Kosher Simplified?

What follows is a written version of a presentation I'm giving on what Kosher means. Funny enough, I don't keep kosher... wonder if that comes through in the presentation?

When discussing what it means for something to be “Kosher” we actually need to go back in time. Around 3000 years back to the beginning of Judaism. And though we don’t know exactly how long Jews have been keeping Kosher for, archeologists have found ancient kosher labeling stamps that allow us to date the practice to at least fifteen hundred years ago. Really where is there else to start but in “the beginning” or rather at least at the beginning of the Torah (or Old Testament). I think it’s important to start off in this location because we are supposedly given God’s ideal structure for a world. The Garden of Eden is about as utopian as it could get, which is only furthered emphasized by how it looks so different from today’s world in so many ways. In terms of framing the short discussion that we are about to have, I’d like to offer up the following interpretation before we get into the nitty gritty of what it means to keep kosher.

In the ideal state of symbiosis that was the garden of eden, there were very few rules (and perhaps as the story goes one very big one), but after the flood and the destruction of humanity to start anew we entered a world full of rules! Yet, instead of thinking of these “rules” as commandments dictate from high above, I’d like to instead frame it as a practice of intentionality. In other words, that in a chaotic and flawed world we require practices that re-orient us towards our own humanity.

Okay! So now for the nitty gritty! What does “Kosher” literally mean? It comes from the Hebrew word “Kasher”, which means “fit”. So something is Kosher if it is fit or suitable for eating. Though it is also important to note that the term does not only have to be applied to food, it could also be applied for instance to ritual objects. There is no such thing as kosher “style” foods. For instance, a Jewish deli may be un-kosher, it just might contain food familiar to the eastern European Jewish tradition. Something is also not “made” kosher. An animal either is or isn’t kosher, and if it is it must be slaughtered properly to maintain its status as kosher. But we’ll get to that later.

It is estimated that about 15% of Jews in America keep Kosher, but keep in mind that there are varying degrees of what “Kosher” can mean to different people. Often times this depends on both the region you are from and your personal interpretation of Jewish laws. It’s hard to determine why Jews started keeping Kosher in the first place? Was it driven by a moral ideology? By the health concerns of the time? Or by a practical desire for a more sustainable lifestyle? Nobody knows, but this latter reasoning is one that I’ll take up later and explore in a modern context.

The story goes that in the beginning all creatures had a vegetarian lifestyle. Animals and humans lived in a pleasant relationship to one another. Thus, at this point the notion of “keeping Kosher” was not necessary. It was only until after the flood and humanity was supposed to begin fresh from its past corruption that God allowed humans to eat the flesh of other animals. Yet, we don’t see the actual laws for kosher until the time of Moses when the Jews have left Egypt and were wandering through the desert. So this is a relatively long passage that lays out all of the “clean” and “unclean” foods. Everything from a badger to an ostrich (both not kosher by the way) appears here. In addition there are some rules of practice that follow this passage, for instance even if an animal is kosher, one is not allowed to eat it if it has died a natural death. These laws a bit complex and so let’s try to look at the most simplified model.

In order for an animal to be kosher it must be: a vegetarian, have a split hoof, chew its cud. So a dog is not kosher because it has paws and a pig is not kosher because it doesn’t chew its cud. Fish have to have scales and fins; they also mustn’t be bottom feeders. That’s why crustaceans, shark, eel, and cat fish are not kosher. Birds of prey are not kosher and all reptiles and amphibians are also not kosher. All insects are not kosher except for the grasshopper. PHEW alright.

Let’s talk briefly about some additional laws of Kosher that are widely practiced. The Torah pretty much just gives the “what” of kosher, but doesn’t really provide the “why” for keeping it. The Talmud or Oral Torah, which is a series of rabbinical debates provides that why and with it things become just a bit more complicated. You know the old joke, two Jews in a discussion yields 100 different opinions. Well has this um, useful chart depicts determining whether something is kosher to eat in today’s world can be a complex process. Let’s focus on a couple elements:

SLAUGHTER: single cutting motion along throat with a non-lacerated knife, post-mortem exam for disease, injuries, or abnormalities, and the blood drained.

UTENSILS: The Torah says that one must not cook a child in its mothers milk. Or in other words, don’t cook meat in milk. Thus the Talmudic scholars argued that in addition to not eating a cheeseburger, we must separate milk and meat utensils. The material of the utensil affects whether it can be made kosher again. Ex. Glass can and ceramic cannot.

VEGETABLES: Sometimes you’ll see a hecksher on veggies; this means that they have been inspected for insects.

WINE: produced for non-religious purposes is not kosher. Vodka, gin, etc. is fine. There is no provision against alcohol in Judaism.

So those are some highlights of the what and how of keeping Kosher. Now let’s discuss the business of keeping kosher. Though the labeling of Kosher foods has been around for over a thousand years, it would be hard to imagine that the complexities associated modern day life in our highly industrialized society wouldn’t affect the practice of keeping Kosher. Today there are many different kosher symbols placed on foods and I can’t say that it’s not political. Certain symbols are acceptable within some communities while others are not. Whether or not a labeled item can be considered kosher is determined by the rabbinate or head rabbis within a certain branch or movement within the Jewish tradition. As an aside it’s interesting enough that some non-Jews purchase kosher labeled foods because they associate it with a healthier and more human option. The idea that kosher food is necessarily both of these things is a controversial topic that we’ll spend our last few moments exploring.

We live in a world where most businesses operate under the simple principle of profit and again this affects the kosher industry as well. Too often in an effort to maximize profit standards are compromised. One such kosher processing plant was the recent focus of what happens when standards are lowered. You may be familiar with what has now come to be known as the “Postville Raid” of a Kosher slaughterhouse about 4 years ago. Essentially the agriprocessor was employing around 400 illegal immigrants, but many higher up employees were charged with being in severe violation of labor laws amongst a number of other human rights violations. This raid rocked the Jewish world not only because it brought to light a number of injustices that were close to home, but also because it meant that the meat the plant had been producing was un-kosher since dignified treatment of humans in addition to animals is fundamental to the Jewish tradition.

The response for many was a turn back towards what many people saw as the core values of what it meant for something to be kosher or “fit” for consumption. They sought to reclaim the notions of care for the earth and all its creatures that were said to be part of its tennats and move away from the highly industrialized practice that it has become. This took the form of organic free-range kosher meats, farms that specialized in practicing ancient agriculture laws such as Pe’ah leaving the corners of your field for those who are in need, or even practicing vegetarianism in order to fulfill textual interpretations of the Torah. In today’s world with all of the human driven problems that our environment faces, perhaps what it means to for something to be “kosher” or fit for consumption is that it was produced in a sustainable and ethical manner, which maybe would look closer to the ideas presented in the Torah and Talmud.

There are many local and national organizations that are focused on this idea of Eco-Kashrut and are finding ways to practice more sustainable forms of kosher in their own food production, advocacy, and educational outreach. I can say that as I Jew I find this movement to be an inspiration because it is essentially declaring that “Yes, we are going to find a way to preserve our rich culture and tradition, but do so in a way that is a spiritual alignment with our must fundamental beliefs of Tzedeck or justice.”