What is Kosher? BimBam https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYk0KeYhqYQ Transkript (automatisch erstellt) 0:02 Before getting into what is kosher, the bigger question is why do people keep it? There's no one answer. 0:08 For some it's simply "I'm an observant Jew, G-d commanded it in the Torah, so I do it." For others it's "I grew up keeping kosher, and it's what I'm used to, what I'm comfortable 0:16 with. It just feels Jewish." 0:19 Or "What you consume matters, and eating should be a mindful experience. It makes the spiritual physical." 0:25 Or even "It makes me part of something bigger, my Jewish community." When bringing food into the home of someone who keeps kosher, it's important to be respectful 0:33 of their food restrictions. It's best to stick with fresh fruits or vegetables, or packaged foods that have kosher symbols 0:39 on them. More on this later. 0:41 So what are the rules of kosher? There are three basic rules. 0:44 You can't eat some animals, the animals you do eat need to be slaughtered in a special way, and you can't combine milk and meat. 0:50 Let's break that down. What animals can't you eat? 0:54 Famously of course pork, shrimp, and shellfish, but the Torah has a long list of animals, calling some of them "clean" and some of them "unclean." 1:00 You are what you eat. Pigs are out, cows are in. 1:03 Chickens, ducks, turkey, salmon, tuna - also in. Next, what is kosher slaughter? 1:08 Well, it's called shechita, and there are lots of rules on how different animals need to be butchered and prepared, which we're going to skip. 1:16 What's important to know is that because meat needs to be prepared in a special way, there's a labeling system. 1:21 Certifying agencies famously the O-U put their labels, their hechshers, on foods. If there's a hechsher on it, the meat, or any packaged food, is certified kosher. 1:31 If not, it isn't. Some foods don't require hechshers, like fruits and veggies and others. 1:37 Most food in a grocery store is not kosher. You may have to hunt around a bit for some products, or even go to a separate store to 1:43 find things like kosher meat and wine. Finally, not combining milk and meat. 1:49 Yes, this does mean no cheeseburgers, but it goes a bit beyond that. For instance, you can't use butter in mashed potatoes that you are serving with turkey. 1:58 Separating milk and meat is taken so seriously, that some people wait an hour or three or even six between eating the two. 2:05 In kashrut food gets lumped into two main categories: milk and meat. If you're invited to a kosher meal, it will either be a milk meal or a meat meal. 2:13 A meal that has dairy, or one that has meat, not both. This is why kosher restaurants are either dairy restaurants or meat restaurants. 2:20 Kosher kitchens at home generally have two sets of everything: dishes, pans, and sometimes, yes, even the kitchen sink. 2:27 Food that's neither milk nor meat is called pareve. You can have that food with everything. 2:32 Yay! These rules for kosher originally came from the Torah, which is sparse about the specifics. 2:38 All the Torah says about milk and meat, for instance, is "you shall not boil a kid in the milk of it's mother," which some believe was in response to an ancient pagan ritual, 2:46 where they did that. Like most Jewish commandments, mitzvot, the rest of the rules of kosher come from thousands 2:52 of years of tradition, where people asked, "What's the deeper meaning of this passage?" So the three basic kosher laws got extrapolated and evolved into the "consensus" Jews have 3:02 today, that by the way is still evolving. For instance, one of the debates right now is whether to include ethical labor practices 3:09 inside the kosher conversation. Kosher standards vary by community. 3:14 They look different in a Tel Aviv hotel and your grandma's kitchen, but the main motivation, making conscious holy choices every day, remains the same. 3:21 And these shared kosher standards help to bring communities closer through everything from potlucks to shiva calls to shabbat dinners. 3:30 If you're exploring Judaism, it's worth trying kosher out. Maybe try it on for a week and see how it feels. 3:36 Your best bet is hanging out with a friend or Jewish teacher who keeps kosher, and have some fun cooking parties. 3:41 There's a bit of a learning curve, and if you didn't grow up with it, you're going to want more than a YouTube video. 3:45 This is part of the Judaism 101 series. Click here to see the next video on shabbat, and here if you want to donate and support 3:52 the creation of more videos like this one. Be'te-avon! 3:56 (That means "bon appetit" in Hebrew, and bon appetit means "let's enjoy eating" in French, but that's besides the point). 4:06 Have you donated yet?