glatt but glatt kosher has become increasingly popular.
Slaughtering is very important. Jews may not eat animals died of natural causes or that were killed by another animal. An animal must have no disease or flaws.
Ritual slaughter is called shechitah and the performer is called a shochet. The way to slaughter is a stroke across the throat. This is apparently painless to the animal.
An egg supporting a blood-spot is not permitted. If a blood stained egg is put into a heated pan, this then becomes a non-kosher pan.
The torah states 3 times that to “boil a kid in its mothers milk” is forbidden. The oral torah explains this to mean prohibiting eating the two together and the rabbis took this even further and prohibited eating dairy and poultry together. The separation also includes the utensils and pots and pans in which they had been cooked and prepared. A kosher house will have 2 sets of all these to account for this rule. A Jew has to wait a significant time before allowed to eat meat/dairy again after eating one of them. It varies between 3 and 6 hours so a Jew must plan his/her daily meals and their times very carefully.
Dishwashers are a problem with Kashrut as you either need separate dish racks or different washes for meat and then for dairy. Approximately three quarters of permitted repackaged foods have some kind of kosher certification. Here are some of the signs of widely recognised certifications.
Why is it important for Jews to observe the Laws of Kashrut
To the Orthodox Jews they have a covenant with God meaning that they are connected to God and so marked out as a special people. Moses gave the Ten Commandments as a basis for the rules to follow. These are linked to God so breaking them will also break your link to God. This is the view of an Orthodox Jew. Orthodoxy does not fully understand the reasons behind progressive Judaism as these Jews like and accept their part in the covenant with God but fail to keep the laws of Mitzvot. This does not make sense because being part of the covenant means keeping the laws!
To a Jew it is not important that there is a reason behind any food law and they are perfectly happy following them with no reasons. Many people suggest that the laws of Kashrut fall under the category of “chukkim” meaning laws for which there are no reason. Jews follow their laws showing obedience to God by following them even though there is no reason behind them.
This shows remarkable obedience despite following rules set out for you with no justification at all as to their origins and their meaning. The Jews just follow them and live by them as a mark of respect to God. They simply accept them as part of the whole system of holy living and worship introduced by God.
Kashrut encourages self-restraint amongst Jews. This is one of the reasons why Jews do observe their laws as it gives them great personal satisfaction to know that they have the will power to go through life following such strict laws especially when the un permitted is so widely available. They may have to accept that some will ridicule their religion and have to be committed as well as determined. The obedience to dietary laws is not from all people but from, in the mind of an Orthodox Jew, the people of God. It sets them apart making them holy.
The strict rules surrounding food could greatly affect the Jews social life by restricting the restaurant in which they can dine and the places that they can buy food. It also means that Jews cannot eat at other non-observant Jews houses, as the food may not be prepared to a suitable standard of Kosher.
The food laws are also very important for a logical reason in that people may tend to neglect work and play but very rarely forget to eat. It is a particularly important part of our lives, as we need food in order to survive. There is a very commonly used phrase: “You are what you eat”. This is a strong reason for the food laws. Strict laws are actually designed with the health of the Jewish community in mind meaning that the laws are actually sensible and so can be easily followed with good reasoning behind them.
There are both advantages and disadvantages to having strict food laws.
Do you agree, in your answer refer to Judaism
With the strict laws of kashrut come many disadvantages. However these are in my view alone and the Jewish culture may disagree. Personally I would find not being able to eat pork products a disadvantage, as I like pork. However Jews who keep kashrut have never eaten pork so would not have a liking or disliking of it. This is true for all the foods that are forbidden but it means that Jews have a much smaller range of cuisine.
The main disadvantage is that although they have no preference to their forbidden foods they cannot have the opportunities to try as many new foods as the non-Jewish people can.
I do however agree with the statement as I can think of advantages due to having strict food laws. There is evidence that eating meat and dairy products together may be bad for the digestion so Jews may have a much healthier digestive system thanks to their laws. Not being able to eat the blood of an animal is also an advantage as they eat in special kosher restaurants whereas we cannot entirely trust how well cooked our “kebab shop” meal is and that could be bad for us as it increases the chances of food poisoning.
Another disadvantage for them though is the fact that they do actually have to spend more money on their eating and it is also more complicated to obtain as actual Kosher shops or restaurants are few and far between. They have to buy double the normal amount of pots and pans to cook meat and dairy separately. If they accidentally cook either in the wrong set then those pans become non kosher and it is very complicated to get them back to being kosher again.
Some Jewish households (depending how strictly orthodox) even have two ovens and fridges as well as the special set of crockery for Pesach.
One advantage for a Jew is that having strict food laws reminds them “they eat to live, not live to eat”.
However the laws do mean a lot of extra time has to be spent on the preparation, which leaves less time for other recreational activities. For example, all vegetables must be thoroughly washed before being cooked as they may have insects or their eggs on them. Insects are a forbidden food. Another point is that animals have to properly slaughtered before being sold and then cooked. This raises the cost of meats and so adds again to the expense of kosher eating.
Another and very important disadvantage is that a strictly Orthodox Jew can not go round to his/her friends house who is not Orthodox as their cooking may not be to a satisfactory degree of kosher. They may get the correct foods but could cook milk and meat together or even separately in a pan that has been used before for one or the other. The Jew can only be host for parties and that can be very expensive so again leading to a massive expense.
