[Sca-cooks] "Halal" and "Kosher"

[Solveig]

Noble Cousins!

Greetings from Solveig!

>Halal than Kosher.  For instance, he claims that all wine is considered Kosher
>as well as all gelatin regardless of source.  Um, not quite.

Physically, all wine is kosher. The problem with wine has more to do with its
special status both inside and outside of Judaism. The concern is that the wine
may have been used for a pagan libation. This rule extends to an absolute
prohibition on consuming wine that was even handled by a non-Jew. Various ways
to avoid this prohibition have been proposed, but generally all are rejected.

Once you have excluded non-kosher animals, the problem with meat is whether or
not the proper slaughtering can be guaranteed. Some people  mistakenly believe
that meat is kosher because "a rabbi prayed over it". This is false. Prayer
does occur in slaughter houses, but it is to focus the mind and to gaurantee
intentionality in performing a mitzvah. (A mitzvah does not count for brownie
points unless there is proper intentionality.) The mental focus is required to
cut the throat and all of the manditory tubes in one stroke as prescribed.
Proper slaughter of a  healthy kosher animal and proper post-slaughter handling
is what makes meat kosher.

What then is the problem with a muslim slaughtering meat? The problem
occurs with whether or not someone other than an observant male jew
can give reliable testimony as to proper execution of slaughtering.
Scrupulous jews will argue that only such a slaughterer can give such
testimony.

Mar Yaakov ha Mizrachi makes an interesting observation at this point.
He points out that various regulations also have the effect of ensuring
in-community monopolies in certain occupations.

What about mixing meat and milk? That is called nolad and can only occur if
both the meat and the milk were kosher. Thus, a ham and cheese sandwich can
not be nolad as ham is from swine and therefore explicitly banned. There
are four explicitly banned land animals in Torah and of these the pig is
especially singled out for condemnation because it has cloven hooves and
would therefore appear to be kosher, but has non-kosher behavior. The
camel, the rock badger, and the rabbit do not appear kosher, but engage
in kosher behavior. Specifically, cud chewing.

Now the big question is: How do you shecht (ritually slaughter) a
bison or a giraff?
--

					Your Humble Servant
					Solveig Throndardottir
					Amateur Scholar

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| Barbara Nostrand, Ph.D.         | Solveig Throndardottir, CoM, CoS   |
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