With the price of food and gas continually rising, my husband and I had a discussion yesterday as to why kosher food particularly, kosher meat and chicken are so much more expensive than regular meat. My husband tried to convinced me of the expenses involved in the maintaining and regulating the diet of what the chickens and cattle eat.Well, that makes sense in light of the rising prices of feed. But I’m suspecting that it is also the halacha (law) of services that it takes for maintaining Kashrut. My husband also said that there is extensive monitoring and inspection involved … Continue reading →

Kosher: Keeping things Separate One of the most important aspects of keeping kosher is the separation of meat and milk. This does not only mean waiting a period of time between eating meat and dairy (the length of time varies according to one’s tradition), but keeping areas of the kitchen and utensils separate, and to make sure that a meat spoon, for instance, does not end up in a dairy mug. If you are starting to keep kosher, it is important to make meat and dairy utensils easily distinguishable. Everyone else using your kitchen must also understand where the dairy … Continue reading →

I run across this topic a lot, so I thought it was definitely blogworthy. I often meet Jewish vegetarians or am asked if we are encouraged not to eat meat. While I think there are many Jews, both religious and not religious, who are vegetarians, I don’t think the Jewish tradition either encourages or discourages vegetarianism. Meat-eating began with the time of Noah. After the Flood, G-d told Noah that he was permitted to eat animals as long as they were cruelly slaughtered. Before then, all people were vegetarians, and in appreciation for Noah’s saving the animals and righteous behavior, … Continue reading →