Kashrut: Of Labels Permanent and Transient

Some thoughts on kashrut, from an article appearing in this week's Toronto Torah:

Twenty years ago, a student asked me, “If G-d made a cow, and G-d made a pig, then why am I allowed to eat a cow, but not a pig?” The student was not asking about kashrut as a whole; he wanted to know how our Torah portion could identify particular creations of G-d as permanently impure and off-limits, while marking other Divine creations as pure and permitted. It’s a very old question, and its answer may provide insight into a deep message regarding human nature.

One classic answer is that G-d created certain animals for a purpose other than consumption; eating them would actually harm us. (Yoma 39a, Moreh haNevuchim 3:48) The danger may be physical, or metaphysical; we might even absorb moral character from the permitted and prohibited beasts. (Horeb 454) Each prohibited creature harbours an intrinsic threat.

Another traditional approach suggests that the creatures G-d formed are neither toxic nor beneficial. Nonetheless, G-d provided detailed dietary rules in order to improve our discipline. (Bereishit Rabbah 44:1; Moreh haNevuchim 3:26) Among the benefits of this discipline may be to perpetually recall Divine Truth (Ramban to Devarim 22:6) or to draw closer to G-d. (Maharal, Tiferet Yisrael 7) Each instruction further envelops the Jew in an all-encompassing life of law.

We might suggest a third idea, based on the Torah’s emphasis on distinguishing between kosher and non-kosher creatures (Vayikra 11:47), and the Talmud’s explanation of two verses in the book of Iyov.

Iyov complained to G-d, “If You wished [to make it so], I would not sin; but none can save from Your Hand.” (Iyov 10:7) The sage Rava expands, “Iyov sought to exempt the entire world from judgment. He said before G-d: Master of the Universe! You created the ox with split hooves and You created the donkey with sealed hooves! You created Gan Eden and You created Gehennom! You created righteous people and You created wicked people! Who can stop You?” (Bava Batra 16a) In other words, Iyov claimed that Man is like the beast, lacking the freedom to choose between the paths of good and evil. Just as a donkey’s sealed hooves mark it as non-kosher for life, so certain people are created as wicked, and they cannot shift their steps from the road to Gehennom. We enter this world bearing the label under which we depart.

With his mention of the ox and the donkey, Iyov identified a critical lesson of the Torah’s division of animals between kosher and non-kosher: the legitimacy of permanent labels. As our Torah portion states in summing up this division, “You are to distinguish between impure and pure, between the beast which may be consumed and the beast which may not be consumed.” (Vayikra 11:47) Every time she decides what to eat, the Jew is warned that there are permanent labels in this world. G-d created the good, and G-d created the malignant, and you are tasked – not only in eating but in life – with identifying the malignant and steering clear of its influence. Do not permit shifting cultural mores and claims of progress to sway your good judgment; among animals and among ideas, there is good which is timeless, and there is evil which is eternally so, and some labels never change.

However, the permanent labels of the animal kingdom are alien to human beings; it is an offense to G-d and Man to typecast any human being for life. As the Talmud interprets the response of Iyov’s visitor Eliphaz, “You would nullify reverence and reduce the study of Torah [sichah] before G-d!” (Iyov 15:4) Yes, human beings exhibit natural weakness, but G-d has provided the influence of Torah to rescue the human being from any depth to which she may sink. Our labels are as transient as we wish them to be.

We might add that the transient label even exists in the world of kashrut, when the human hand intervenes. All animals are non-kosher, until they undergo the shechitah rite of kosher slaughter. Then again, one can transform kosher meat to non-kosher by combining it with milk. Humanity is empowered to alter certain labels.

This may answer the question I was asked twenty years ago. The laws of kashrut teach that there are permanent labels and judgments in our world. However, these laws also demonstrate that labels of the descendants of Adam and Chavah are transient; it is possible for a human being, via Torah, to change her own label from non-kosher to kosher and back. Determining which labels should be transient, and how to alter them, is challenging, but may this moral lesson, which the Talmud sees in Iyov’s dialogue with Eliphaz, inspire us to examine, and alter where appropriate, the labels in our lives.

Burning your sink?

Last night, during a shiur on common Kashering questions, I was asked about a unique method of kashering a sink. My sense is that this approach does NOT work... but it does sound entertaining.

Normally, we kasher a sink by heating water to a high boil, and then pouring it all over the surfaces of the sink. Some authorities also place a heated stone on surfaces of the sink while pouring the water, because the water cools off between the time it leaves the pot or kettle and the time it strikes the sink's surface. The process is tedious and messy.

So the new method (new to me, anyway) is this: Spread brandy or whiskey over the surfaces of the sink, and light it on fire. Essentially, flambe the sink.

Definitely a guy's way to kasher.

Again, my impression is that this does NOT work, from a kashrut perspective; as I understand it, the heat from this fire is directed outward, and the material beneath the alcohol layer is not heated. [Watch the video I linked on "flambe" above; the crepe certainly doesn't show any sign of singeing. On the other hand, perhaps it does get hot enough to reach the level needed for kashering.]

Have you heard of this? From a reputable source?

Daf: Nedarim 52-53

52
The Ran asks how we could permit a nadur item which is mixed into other items – after all, it’s a davar sheyesh lo matirin (through hataras nedarim), which is never batel!
The Ran resolves the problem by suggesting that a davar sheyesh lo matirin can be batel in a mixture of non-like (eino mino) items.

One could present a couple of other answers for the Ran’s question:
1. Ramban to Pesachim 30 (in Milchamos) says that the chachamim rule that davar sheyesh lo matirin is batel.
2. The Meiri to Chullin 97a says that an item is only a davar sheyesh lo matirin if the ultimate permitted status is a guaranteed result (he says this to explain that an egg from a safek tereifah isn’t a davar sheyesh lo matirin, even though the mother might prove not to be a tereifah).

Also worth noting: The Ran explains that we are machmir by davar sheyesh lo matirin in a mixture because the issur isn’t permanent, and so it is like min b’mino. Rashi in Beitzah 3b seems to say that the reason is more simple: Why eat it in a prohibited manner, if you could eat it in a permitted manner?

52b-53
The Rosh and Ran disagree whether the challenge at the top of 52b is for Rabbi Yosi alone or also for the Rabanan. This appears to be tied to their debate about what Ashishot are – whether they are processed lentils (Ran) or the dross from lentils (Rosh on Mishnah 53b).

Class: Items which do not need kosher certification

Yesterday, I presented a class entitled, "Which items do not need kosher certification?"

The fundamental point is that kosher supervision is required for the following seven reasons:

1. To ensure that ingredients are kosher (including ensuring that bugs are not present);

2. To ensure that equipment is not used in any way that might compromise its kosher use;

3. To ensure that products are properly sealed, and that there will be no confusion between kosher and non-kosher product en route to the consumer;

4. To ensure that the food is prepared by the people who are supposed to prepare it, averting bishul akum, pat akum and stam yeinam problems;

5. To ensure that potential halachic problems are detected and properly resolved;

6. To ensure that meat, dairy and pareve are all kept separate;

7. To ensure that Shabbat and Yom Tov issues are properly handled, particularly in establishments with Jewish owners or employees.

If all seven of these points can be addressed without supervisory presence, then certification is not necessary.

Rabbi Eliezer Eidlitz has an interesting list of no-supervision-necessary products here. Not everyone will agree with his list, but I applaud his bravery in publishing a list at all! That is truly a task for broad shoulders.