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 ...
- 42.7k
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 ...
- 34.1k
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,...
- 2,661
6
votes
Are Jews allowed to wear clothing made from dyes from nonkosher animals or bugs?
The prohibition against eating bugs does not include deriving benefit from them.
Similarly, leather from non-kosher animals can be used for clothing.
The Rambam (משנה תורה, הלכות מאכלות אסורות ח׳) ...
- 44.7k
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.
- 7,084
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 ...
- 54.1k
5
votes
Accepted
Is honeydew (secretion) kosher
OU Kosher brings the following answer to your question
Both Rabbi Belsky, zt”l and Rabbi Schachter, ybc”l maintained that
honeydew honey is not kosher. This is the case according to both
opinions ...
- 54.1k
4
votes
Accepted
May one eat cheese that is wormy?
The Taz 89:4 explains hard cheese as both 6 months old or one that is wormy(Taz notes to be machmir for this case) ,and then would require 6 hours of waiting to eat meat.
The reason why the worms in ...
- 42.7k
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 ...
- 23.1k
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 ...
- 1,446
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, ...
- 136k
3
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 ...
- 31
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 ...
- 17.9k
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 ...
- 9,590
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 ...
- 14.8k
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)...
- 48.7k
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
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 ...
- 370
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 ...
- 14.8k
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 ...
- 54.1k
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,...
- 43.5k
2
votes
Are frozen organic blueberries kosher?
As per the reply I just received from the CRC, they only recommend it for pureeing.
- 17.9k
1
vote
Do pre-washed and packaged vegetables and greens fall under a miut she'eno hamatzui?
Possible Answer: From Star K Website,
With a vegetable cleaning system, the means of creating a chazakah is to see if the system can effectively clean three batches of lettuce, or any other leafy ...
- 1,981
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 ...
- 2,250
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 ...
- 54.1k
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 ...
- 54.1k
1
vote
Can one bake silkworms in a kosher oven?
One can bake something not kasher without ruining the status of the oven if one does not let the the temperature of the baking reach "yad soledat bo" (the temperature in which one would recoil their ...
- 11.8k
1
vote
Regurgitating Living Forbidden Species
There is halacha of Bal Teshaktzu (see e.g., here) which prohibits from engaging in any activity that could be viewed as disgusting. For this reason, the Rema (SA YD 13:1) forbids eating live animals ...
- 54.1k
1
vote
If you check for bugs according to halachic requirements, and then there is a bug in the food, are you liable?
As far as i know the Gemoro in shavuos (2a-b see vaiant opinions of different tanoim) only goes as far to say that we need the Chatas offering brought on rosh choesh, yomtov and yom kippur, on behalf ...
- 101
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