Kashrut (also kashruth or kashrus, כַּשְׁרוּת) is the set of Jewish religious dietary laws. Food that may be consumed according to halakha (Jewish law) is termed kosher /ˈkoʊʃər/ in English, from the Ashkenazi pronunciation of the Hebrew term kashér (כָּשֵׁר), meaning “fit” (in this context, fit for consumption).
- Kashrut is a set of biblical dietary restrictions
- Certain foods cannot be eaten
- Certain foods must be separated
- Certification makes it easier to identify kosher food
http://www.jewfaq.org/kashrut.htm
“The short answer to why Jews observe these laws is: because the Torah says so. The Torah does not specify any reason for these laws, and for a Torah-observant, traditional Jew, there is no need for any other reason. Some have suggested the laws of kashrut fall into the category of ‘chukkim,’ laws for which there is no reason. We show our obedience to G-d by following these laws even though we do not know the reason. Others, however, have tried to ascertain G-d’s reason for imposing these laws.”
In his book, To be a Jew, Rabbi Hayim Halevy Donin suggests that the dietary laws are designed as a call to holiness.
The ability to distinguish between right and wrong, good and evil, pure and defiled, the sacred and the profane, is very important in Judaism. Imposing rules on what you can and cannot eat ingrains that kind of self-control, requiring us to learn to control even our most basic, primal instincts.
Donin also points out that,
The laws of kashrut elevate the simple act of eating into a religious ritual. The Jewish dinner table is often compared to the Temple altar in rabbinic literature. A Jew who observes the laws of kashrut cannot eat a meal without being reminded of the fact that he is a Jew.
He adds that,
Keeping kosher only becomes difficult when you try to eat in a non-kosher restaurant, or at the home of a person who does not keep kosher. In those situations, your lack of knowledge about your host’s ingredients and food preparation techniques make it very difficult to keep kosher.
Some commentators have pointed out, however, that this may well have been part of what G-d had in mind: to make it more difficult for Jews to socialize with those who do not share our religion.
In the spring of 2016, as part of my study and preparation for conversion, I engaged in a six-week experiment with observing the laws of Kashrut or, in other words, eating kosher. I took notes along the way and will share them, primarily as an interesting adventure into the unknown!
Mark’s Kashrut Diary: 2/15/16 to 3/26/16
2/14/16: The TBI Conversion group met this afternoon and Rabbi RS asked us to engage the process of kashrut during the 6 weeks between meetings. Never having given the implications of keeping dairy and meat separate much thought, it suddenly dawned on me that this might be harder than it sounds because combining dairy and meat turns out to be pretty common: sandwiches, pizza, Italian food, etc. Yikes!
2/15/16: Less than two hours into my Monday morning, I experience my first kashrut crisis. Janet has been away since Saturday on a sisters’ weekend, so I decide to make what I hope is a nice meal to celebrate her homecoming this evening. I need to prep several of the ingredients for a Vietnamese stew recipe that I found. Without even thinking about it, I start to sear chunks of chuck roast in butter! Failing kashrut 101 did not take long! For breakfast, I usually eat a bagel sandwich with cream cheese. Occasionally, I will layer in a fried egg or insert a piece of bologna … bologna … a red flag rises in my mind. I usually buy beef bologna but I am already in a state of wariness so I check the ingredients. Oh no … it’s not beef but rather chicken and pork. Drat! No problem, I think … skip the bologna and grab a quick bite on the way to work. My standard operating procedure is to go through the McDonald’s drive in and pick up a breakfast sandwich and coffee. Wait a second … I always get a sausage, egg McMuffin … oh no that’s pork! A regular egg McMuffin won’t work either because it has Canadian bacon. Now I am agitated but decide on a bagel with cream cheese. Now for packing my lunch. I take a swimming lesson on Monday and Wednesday so something hearty is usually in order. I grab a can of Chunky soup off the shelf but notice that it is Jambalaya Chicken and Ham. Crap! Well … I reach for my standby … SpaghettiOs with Meatballs. That ought to be kosher but I check the ingredients. There it is again … pork! Argh. Everywhere I look, it is pork, pork, pork! Now, I’m feeling discouraged and even a bit angry. Why does G-d hate pigs? What did they ever do to G-d? Like a stab in the stomach, I realize that I will have to give up salami too. It seems like too much to bear. Can I use my interfaith marriage as an excuse to ignore the pork ban? How many more days am I doing this? Later in the day, I do a bit of research:
Position #1: http://www.jewfaq.org/kashrut.htm
The ability to distinguish between right and wrong, good and evil, pure and defiled, the sacred and the profane, is very important in Judaism. Imposing rules on what you can and cannot eat ingrains that kind of self-control, requiring us to learn to control even our most basic, primal instincts.
In his book, ‘To be a Jew,” … Rabbi Hayim Halevy Donin suggests that the dietary laws are designed as a call to holiness. He also points out that the laws of kashrut elevate the simple act of eating into a religious ritual.
The Jewish dinner table is often compared to the Temple altar in rabbinic literature. A Jew who observes the laws of kashrut cannot eat a meal without being reminded of the fact that he is a Jew.
Position #2: http://modernfarmer.com/2014/03/something-jews-eating-pork/
Pork is just such an ecologically and financially smart thing for us to eat,” she says. “It is the most generous of animals. You can use it all, and it is all good.
Adler and Pollan act as standard-bearers for a growing tribe of progressive American — not to mention Israeli — Jews now unburdened by the ancient pork prohibition that so dogged their ancestors. While many observant Jews still refrain from eating pork, more and more cultural — and even practicing Jews — freely indulge. What was once an illicit meat consumed with shame is now no longer treif (Yiddish for non-kosher) for these Jews, particularly ones who congregate at farmers’ markets instead of synagogues come Saturday morning.
“It reflects a confidence in American Jewry today,” says writer Jeffrey Yoskowitz, aka the Semitic Swinologist behind the funny yet poignant Pork Memoirs. “There are formerly Orthodox Jews who get together for Treif Tuesdays as a way of affirming their Jewishness.”
I decide that Position #1 is better for me right now because Position #2 is just an excuse to continue doing what I have always done. The Jews who are deciding to eat pork are making a conscious and informed choice. For me to do the same requires going in the other direction. Obedience and self-control will take me farther and more humbly than going for self-justification. Plus, I am not going to fail this experiment … probably.
2/17/16:
Couple more bumps on the road to kashrut today. After swimming, I grabbed one of my favorite go-to lunches from the café downstairs in the library. Housing prepares fresh sushi to sell in its campus outlets, and my favorite is the California Roll. I took the package upstairs, dumped on the soy sauce and put a tiny bit of wasabi on each piece and dug in. After the first or second bite, it occurred to me to check the ingredients … duh. I was surprised and somewhat dismayed to see that the California Roll contained crab. Oops! Shellfish are right up there with pork on the “do not eat” list of Kosher ingredients. The big takeaway here is that I really need to slow down and check ingredients before chowing down. My usual procedure of eating first and looking second (or never) is not working. Until now, my only food restriction has been taste. If it tastes good to me, I eat it. Now I need to insert that piece of mindfulness into the equation. Later in the day, I realized that a late afternoon meeting was going to make it difficult to get home and prepare something to eat before going to an evening class at the synagogue. On Wednesdays, Janet and I take care of our own dinners, so I called up the web page for The Glenwood’s Dinner to Go with the idea of placing an order and picking it up on the way home. What do you know? Both of the entrees for the evening contained pork … boo! At least, I was able to avert before another kashrut fail. I ended up opting for Tasty Thai and enjoyed my chicken and rice.
2/20/16:
Janet and I decided to go out for breakfast this morning before the Shabbat service. I’m leaving town for a couple of days and we wanted to have some couple time. I love going out for breakfast, but, as you might imagine, the menu turned out to be a minefield. When we go out, my standard breakfast choice is eggs benedict and I figured that Studio One would have a veggie or salmon benedict that would work great. Turns out that Studio One is under construction, so we head to The Glenwood on Willamette. Hmm … scrambles and omelets. As the Rabbi later told me, vegetarian is the way to go when you eat out, but my natural inclination is meat first so I scrutinized the meats carefully, discarded my favorite scramble (bacon), and chose one with chicken. Ta dah. It came with a side of cottage cheese so I ate that first. So proud of myself. I dig into the scramble and after two bites noticed the Swiss cheese. Oy … another fail. Next time … vegetarian it will be.
2/23/16:
So I said, “Vegetarian it will be.” Well, I talk a good game but putting my words into action on a business trip proved to be way beyond my current level of kashrut skills. I’m starting to realize that the crux of my problem is meat. If having meat is your top priority, good luck avoiding mixing with dairy because I’m realizing that butter goes into everything: gravy, vegetables, sauces, etc. Last night I ordered prime rib, mashed potatoes and grilled corn. What are the chances that nothing on my plate had come in touch with butter? Probably zero. So frustrating. If you choose vegetarian, then dairy isn’t a problem and because dairy is used so ubiquitously you really need to do that. To summarize, my experience to date is that it is A LOT more difficult to avoid dairy than it is to avoid pork and shellfish (although my sushi experience above doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence). I’m beginning to have a much better understanding of why eating kosher is so often associated with going vegetarian.
3/6/16:
It’s certainly been an interesting month thus far. I can claim a number of victories amidst the less often failures. Thinking about what I’m going to eat and gradually trying to accept that it’s not a punishment but rather a way of drawing closer to G-d has challenged me in good ways. I’ve successfully had several hamburgers without cheese. I’ve been able to eschew pork for the most part but still find that difficult. For example, we went out with friends last night and my friend Rob ordered an appetizer, Pulled Pork Fries. I really don’t want to be “that guy”—the one who puts up a fuss and tells everyone that he can’t eat something thereby drawing attention. I did internally weigh the options and seriously thought about adding a side of Calamari to hide not eating the pork. Only later did I realize that Calamari is just as non-kosher as the pork … oh well. I suspect that over time my family and my best friends may start to consider the situation and help out. “I really love the Pulled Pork Fries … oh wait a second … you don’t eat that, right?” I’ve been reading up on Passover and have started to feel some anxiety about the whole Chametz business. This year, I’ll probably fall back on not actually being Jewish and skip the purge down to the nano-particle of leaven. I’ll be doing well to avoid eating bread during the holiday. Worrying about soda, dried fruits, ground pepper, vinegar, horseradish and seltzer are beyond my capabilities at this point.
3/25/16
As my month of engaging kashrut comes to a close, I take away several lessons learned:
- Eating out is very difficult: time and time again, my kashrut fails occurred when dining out. The abundance of pork on restaurant menus, the ubiquitous combination of meat and cheese in one form or another and the prevalence of shellfish (e.g., crab cakes anyone? Salmon benedict?) make the choices seem limited. Vegetarian is always an option but when you’ve never eaten that way, it feels very constraining
- My family is supportive: once my friends and family knew what I was trying to do, they often offered help and advice. I don’t want to make my dietary restrictions an issue for others, but we live in a day and age when this is very common, almost expected. I do not foresee major conflicts in social settings, and, if they arise, I think I can be gracious. Ultimately, this is not about separating myself from community and alienating others.
- I could do this: I had my troubles, indulged in some self-pity and rebelled at moments, but, overall, I think it’s possible for me to grow into kashrut. I have a well-honed internal mechanism for sensing whenever I start doing something merely out of duty or slavish adherence to rules, so my growth will occur as I feel led spiritually
- Social situations: Inevitably, every Jew will encounter the situation, when dining in the home of a non-Jewish friend or family member, where non-kosher food is served. My response to this situation will always be one of acting in a manner that will make my host comfortable, or ideally completely unaware, my dilemma. I don’t want to be “that guy”—the one who, for whatever reason, decides to turn a shared meal into a bully pulpit or a lime lit stage for self-attention.
- Humanely produced, locally sourced food: my exploration into Judaism has made me more aware of the need to consider the well-being of fellow creatures as part of what I eat, but these ideas have been percolating for a number of years. As I have become more and more aware of the ecological damage that American consumers, in particular, have inflicted on the planet through our dependence on fossil fuels and their use in transporting agricultural products great distances … just so we can enjoy out of season products all year round for example … my thinking has changed. My spouse is also a great proponent of eating and shopping locally, and she has been influential in helping me see the importance of not only thinking about what I put in my mouth but about where it comes from and how it was produced.
Update from November 2018: Looking back, I gave the experiment in eating kosher the “old college try,” but it just didn’t stick. I’ve had to resolve this and other issues in relationship to Jewish law (see the post for October 2018), and I am now more comfortable in my pursuit of liberal Judaism, eschewing kashrut, except in situations where I might offend fellow Jews. I have a number of friends who do not eat certain foods for a variety of reasons. Accepting myself is also about accepting them. It’s a good thing to be mindful about everything we do (and say).
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