PREFACE

Arguably KOSHER is the most misunderstood and misused word in Judaism.  And NO, IT DOES NOT MEAN “FIT TO EAT”.  “FIT TO EAT IS KASHER AND NOT KOSHER.  KOSHER actually means fitness in Hebrew like a fitness room or being in a good state of fitness.  So if you hear people misusing this word it sends a red flag as to their competence in the Hebrew language.

Now before I begin this analysis of kashrut I must state that my home and kitchen and all food is strictly Kasher.  But my beliefs on the subject are focused on what the Torah clearly states and its true intentions.

The Torah gave us a very clear definition of the word Kasher designation that only animals that chew their cud and have split hooves are Kasher.  It goes on to restrict birds to non-predatory birds and fish to those with scales and fins.  And this is ALL that the Torah says directly about Kashrut.  

But the Torah does state three times “לא תבשל גדי בחלב אמו” which means “You should not cook a kid (eg baby goat) in the milk (or fats) or its mother”.  First of all I would say that there is an 80-90% chance that it is referring to milk but without vowels it could also refer to the fats that is often used to cook meat or other foods in.   The three places where the verse is found are in Exodus 23:19, Exodus 34:26, and Deuteronomy 14:21.

So apparently during the Rabbinic period of the Pharisees when Hebrew proficiency had seriously declined some rabbi totally missed the point of this verse and expanded it out away from the key principle and objective of the verse into a nightmarish core principle of Jewish practices.  This led to having separate dishes and utensils for meat, milk, and parve (neither milk nor meat such as fruit and vegetables, etc).  And finally this is totally against the style and principles of the Torah.  With legal and important maters the Torah clears spells out its intentions such as “fish with fins and scales”.  On the other hand dealing with minutia and trying to re-write the Torah and its intentions is a rabbinic method which attempts to give the rabbis the last word on any subject.  And to close the subject and put matters in context, has anyone out there ever milked a chicken?

Even in the Torah when the three angels came to Abraham and Sarah, they served meat and milk together to the angels and no one had any problem with this.

SO WHAT WAS THE REAL INTENTION OF THESE THREE VERSES?

The  Torah in its brilliance not only covers the religious and legal system also is unbelievably far ahead of its times in compassion to animals and many more topics.  So the actual intent of these verses is to say “You must not engage the mother of the animal in any way, shape, or form to have any participation in the demise of her offspring”!!!!  This is a violation of G-d’s laws and ethics.  And the Torah is consistent in its compassion to animals.  

In Vayikra (Leviticus) 22:28 the Torah states “You shall not slaughter the bull and its son on the same day.”  Here the intent is to say that if you must eat meat, fine, but be compassionate on the mother and don’t take both her spouse and her child on the same day.  The loss of her two closest family members is unnecessary cruelty and violates the ethics of G-d.  

In Exodus 23:4-9 the Torah teaches us many lessons in ethical behavior including returning animals that stray and if you see the donkey of the person who you hate the most collapse under its load, cannot right itself, and is suffering, you must not transfer your hatred of the man onto the donkey and you must help it right itself.

There are more verses which support kindness and compassion onto animals and this speaks volumes to exactly how lofty the values of the Torah are.  The torah does not discard animals as disposable commodities that you can abuse and exploit.  So in the full scope the Torah teaches us that if we cannot meet various obligations and must be sold into slavery to compensate for our debt the servant must be dealt with proper dignity and respect.  And similaryly even the animals that serve us must also be treated with dignity and respect.

In conclusion, when the Torah is so lofty and clear in its intentions I find it embarrassing that some rabbi could totally miss the point and create a total logistic nightmare for all observant Jews with no real justification because he totally missed the point.