Kosher Kitchen

1. Kosher Kitchen What do you know?

2. Keeping Kosher at Home • Meat and dairy products may not be cooked or consumed together. You should wait six hours after eating meat before eating dairy products. • This separation applies to the dishes, cutlery, pots, pans, ovens, and utensils used. Two sets of everything are required---one for meat and one for dairy--and are usually stored separately. • To signify that a certain food has been carefully supervised by a rabbi, a symbol (hechsher) is used. Check the products you buy. • For more information, please contact a competent Orthodox rabbi or teacher.

3. Eating Kosher According to the Bible • Eating kosher means to partake only of select nourishment sources which are biblically ordained by God. God considers only kosher animals (with fruits and vegetables) to be food. • We are also a holy and singular people on the earth. God wants everything we do to testify of our being a holy people. Even our eating is subject to the will of God, who gives us everything holy and good to enjoy. • Leviticus 20:25-26 “You shall therefore make a difference between clean animals and unclean, and between unclean fowls and clean: and you shall not make your souls abominable by animal, or by fowl, or by any manner of living thing that moves on the ground, which I have separated from you as unclean. And you shall be holy unto me. for I, YHVH, am holy, and have separated you from other people, that you should be mine.”

4. Your Guide to Kosher Foods • Meat and Poultry • Beef, veal, lamb, and venison are permitted as well as other animals that have split hooves and chew their cud. These are usually animals that graze and are not predators. Most domestic birds, like chicken, turkey, duck and geese, are kosher. • However, for meat and poultry to be considered kosher, even permitted animals must be inspected and prepared by a qualified specialist to meet rigorous standards above and beyond that of the federal government. • According to Torah law, all life must be revered. For this reason there are special laws dictating how the animal or fowl is to be slaughtered. This process follows the biblical mandate not to cause pain and suffering to any living creature.

5. Your Guide to Kosher Foods • Dairy • All kosher dairy products are free of any animal by-products. Staples like milk and butter are virtually always kosher. However rabbinical supervision is required. • Trafe • The opposite of kosher ("fit" or "proper") is trafe. Trafe means "torn" or "damaged" and is a grouping of foods such as: Pork, aggressive animal meat, wild birds and birds of prey, shellfish, sea mammals, frogs, turtles, octopi and insects are forbidden. • To follow the old adage, "you are what you eat," ingesting these animals, according to many authorities, would be to absorb their negative instincts as well.

6. Your Guide to Kosher Foods • Pareve • Pareve is a term used to describe kosher food that contains neither dairy nor meat and is considered "neutral." Beer, soda, many fine wines, juices and fruit liquors must have a hechsher (and are usually pareve).All things that grow from the earth are considered kosher. It doesn't matter what type of plant---they are all pareve in their natural state. Once processed, however, supervision is required. • Any fish that has both fins and scales falls into the pareve category of kosher foods. A few examples of permissable fish are salmon, tuna, flounder, sole, halibut, whitefish, sardines, and rainbow trout. However, they must be cleaned and prepared with kosher utensils. Eggs from kosher birds are not considered meat, but are kosher and pareve.

7. "Kosher for Passover" • During Passover, Jews refrain from eating chometz: anything that contains barley, wheat, rye, oats, and spelt, and is not cooked within 18 minutes after coming in contact with water. No leavening is allowed. This signifies the fact that the Hebrews had no time to let their bread rise as they made a hurried escape from Egypt. • Jews of different backgrounds do not observe all of the same rules. Ashkenazi Jews, who come from Europe (most Jews in America), also avoid corn, rice, peanuts, and legumes as they are also used to make bread and may have other grains mixed in. These items are known as kitniyot.

8. More Rules for “Kosher for Passover” • Rules and guidelines may be extremely stringent. Not only must Orthodox Jews not eat these items, but they also must completely remove them and any food that has come in contact with them from their homes. • Some go through amazingly thorough and labor-intensive cleaning processes to rid their homes of any hint of chometz or kitniyot. For example: • Scouring Stoves, Ovens, Sinks, and Refrigerators • Silverware must be "heated to a glow" and then cooled. • Pots must be cleaned inside and out. To accomplish this, a pot must be filled with water and brought to a boil.

9. More Rules for “Kosher for Passover” • Items which seem acceptable for Passover but may not be: • Soda: Most sodas contain corn syrup. Since eating corn is a no-no, soda containing corn syrup is also out. • Frozen vegetables: Many bags of frozen vegetables are produced on the same machinery that also produces pasta or pasta/vegetable blends. • Raw vegetables: Some fruits and vegetables (cucumbers for example) have wax coatings that may be made from soy proteins and oils derived from grain. • Dried fruits: These are often dried in ovens where bread is sometimes baked. • Marshmallows: Not allowed unless made under supervision. • Milk: Unsuitable additives are often used.

10. What is Pesach: Passover? • Of all the Jewish holidays, Pesach is the one most commonly observed, even by otherwise non-observant Jews. According to the 1990 National Jewish Population Survey (NJPS), more than 80% of Jews have attended a Pesach seder. • Pesach begins on the 15th day of the Jewish month of Nissan. It is the first of the three major festivals with both historical and agricultural significance • The name "Pesach" (PAY-sahch, with a "ch" as in the Scottich "loch") comes from the Hebrew rootPeh-Samech-Chet , meaning to pass through, to pass over, to exempt or to spare. It refers to the fact that God "passed over" the houses of the Jews when he was slaying the firstborn of Egypt.

11. What is Pesach: Passover? • Passover celebrates the Jewish people's freedom from Egyptian bondage that took place approximately 3,500 years ago, as told in the first 15 chapters of the biblical Book of Exodus. • Passover, which commences at sundown on a Saturday evening and lasts eight days, (seven days for most Reform Jews, some Conservative Jews, and Jews in Israel), concluding on a Sunday evening.