Keeping Kosher:
Reflecting A
Higher Authority

GARY ROSENBLATT

Editor

T

here's a story told about the
late Rabbi Moshe Feinstein,
the world halachic authority,
who while attending a wed-
ding found two containers of milk
placed in front of him at the dinner
table. Many of those around him
watched as he picked up one, then put
it down and poured from the other.
Within days the word had spread in
the Orthodox community not to use
the first brand. Someone worked up
enough nerve to ask Rabbi Feinstein
why, since both brands of milk were
certified kosher, he hadn't used the
first. He shrugged and replied, "It was
empty."
The fact is that the laws of keeping
kosher, confusing enough already, are
sometimes further confused by those
with a zealousness bordering on the
manic to adhere to the strictest inter-
pretations of what foods can and
cannot be eaten.
What's important to keep in mind is
that while the laws of kashrut are spell-
ed out in the Torah, they are among
the commandments that have no
logical reason attached to them. Of
course we have come up with any
number of explanations for these laws,
from protection against trichinosis to
preventing our socializing with non-
Jews, but in truth God does not ex-
plain in the Torah why certain fish and
animals are permissible while others are
not, why meat and dairy products
should not be eaten together, why the
numerous other laws concerning
kashrut must be observed.
What seems clear, though, is that
kashrut is meant to be more than a
long list of rules. It is meant to reflect a
way of life. And there is an element of
holiness involved, since immediately
following the laws of forbidden foods,
we read: "For I am the Lord your God,
sanctify yourselves and be holy, for I
am holy" (Lev. 11:44).
Blu Greenberg, in her book How To

Run A Traditional Jewish Household,
notes that "holiness has something to
do with the way we consume food, the
profound implications of killing for
food, and the nature of the community
with whom we share this same value
system."
Judaism subscribes to the concept
that you are what you eat, and that is
why animals of prey are forbidden and
all meat that may be eaten must come
from an animal that has been ritually
slaughtered, a method based on the
premise of sanctification and compas-
sion, ensuring as painless a death for
the animal as possible.
The very act of eating is, within
Judaism, a religious experience, prefaced
by and concluded with the recitation of
a blessing acknowledging God as
creator and provider. From the Sab-
bath meal to the Passover seder, we
seek to transform a physical urge —
eating — into a spiritual framework
and our dinner table into an altar of
gratitud e .
Conversations with a variety of
observant Jews reveal, though, that no
two people keep kosher in precisely the
same way.
It's not just a matter of eating out or
eating in. There's the question of how
many sets of dishes one has at home,
have they been "cleansed" in the
mikvah or not, and which rabbinical .
kashrut certification code you subscribe
to. There are so many varieties of keep-
ing the dietary laws, from people who
keep "strictly" kosher with only one set
of dishes to those who "kasher" (soak
and salt) non-kosher meat.
Some people criticize this behavior as
motivated by ignorance at best and
hypocrisy at worst; others suggest that
whatever effort people make toward
Jewish ritual observance is better than
nothing.
Keeping kosher is complicated. Con-
servative Judaism allows for certain
dairy foods and kosher fish to be eaten
out. The Orthodox have numerous
kashrut certification codes, like the 0-
U label of the Union of Orthodox