Jews and kosher food?

Question

Are cookies considered kosher because i dont think that they are and what do you have to do to make meat kosher i know you have to cut it a certain way but why and dont you have to bless it?

Answer 1

Cookies can be kosher, but might not be. If I made cookies in my home kitchen, they would not be kosher, even though cookies don't mix meat and dairy in the same dish, because my dishes and pots and utensils have been used for both milk and meat without re-kashering them (making them kosher again).

If you are buying cookies, you want to look for a hescher, which is a mark on the package that tells you if a product has been approved by a rabbi/regulating body (like the Orthodox Union). Different regulating bodies have different heschers, and different groups of Jews will accept certain heschers as good, but maybe not others. In general, I have heard that the Orthodox Union is pretty safe for all Jews. Their symbol is a U inside a circle.

Even if a product is kosher, it can be kosher dairy (milchig), kosher meat (fleishig) or kosher pareve (neutral, not dairy or meat). Jews who keep kosher can't eat foods that are kosher dairy and kosher meat at the same meal, and have to wait a certain amount of time after eating one before they can eat the other.

So, the answer to your question "are cookies considered kosher," the answer is "it depends."

As for the meat, there are a number of regulations (see the FAQ linked in the sources), but the big ones are:

1. Only certain kinds of animals are okay to eat. Beef, chicken, lamb are okay. Pork, rabbit, and shrimp/other kinds of seafood aren't. (regular fish is okay, but it is actually pareve, as are eggs)
2. Animals have to be slaughtered, you can't eat animals that died of natural causes
3. The animals have to be slaughtered in a particular way- slitting the throat. They have to be slaughtered by someone trained to slaughter in this particular way, and he needs to be a pious, observant man. The method of slaughter is intended to cause as little pain as possible to the animal, and also to drain a lot of the blood.
4. The rest of the blood needs to be removed from the meat, in some way.

With regards to the blessing of the meat, you may be confusing this with halal. There may be other rules for making meat halal (I think that you have to slaughter the animal in a certain way, similar to how it is done for kosher meat), but one of the rules is that the animal must be killed in the name of G-d, and this has to be said every time you slaughter an animal.

Answer 2

Kashrut is not about blessing foods.

For meat and poulty, only certain animals are allowed, and they mus be slaughtered in a particular fashion - one clean stroke by a super-sharp knife that severs the major blood vessels in both side of the neck, as well as the trachea and esophagus. A hesitation mark of any type renders the meat from that animal unclean. A prayer (when both are translated, the wording is almost the same as is the wording for the similar Muslim prayer) is said for the animal itself just before it's neck is cut, and cut without anesthesia or stunning of any kind. This job is done by a man with specific training.

The organs of that animal are then inspected for any signs of illness, and if they are clean, then the bird or the front portion of the animal (nothing lower than the 12th rib) is butchered, and the meat salted on all sides and left on slanted and slotted boards, so that the blood can drain out completely.

Fish is allowed (but not shellfish), only if throught it's whole lifespan, that type of fish has both fins and scales. That excludes catfish and monkfish.

For all other foods, including dairy products, it's about the proudction methods.

Cookies are not necessarily kosher or non-kosher. It depends upon what's in them and where they were baked, packaged, etc. For most foods, one simply looks for a mark on a label, saying that yes, this package of food has been prepared so as to be kosher. The source below includes a list of all of the approved symbols, around the world.

BTW, what I've described above is only the basics.

Answer 3

Well, there is an opinion in the classical Jewish commentators that holds that non-Kosher food is actually physically bad and dangerous to your health, but no one really thinks that anymore. Basically, the consequence would be the same as with any other sin. God will punish the sinner when he dies. (Not eternally, and it depends on lots of factors, like if he sinned intentionally, and even if he did, he could repent...) BTW, most "normal" food is kosher. I'd say 85% of what you can buy in a normal grocery store is either Kosher, or has a kosher equivalent. @Ruth. Interesting. I've never heard of the "rich" foods idea before, but it does fit. @Handy_Man: Have you been reading Eliezer Berkovits?

Answer 4

General Rules
Although the details of kashrut are extensive, the laws all derive from a few fairly simple, straightforward rules:

Certain animals may not be eaten at all. This restriction includes the flesh, organs, eggs and milk of the forbidden animals.
Of the animals that may be eaten, the birds and mammals must be killed in accordance with Jewish law.
All blood must be drained from the meat or broiled out of it before it is eaten.
Certain parts of permitted animals may not be eaten.
Fruits and vegetables are permitted, but must be inspected for bugs
Meat (the flesh of birds and mammals) cannot be eaten with dairy. Fish, eggs, fruits, vegetables and grains can be eaten with either meat or dairy. (According to some views, fish may not be eaten with meat).
Utensils that have come into contact with meat may not be used with dairy, and vice versa. Utensils that have come into contact with non-kosher food may not be used with kosher food. This applies only where the contact occurred while the food was hot.
Grape products made by non-Jews may not be eaten.
There are a few other rules that are not universal.

Answer 5

For a food to be considered Kosher it has to be blessed by a rabi.

Answer 6

Kosher and Kaiser is just the same terms
Kaiser is a metropolis in Iran.

Answer 7

Follow the link in sounce Yes

Answer 8

if someone notices im wrong, im sorry. my jewish friend broke it down to me like this, jews are finicky, and pigs are "filthy", thats why they do not eat them,because they are "dirty" animals. when it comes to other foods, theres some kind of "inspector jew", that inspects a food/drink plant to make sure its up to a certain code that has already been decided.