Keeping Kosher?

In Rosenthal’s book “The Israelis” part three is dedicated to the different ways a person can be Jewish.  She begins with the description of the Haredim, who are extremely religious. They follow Jewish laws in detail Rosenthal, P.175). Rosenthal then moves on to describe the Orthodox Jews, who are do not follow Jewish laws as detailed as the Haredim yet they still hold true to a lot of what is in the Torah. Rosenthal goes into detail of how the many cities in Israel hold religious value to the Jewish people. She points out scriptures from the Torah that shows how Abraham first got the land and how it was a promise from god (Rosenthal, P. 207-9). Rosenthal provides the stories of the Non-Orthodox Jews and how there lives are affected by their religious practices. This chapter shows how Non-Orthodox Jews often feel marginalized by other Jews because they do not follow such strict Jewish laws. This also exhibits the harassment that Non-Orthodox Jews often experience because they do not follow religious laws as others due (Rosenthal, P.225).

            One of the distinctions made throughout this section of the book was how there are distinctions in what is “Kosher.”  Rosenthal points out how there is only one kosher sanctioned label that the Haredim will buy. Haredim only buy She’erit Yisrael, which follows the laws to keep Kosher by the Lithuanians. The Haredim follow the laws so strictly that a woman who attended a wedding of the daughter of a friend. At the wedding the Haredim woman did not eat the meat that was being served because she believed they were not kosher enough. She only ate the salad and claimed to have the stomach flu (Rosenthal, P. 182). In the Orthodox section of the book, there is the story of the young Mizrahi girl who is at the Mount Meron celebrating Rabbi Shimon. The young girl offers food to a Haredi woman as a form of sharing. The young girl says that the kosher laws are suppose to unite all Jews, yet it seems to separate them (Rosenthal, P.212)

            On jewfaq.org, there is an article that explains what it means to be Kosher. It explains that being kosher is a Jewish law that deals with what is acceptable to eat, and in what way the food should be prepared. The article explains that eating Kosher is a law that is found in the Torah yet there is not much explanation for it. Some of the laws are: not mixing dairy with meat, some animals and certain part cannot be eaten, the animal must be completely drained of it blood.  The article also mentions how many times people are under the impression that a Rabbi must bless the food, in order to be kosher; I used to think this as well. I did not know that it does not have to be done by a Rabbit. Although it is a ritual called “Schechitah” performed by a “Shocher,” the ritual is considered human from the many other grotesque forms.  Another interesting fact I was not aware of is that the utensils must also be separated when one cooks meant or diary.

The article also focuses on the kosher certificates. The certificate is a way for people who keep kosher to know its okay to eat the food. Rosenthal mentions how restaurants and hotels all have to have a kosher certification in order to serve food (Rosenthal, P.229). One of the really interesting things she also mentions is the opening of the McDonalds in Israel, how so many people were outraged and they wanted to change it to McKosher. Finally, after much protest they agreed to serve Kosher approved food at the McDonalds. 

            These three sections of the book really show the differences among the different degrees of being Jewish, what I found interesting was how a detail like food can really matter. Another interesting fact about being kosher is how healthy it is for a person. It really rids food that harms the body. What especially mind boggling is that this is a tradition that has been going on for many years and its quite advanced it what healthy for people, specifically because now we live in a world were most people are conscious about what they eat. I believe because being kosher involves traditional rules, the article I used is extremely reliable. Although, it does give a very basic explanation, and I am not interested to see in what it is that the Haredim believe to be kosher.