26
votes
Why does Torah consider Bats as birds?
Rabbi Dr. Natan Slifkin, director of The Biblical Museum of Natural History in Beit Shemesh has an article on this in his Rationalist Judaism blog, here.
The paragraph that probably answers your ...
- 42.8k
20
votes
Why does Torah consider Bats as birds?
The Passuk (Vayikra 11,13) uses the phrase ואת אלה תשקצו מן העוף לא יאכלו when describing all birds bats and insects
The word עוף essentially means "a being that flies"
This is proven from Tehilim ...
- 11.4k
16
votes
Accepted
Why would muscovy duck be treif?
The kosher status of birds differs from that of animals and fish, in that there are no biblically based physical indicators and thus today the determination is made based on tradition (mesorah). Rabbi ...
- 176
16
votes
Are dik-diks kosher animals?
The animal is part of the antelope family and has split hooves and chewes the cud. I would always consult a rabbi, as this answer is not a halachic dictation. Based on the information in your link ...
- 1,936
13
votes
Is AquAdvantage salmon kosher?
Kosher speciation
Generally speaking, we have a rule that "kol hayotzei min hatahor tahor, vichol hayotzei min hatamei tamei" ("that which comes from a kosher species is kosher, and that which comes ...
- 17.7k
12
votes
I'd love to but Hashem doesn't let
The Rambam in Shemoneh Perakim, ch. 6, discusses the preferable attitude towards avoiding aveiros, and references this midrash.
After citing sentiments of the Nevi'im, such as (Mishlei 21:10) "נֶפֶשׁ ...
- 58.3k
10
votes
Is AquAdvantage salmon kosher?
I'd asked Rabbi Hershel Welcher of Queens a similar question, about goats that were given a bit of spider genes so they would produce gossamer in their milk. He felt the concept of "zeh v'zeh gorem, ...
- 131k
9
votes
Source that tzaar baalei chayyim only applies to kosher animals?
This is incorrect. Examples given include loading and unloading a donkey as we see in Tzaar Baalei Chayim Thus, the halacha applies to all animals
In Shemot, we are told to help him unload: “If you ...
- 42.9k
8
votes
Punishment for Eating Non-Kosher
The prescribed punishment for intentionally eating meat of a non-kosher animal (e.g. pork) is lashes.
Rambam writes in Hilchot Maachalot Assurot 2:2:
כל האוכל מבשר בהמה וחיה טמאה כזית לוקה מן ...
- 41.8k
8
votes
Giving a ham as a present to a gentile
Most likely inadvisable; may actually depend on the terms and conditions of the company from which you're ordering. Thanks to NJM for pointing to an essay from Rabbi Moshe Dovid Lebovits of Kof-K ...
- 131k
8
votes
Is it prohibited to have a painting \ sculpure of a pig or any other non kosher animal in one's home?
First, the permission to paint or sculpt is not related to whether we can eat the animal. Some animals are treated more strictly: humans ,eagle, lion and bull. There are differences between ...
- 22.7k
8
votes
Is AquAdvantage salmon kosher?
The Chasam Sofer (Toras Moshe parshas Shemini) writes that the meaning of the Medrash (cited by many Rishonim) that the pig is called a חזיר because עתיד הקב"ה להחזירה לישראל - Hashem is going to "...
- 58.3k
8
votes
Accepted
Why don’t Sheretzs made into a Streimel convey tumah?
Once a hide is tanned, even a bit, it no longer conveys impurity (Chullin 9:2).
- 97.3k
7
votes
What's a better choice: Treif meat or human flesh?
To add to mevaqesh's answer:
R/Dr Alan Brill (Edah Journal, "Worlds Destroyed, Worlds Rebuilt: The Religious Thought of Rabbi Yehudah Amital") retells "two stories of moral challenges ...
- 9,388
6
votes
What's a better choice: Treif meat or human flesh?
Rabbi Moshe Shemuel Glasner (1856-1924) writes in the introduction of his Dor HaRevi'i to Chullin Pesicha Kolleles § 2 s.v עוד משל אחת that if one has the option to consume human flesh or non-kosher ...
- 35.4k
6
votes
Accepted
Why aren't penguins kosher as sea-dwelling creatures?
The Mishnah (Keilim 17:13) says that the creature called “dog of the sea” - which lives mainly in the sea, but will emerge onto land when escaping predators - is not considered a sea creature.
so it ...
- 3,197
5
votes
Is this squid with scales kosher?
Nachmanides (Commentary on the Torah, Leviticus 11:9), basing himself on the Talmud, Tosefta and Targumin, explains that the qasqeseth required by the Torah refers to a scale that is separate/...
- 17.7k
4
votes
What's a better choice: Treif meat or human flesh?
So we will now analyze the order of which comes first human or treif animal Flesh .
Rambam Hilchos maacholos asuros 2,3:
האדם אע"פ שנאמר בו ויהי האדם לנפש חיה אינו מכלל מיני חיה בעלת פרסה לפיכך ...
- 11.4k
3
votes
Is the blood of a non-Kosher animal forbidden because of וכל דם לא תאכלו
Rambam’s source seems to be an explicit mishnah in Kereitot 5:1:
דַּם שְׁחִיטָה בִּבְהֵמָה, בְּחַיָּה וּבְעוֹפוֹת, בֵּין טְמֵאִים וּבֵין טְהוֹרִים ... חַיָּבִים עָלָיו ... דַּם דָּגִים, דַּם ...
- 41.8k
3
votes
Kashrut of rennet for cheese & Difference between rennet and gelatin
Your first question is a strong question which I have not found answered elsewhere on MY. This other answer to your question answers the second question but doesn't address the core issue of "how can ...
- 47.9k
3
votes
Is this squid with scales kosher?
R. Natan Slifkin:
Contrary to popular belief, the Torah does not say that a sea creature has to be a fish in order to be kosher. It only speaks of “anything that has fins and scales.” And, uniquely ...
- 41.8k
3
votes
Is there a list of kosher duck species?
According to the Chasam Sofer (shu"t YD 74) wild geese (ducks?) are not kosher, citing Tzemach Tzedek (Siman 29). The Star-K seems to rule in accordance with this position and will not certify ...
- 1,703
3
votes
Buying commodities of lean hogs
It would seem from the Halachic literature that the problem of selling non-kosher food or animals is only if there's a risk of eating the non-kosher things one sells.
If one is a middle-man then it's ...
- 42.8k
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
3
votes
Accepted
What is the kosher status of quail and pheasant and other similar birds? How do they differ from turkey?
Unlike the turkey which is a North American bird and whose path to becoming kosher is a great story of its own, OU writes there was a tradition to eat certain types of quail (it was eaten by the ...
- 47.9k
2
votes
Whale-yeast Beer
According to the article the yeast is from the swamp the bones were found in and is 'not nearly as old' as the bones.
I.e. the yeast just happened to be on the rescued bones and is an interesting ...
- 2,010
2
votes
Food that became prohibited because of a fly, then was separated into 3 new parts, nullified?
If the fly is still intact and there's no way of locating it e.g the soup had loads of poppy seeds floating around, then Shulchan oruch Yoreh Dea siman 100 would apply: Seif 1:
בריה דהיינו כגון נמלה ...
- 11.4k
2
votes
Are songbirds Kosher?
see below the reasons turkey is kosher, if they are correct it seems that
a bird that did not have a mesora can get one
only if jews are eating it according to: Meishiv Davar, Tzemach Tzedek,
just by ...
- 7,466
2
votes
Why does Hashem allow Noah et al to eat *all* animals?
Ralbag in his commentary there explains why Noah and his descendants only got partial laws:
והנה הספיקו אלו המצות לבני נח לתקון קבוציהם לפי שכבר ידע השם יתע' שלא יאות בהם בכללם שיקבלו מהשלמות יותר ...
- 49.1k
2
votes
Salmons and eels touching in the fish shop, is the salmon still ok to purchase?
The answer I just looked up on kashrut.com is that its ok if the juices from non kosher fish get on kosher fish. Just wash it off with water at home. Buying a whole fish and doing the necessary ...
- 194
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