8
votes
Accepted
Regurgitating Living Forbidden Species
At the end of perek Gid Hanashe (103 IIRC) in Chullin, the gemara cites a question concerning what is considered eating. Do we say its the benefit of the throat or the digestion of the stomach? The ...
- 41.1k
6
votes
Accepted
Why Are Bugs Not Batul Bshishim?
There is a special rabbinic law which says a בריה, any living thing in it's entirety, cannot become nullified due to it's being special in a sense. You can see more about this in Shulchan Aruch Yoreh ...
- 33.4k
6
votes
What is the difference between non-kosher food and insects regarding "transference"?
The difference between the scenarios is not an abstract difference between nonkosher food and worms, but between cooked and uncooked food and food of the same type and food of different types.
First,...
- 2,513
5
votes
Accepted
A bug that falls in noodles
Unlike meat and milk, bugs don't "contaminate" the soup. We don't eat bugs but the soup itself doesn't get spoiled if the bug is removed. Therefore, if one is sure the bug is completely removed, the ...
- 48.1k
5
votes
Were there insects in the garden of eden?
According to Rashi (see Beresihis 3:17), the land/ground began to produce flies, fleas and ants only after Adam and Eve sinned, therefore insects didn't existed prior to that.
- 6,874
4
votes
Why don't we worry about the transfer of taste with bugs?
SA YD 104, 3:
דברים המאוסים שנפשו של אדם קצה בהם כנמלים וזבובים ויתושים שכל אדם בודל מהם למיאוסן אפילו נתערבו בתבשיל ונמחה גופן לתוכו אם ההיתר רבה עליו מותרים ומכל מקום כל שאפשר לבדוק ולהעביר במסננת ...
- 22.7k
4
votes
Were there insects in the garden of eden?
The gemora chullin 60 a states that everything was created in its full form. "יב"ל כל מעשה בראשית בקומתן נבראו בדעתן נבראו בצביונם נבראו שנאמר (בראשית ב, א) ויכולו השמים והארץ וכל צבאם אל ...
- 1,426
3
votes
Regurgitating Living Forbidden Species
While it's likely forbidden as bal teshaktzu (as noted by @mbloch) and as tzaar balei chayim (causing animal suffering), swallowing an animal whole would seem to be no more derekh hanaathan (in the ...
- 17.7k
3
votes
How did animals with short lifespans survive on Noah's ark?
The lifespan of humans of the flood generation was a century long. Why would this not also be true for animals?
It was only after the flood, and countless disappointments from humans towards G-d, that ...
- 1,096
3
votes
What was the "tzir'a"?
From http://parsha.blogspot.com/2010/07/what-is-tzirah.html:
Onkelos translates it as ערעיתא, hornet.
Ibn Ezra understands it as a type of sickness of the body, along the
lines of צרעת. So ...
- 17.7k
3
votes
Why aren't Yemenites an ed echad on locusts?
Much of this is based on a 2016 article by Dr. Ari Greenspan, Dr. Ari Zivotvsky and Yosef Zivotovsky, published in the memorial series Mesorah le-Yosef, pp. 77-85, titled אכילת חגבים לבני אשכנז לדעת ...
- 6,482
3
votes
Trapping mosquitoes on Shabbat
Shulchan Aruch HaRav chapter 316, states that one may not trap a creature that merely causes pain but does not injure. If one is being actively bitten he may take hold of the creature and throw it ...
- 79
3
votes
Do you have to check bagged lettuce with a hechsher?
The OU and cRc have the policy that bagged, washed iceberg lettuce is almost never a bug issue. Therefore, a bagged iceberg (or iceberg/cabbage/carrot) mix with a hechsher needs no further checking.
(...
- 131k
3
votes
Do "triple washed" salad greens need to be inspected for bugs?
From a lecture heard at the STAR-K, given by Rabbi Tendler, there is no qualification halacha-wise for what "triple wash" means since there is no industry guarantee regarding what triple wash is ...
- 13.8k
3
votes
Accepted
Are cicadas kosher?
Good question, but no. Leviticus 11:22 allows only four species of locust. No other insects are kosher. Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan (who was also a scientist) translated them as follows:
"the red locust, ...
- 131k
2
votes
Do "triple washed" salad greens need to be inspected for bugs?
This article from Star K categorises vegetables into groups -
1) Permitted without washing or checking
2) Permitted only after peeling and/or washing
3) Permitted only after checking
4)...
- 47.2k
2
votes
Accepted
Are hydroponic produce typically checked for bugs?
Hyroponically grown produce is not grown in the air, but in a medium such as rockwool with liquid either run through it, or that it sits in. Typically, this is done indoors (e.g. in a greenhouse), ...
- 76
2
votes
Is checking for bugs halachically required?
The Shulchan Arukh's stipulation that only insects visible to the naked eye are prohibited (84:36) carries the suggestion that checking foods visually is halachically necessary.
This document brings ...
- 19.6k
2
votes
Who accepts the "chazaka" method of checking vegetables?
The rebbetzins/kosher kitchens you have observed are probably doing full checks rather than "sample" checks because full checks are often required for leafy vegetables.
Vegetables which are buggy a ...
- 626
2
votes
In light of modern science, why is bee honey still kosher?
"Enzymes are protein molecules in cells which work as catalysts. Enzymes speed up chemical reactions in the body, but do not get used up in the process. Almost all biochemical reactions in living ...
- 21
2
votes
Techelet from the Kineret
The Gemara in Shabbat 26a clearly defines the area in which the hilazon was caught around the time of beginning of the Babylonian exile and probably even before then:
״וּמִדַּלַּת הָאָרֶץ הִשְׁאִיר ...
- 343
2
votes
Accepted
Does fish need to be inspected for non kosher fish, flies and worms?
The OU kashrus site writes https://www.ou.org/torah/halacha/hashoneh-halachos/sat_08_25_12/
"46:43 Small worms are sometimes found in fish, in the brain, the liver, the intestines, the mouth and the ...
- 13.8k
2
votes
Does anyone know about a recent brocolli bug problem?
There are various fruits and vegetables that kashrut organizations generally do not recommend. You can see the Chicago Rabbinical Council's positions on various fruits and vegetables here. Some ...
- 24.7k
2
votes
Accepted
Are wild figs kosher?
Wild (fresh) figs are kosher of course but the insects on them are not! So they need thorough inspection because of the wasps (white, black and red - the hardest to detect because they are of the same ...
- 48.1k
2
votes
Frozen raspberries without supervision
The CRC says in a tweet:
[T]he way the berries are processed is sufficient to clean them, as opposed to other frozen products
The CRC generally states the things that a consensus position between ...
- 31.8k
2
votes
How did animals with short lifespans survive on Noah's ark?
We can see from the ages given for Noach and Shem that the year of the flood did not count. For example, Noach lived 600 years before the flood and 350 years after the flood and died at the age of 950,...
- 42.9k
2
votes
Are frozen organic blueberries kosher?
As per the reply I just received from the CRC, they only recommend it for pureeing.
- 17.7k
1
vote
What is the difference between non-kosher food and insects regarding "transference"?
Chicken transfers a "good taste" (נותן טעם לשבח), whereas insects and other creepy crawlers transfer a "bad taste" (נותן טעם לפגם). The former taste needs to be removed prior to cooking further, while ...
- 2,086
1
vote
Does boiling lettuce remove insects?
The method you describe is not one of the recommended ones for checking lettuce. The critical issue is whether you would be killing bugs who would stay nested in the folds of the lettuce leaves.
See ...
- 48.1k
1
vote
Checking strawberries with a magnifying glass
The challenge with strawberries is that many bugs are either too small to be seen to the untrained eye, or nest in the depths of the strawberry and only come out with soaking.
Ruth Benchaya (in her ...
- 48.1k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible