Shalom! What is kosher and what is not?
I have another video and jewu called “Kosher 101.” I will tell you a story when somebody called me and said they are newly married and the husband cooked something and they were not sure if he had cooked something that was “Treyf,” not kosher. So, she mentioned some fish that I never heard of, so I pulled out my Kosher Book and I said, “Oh! It is not in this list.” She said, “Is it good or bad?” I said, “That is bad because this is fish that is kosher list, just let me check the other list,” She said, “Is that sure enough, that fish was on the other list?” and she said, “Oh no!” because they had just “Treyf”-up their paths, which are always kosher.
Anyway, so I am going to give you a list of what is kosher or not. Remember that, if it is a mammal, it needs to be slaughtered properly or a fowl—a bird. So, the best thing is to make sure it comes from a kosher butcher, there is ‘Kosher’ sign on it. Nowadays, a lot of department store and Jewish areas have kosher labels on their food.
But any case, the fowl—that is prohibited, the birds—bats, kukus, eagles, hawks, herons, kites, ostrich, owl, pelicans, storks, swan, and vultures—all forbidden. And some of these are listed by name in the Torah, Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14, you can check.
What is permitted? Capons, chickens, doves, ducks, geese, pigeons, and turkeys but that should have to be slaughtered properly.
Now in terms of fish and seafood, these are forbidden. There is no slaughtering here—just you can not eat them. Catfish, eels, corpus, sharks, whales, clams, crabs, frogs, lobsters, octopus, oysters, scallop, shrimp and snail—no, not kosher under any conditions.
What is permitted? Anchovies, bluefish, butterfish, carp, cod, flounder, fluke, haddock, halibut, herring, mackerel, pike, red snapper, porgy, salmons, sardines, sea bass, shads, smelt, sow, trout, tuna, weakfish, white fish and gifilta fish, although you do not catch the gifilta fish.
Now meat, if the animal you choose is cut and have split halves, it is kosher—cattle, sheep, goats, deer but not horses, camels and pigs and they have to be slaughtered properly, the blood has to be drained—according to the rules of Shechita.
Then eggs, eggs from non-kosher birds are not kosher and eggs with blood spots are not kosher. So things to remember—kosher refers to ‘the food is proper,’ it can be eaten, you have to separate the meat and the milk. Liver has to be kosher differently, not just soaked in salt, it has to be broiled. There is a lot of new fish on the market today, if you are unsure, consult your Rabbi.
Not what are the keywords and phrases to know—Assur, means that is like assur. Asur means it is prohibited. Mutar means it is permitted. Shechita is the ritual process of slaughter. Shochet is the guy who does and it and Treyf means it is unfit, so some more on kosher.
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