Basic Judaism: Questions and Answers - 4 - Kashrut - Rabbi Reuven Lauffer

actually the Jewish definition of meat is not complicated at all its other other things that get added in rabbinical II that become complicated so meat is meat you know cows sheep goat I would also consider poultry in the meat oh so poultry interestingly enough originally was not meet at all right the rabbi's added it in because what poultry is like a cross between I mean what is its across it's not really it's not really it's not really an animal and sometimes it's not so much a bird either well but birds are animals I'm time talking about modern definition I'm talking about you know like yeah I mean I don't know about you but for me there's definitely a rather noticeable difference between let's say a cow and a pigeon to the katakana you're being remarkably pedantic this morning I'm talking about animal animal like figures right Adam animal crackers that kind of thing animal animal like figures as opposed to birds which are you know that they they're not animals I mean how lucky they're not animals anyway I I recognize that Judaism it's a distinction and I'm still flabbergasted by that distinction OD only because you'd be brought up in a society where poultry and that and animals seem to go together yeah that's any reason animals basically everybody in the world that aren't plants you know like or fungi or manera or cookie cookies though yeah yeah so the vino yeah yeah I'm sure birds fish everything better animals yeah that's a fish fish fish are not efficient or anything I mean how logically well Fisher first of all the powers they're not they're not they're not meaty right they don't require they don't require screechy they don't quite being slaughtered no ritual it sorry ritually slaughtered okay obviously I let your eating sushi yeah these things have to be dead that they rip the real the reason that the rabbi's made poultry meat to give it give it a meat classification is because there are all kinds of poultry that really are very neat like so turkey hot pots of turkey what even is not kosher I thought I just had this country's in the day I thought I was I thought it was all if because it is a bird right all birds are kosher except the carrion birds and they named them specifically I thought that's what did we do that in this product no no the name the Berkeley Austria the ostrich is is is defined as being not kosher in the tower and austra all the all ostrich family tomorrow says anything that comes out of something which is unco sure is on kosher that's where that about that's where the whole thing the whole fastest and that's where the whole thing about honey comes from so that the garage remotes got a whole thing either about honey about honey how honey is how honey is made the process of honey that it's made the beat that B takes our pollen and adds all being done it's being done in an extra external part there are some substances coming from you sir oh you know queen queen bee honey is not kosher because that's something which comes from inside of it of the queen bee what's it called oil oil honey sorry roll jelly whatever it's called I'm sorry yeah that's different from honey yeah but the beasts are congested that the power in the first place I don't I tell you I know I don't know I don't know enough about it's very explaining the gamarra the govern holy definitely it asks the same question right it says I call you it's even i tell me tell me anything that comes out of something impure is impure we color your tomato anything that comes out of something pure is pure and then the gomorian sell faster how can how can you eat hackney honey and the Camaro explains this idea that be the bee and the way that the bit the way that the bee manufactures honey is not the same as something else well we could take it take a look at it take a look at the details and see exactly how it works itself out I saw I saw the most incredible idea you know the Land of Israel is called the land of milk and honey that's one of it one of its biblical designations right it's actually mentioned a few times from from the book of schmoes onwards from the book of Exodus onwards that it's described as being the land of milk and honey and so the question why why milk and honey so the fiduciary who's the one of the great Hasidic Corelli's a first Rebbe from gore he explains like this milk and honey are two two substances which face value should not be kosher honey because of the problem of how its manufactured you anything that comes out of something impure is impure and milk because the the origins of milk is blood and what inside of they put in over the process of the animal turns it into milk and then it comes out of the animals so really when I suppose we're not supposed to be drinking blood so the Gomorrah says that but again it's it's already blood its milk and as a whole there's a whole deal over there bothers that no human milk is not milk it's actually its power of it's not it's not it's not considered to be dairy human flesh now you can't eat human flesh unless unless there's a reason why you have to but interestingly enough the reason why you can't eat human flesh is not because it's not kosher that's better but because it's disgusting yeah no no that I did the concert I don't I've never even the stuff hey hey it's disgusting unless you put a little bit of mail on it and don't know though some some grilled some grilled onions as well just so you know let it go down a little bit smaller which means eating eating human flesh is something which in the Western world is disgusting right again cannibalistic tribes in the jungle somewhere by them obviously it's not particularly disgusting at all that's a famous joke about the two cannibals where once it's the other one I don't my mother-in-law's for the other one says to just eat the vegetables interestingly enough you know that's not that's not a you know that's not a concept which is terribly terribly far away from Judaism the Ramban at manatee says a reason why we don't eat blood from animals is because that's a life source of the animal and you become what you eat one of the reasons is Rita will you do ritual slaughter is that you know that the blood has to be drained out because we don't we don't do that stuff that's interesting I've always reminded that in England there's a there's a delicacy believe it or not called black pudding yeah like pudding is made out of pig's blood which is very very very dark and it looks like it's black and it's like a sausage it's good to have Jews in the world cuz no one else is going to eat this stuff right so you know like we look look learn from the Aikido ya hear that I mean what are we exactly where that we loud eventually mean God says no in the end what I thought my children yeah I'm even wanted to but but the fact that he is it just a challenge yeah it's not has nothing nothing whatsoever very a very careful analysis of a woods shows that God at no point is God say to Abraham he should he should slaughter his son infant bring him up on to the altar right and he did so he did everything he was supposed to do and then God says that's it fine finished right Abraham doesn't understand it like that Abram understands that he's that he's got to take his kid and to you know to sort him up on the on the altar but that's not that's not what God actually tells him to do God God does not want human sacrifices I don't know how to break this choice should've broken it more gently I really should have done because I know you've got a long list of people that you would like to offer up since ur why don't we know that it's okay we don't do it again if you don't do what I'm so confusing here and we we don't we do not we don't have to go through its interest and we do not have to go through that experience of of trying to show God our allegiance to the way that Abram did because we have our spiritual DNA from Abraham which means it's there inside of this human meat is not me if you if you were to nibble your nail not your now maybe the side the side of your fingers or something you don't have to wait six hours until you have a cup of coffee with some milk in it right because there's nothing there's nothing BTW about your flesh is it permissible to eat flesh according to Jewish law no it's not unless there is a dimension of saving life which means that you know come down and I wander I crash or something or desert island or whatever it is you can't you can't kill somebody to do it yeah but if somebody is already dead then you can take their flesh and you can eat it if you don't have any other alternative which means it that you know the local the local McDonald's is so far away they just go on you for a while yeah okay I mean it's interesting I because here in the wet in the Western world we are we are programmed that you know eating human flesh is something which is actually discussed them is that happen in the passage of historical jumpers indonesian i don't know i'm sure they probably are let's saddle was the opposite they kill themselves not not because they didn't have enough oh you know what yes there are i'm sorry that the the destruction of the Temple the first temple it says that the family was so bad that one one of the most terrible things that happened over there was that mothers ate the flesh of their dead children because there was nothing else to eat I don't know I mean it's a sucks it's like it's like it's a moes it's a most awful I mean how do you how do you wrap your mind about around something like that how you know how far does somebody have to get to when they're prepared to do something like that we I mean it's it's awful absolutely awful gosh but anyway poultry poultry is pretty incredible tree in its in its turret designation is pair of it's not it's not dairy and it's not milky I'll try that again even though absolutely no we made a comment or blinked or anything but it's not dairy and it's not needy it's not daring it's not milky for sure yeah really obsess members every time that I still don't understand why is it just because it's like the connection yeah it's a rabbinical a rabbinical connection that the Gomorrah sets like this the rabbi's did it because poultry requires that there are certain things about poultry that are very similar to me so for example it requires schritte it requires ritual slaughtering certain parts of poultry are very no not at all thats that's why fish are not considered to be meet the real question I were here is not why don't we sort of fish the real question is why do we store two chicken because of because of the there are certain there are certain things that are just so similar to meet if you have ever ever ever eat red turkey meat the turkey is a turkey in the Torah turn is it a rest for your family on their horses ran over the turkey chicken families are you seeing if I score any intimacy I would consider a neighborhood oh no the red meat that adopt the dog meat from the from the turkey which is it you know you get turkey roll over here turkey turkey is fascinating should know that absolutely fascinated it's almost exactly i don't see that as like the bridge between it's not a bridge it's not you have to understand that none of none of this is a bridge similarities that's all so it's really it's it's a yeah yeah the rabbi's came along they said okay this is what we're gonna do to make sure that there's no misunderstandings anywhere we're going to make it we're gonna make astringency over here and we're going to turn poultry into me why don't you separate I mean what I would have done it that I is saying why don't you can create a new category and separate that from darien for me today you can eat it but once that wants to know what new catering category ugh are you going to make that poultry can't be eaten with meat and it can't be with no guiding handy dairy and it can be eating would be oh so that's what it was a river according to our that's what it is yeah it's what's called parent attacking it's neither this nor that you know you're saying it's because it's so similar that people will come along and say accidentally but yeah if instead of it to Turkey or whatever red turkey need and eat that instead thinking that it's rented a plus um yeah put on cheese on it really break I'm not I don't taste the different QB things yeah but are you but when you're here but I'll tell you something I'll tell you something over here right because meat meat production are we here is very different from an America meat production in America is something I mean America metis don't get it I'm not talking about that how it gets onto your plate I'm just talking about the quality of what gets onto your plate I don't know it's very different meat meat tastes very different over here than it does over there it's got a lot it's got a lot to do with how their favor anyway but just bite poultry it's a stringent see we're stuck with it it's a problem I remember as a kid there was a fellow called Bernhard Matthews who had any not not not not Jewish and not kosher but he had an enormous turkey production and he his turkeys arrived at the supermarket's already basted in butter you know ready to be put into the into the oven and finished off in there and yet he had these scintillating Edler's they were like they were like mouth-watering you know like these turkeys coming out of the oven and that the skin all around it has been crisp and up with butter and it was always I it was yeah it was mouth-watering looked mouth-wateringly good and the Gomorrah says and that we should not say that a bet kosher food but non kosher food is disgusting right yeah but rather we should say non-kosher food is delicious i'm sure but i can't eat it and that's that that was that work for me that was like living living the Gomorrah when these when these pictures of these turkeys came out of the oven on the on the television it was like where you know uh just just just the turkey at this yes no I mean I obviously I would have to watch the bits in between because you know I didn't quite know when the commercials were going to happen but my real concern was about baked at Amazon benching well we'll learn one of those as well that if a person did not have any cavan and that's difficult to translate the word kevanna but qivana is intent concentration what did you say Sol Sol content whatever something something from inside of you according to some authorities if you had no intention whatsoever when you benched you've got a bench again now this is like again you there are there are authorities that on sale out there are authorities who say that you want you know if you've said it you said it right but and there are some that say if you don't have intention but you need to set again and it's a it's a it's a it's an inning it really is because you know very often when you're when you're beginning your path down Judaism so the idea of benching and not being aware of the fact that you're benching are not having some kind of intention when you bench is pretty wild because benching takes a long time and it's it's night something that you're very very much aware of but as a person becomes more familiar with it like with most things you know we have to battle every day with the concept of what's called rhaggy look reg you look comes in the were drug deal which means just doing things by rote you know without really thinking very much about it that's something which we have to we all of us have to battle you know in every every dimension of our lives actually we have to battle it trying to uh oh autopilot right then which is which is a terrible things a terrible thing to go through a day never mind through life but it's a terrible thing to go through a day on autopilot without you know so where did you go i don't have a clue just got there you know and that's pretty sad it really is and and benching is sats white that's really why the Mission Board says that the best way to bench is by using you should use a bencher use something to read out of users sitter because that way if you've got something you're focused on it if you're focused on it then hopefully you'll be thinking about what you're saying if you're doing it by by rote so I think I do is like this when I bench i try i do try very hard to use always see you as a bencher right to use a something to read out or but if i don't if i'm going to bench by heart for whatever the reason then i normally sing the bench ink I don't know when you when you when you're taught to bench when you're a kid so it always comes together with a tube right the whole bench its got like a tune that goes through it and you you sing each paragraph and I do it like that because that way it just keeps me it really keeps me focusing on have a book to look into then at least if I'm singing it then I'm concentrating on what it is that I'm saying and I'm I don't know sometimes I think of myself but maybe you know that maybe that maybe we should be singing benching every time we bench anyway actually don't know I don't know I really don't but we do have to concentrate on what we're doing that's that's for sure right so whether whether it's a you know in your in your in your work day whatever it is that you know whatever your chosen profession is or whether it's in your religious life or whether it's in your whether it's in your emotional life as well you know not to just take things for granted and to and to not not give any thought to the people around you who you are supposed to love and care for you