How To Define What Is Kosher

Kosher food is very easy to define. It's food that is permitted to
the Jewish people by Biblical law. Here is what causes the
confusion: First, the Jewish Bible is more extensive than most
people realize. Second, food is usually considered in terms of its
taste, quality or nutrition, factors not central to kosher status.

Therefore to fully understand what is and is not kosher you'll
need a list of the factors that make food kosher. Here is that list:

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1) In their original living state, what kinds of animals are kosher?

(All vegetation and minerals are permitted).

2) How are kosher animals slaughtered so as to remain kosher?

3) What are the forbidden parts? How are they removed?

4): Which mixtures of food are permitted? Which are forbidden?

5) How do you maintain kosher status of all of your food?

What happens if kosher and non-kosher become mingled?

This article will answer the first two questions.
Two companion articles address the others.

1) Wildlife that may be permitted falls into one of four categories.

a) Insects. Easy - nobody eats them! The Biblically permitted
varieties of grasshoppers cannot be identified accurately today.

b)Fish. The Bible allows us fish which have both fins and scales.
There are many and identifying them is usually the province of
a rabbi or a kosher fish store.

c)Birds. Chicken, duck, turkey, goose. That's the whole list. In the Bible
there is a larger list but again, the translation is difficult.
Jews use tradition when eating fowl.

d)Animals. The animal must be a ruminant (chews its cud) and have
split hooves. Cows, sheep, goats and oxen are the permitted
domesticated animals. The wild animals allowed
are addax, antelope, buffalo, deer, gazelle, giraffe and ibex.
That is according to the O-U, Orthodox Union.

2) Permitted fish may be slaughtered in any way. Animals and
birds must be slaughtered by a process called shechita.
Shechita, about which much is written, but very little seems to be
known is a mandatory method of slaughter. No flesh of an animal
or bird is permitted a Jewish person unless this process is used.
An animal is forbidden if it dies of disease or violence.
Shechita can be performed only on a healthy animal,
not one fatally ill or wounded.

During shechita a trained man uses a perfectly sharp, smooth
knife. He makes a swift, continuous incision in the neck. The cut
severs the esophagus and trachea, and the major blood vessels
leading to the animals brain. The animal loses consciousness
immediately and dies. The shechita is disqualified if there is any
interference. If the man hesitates, the knife is wavy or nicked,or
if death is not instantaneous, Jewish law forbids consumption
of the animals flesh. Animal experts agree that when shechita is
performed as it should be, it is the most humane and immediate
method of slaughter which exists.

To state a caveat, this article summarizes the first two aspects
of what is kosher. To be sure of eating or providing others
with kosher food, you need more information and a knowledgeable mentor.

How To Define What Is Kosher

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