Rabbi Yuhanan - Kashrut Part 1 - Keeping Kosher

for sephardium as well as ashkenazim um Regular kosher meat is not good enough we need glad kosher or what we call according to sephardium halak bait yourself glad means that the lungs of the animal are smooth and that's what halak in Hebrew means that the lungs are smooth ashkenazim regular glut is good for sephardim there is a higher standard that's called bit yourself but not in every country not every Community kept that higher bhsf status but everybody kept the glut status so if you don't find a bit yourself meat or if you are a beginner and it's difficult with your family or in in your community it's not available you can rely on Ashkenazi um glad meat but if a butcher store says we sell Kosher meat but not glad kosher for us it's not kosher at all if a restaurant says we are just kosher trust us but we're not glad Kosher for us it's not kosher at all and the regular Kosher meat used to be a lower level of kashrut in Europe when there was Hunger and the relationships with the non-jews were very poor so if you slaughter a cow and it ends up not being the highest level of kashrut you don't have anything to do with it you cannot sell it to non-jews because they're going to suspect that you poisoned the meat and if you don't eat it you and your family and your community are gonna starve so the rabbis allowed the lower level of kashrut even though it has problems the animal is not 100 percent uh healthy however that was in Europe in times of hunger in um Southern countries Muslim countries where the Jews lived the sephardi Jews they never allowed such meat because Hashem they had plenty and they had good relations with the neighbors in case the animals not Kosher we can always sell it to a Muslim who will accept our meat as Kosher for them as well and therefore they kept the regular higher standard when the Jewish people came to the United States ashkenazim as well went back to the original glad kosher status of meat because again now in slaughterhouses they have non-kosher line in the same slaughterhouse as the kosher and if the animal is not Kosher we just send it to them and we don't have to pay for it and therefore there is no reason to be lenient there is no hunger there is plenty we have the meat available we have what to eat and therefore it's completely forbidden to eat regular kosher it's considered not kosher at all however there is a bigger problem because any butcher or any restaurant who doesn't keep glad kosher they show that they are not observing they're usually not Shabbat they very often don't even believe in God I've heard of cases that a butcher store in Queens was really a missionary and every customer that came in he was trying to convince him to convert and he was regular kosher or some uh butcher shop owners they openly desecrate Shabbat and they eat seafood and non-kosher things and so how can we trust them and for sure if they themselves don't keep the law end if they try to do the minimum the minimum possible um standard we see that they're not at all concerned about kashrut and therefore we suspect their motives and we suspect their status and therefore any time you see someone doesn't keep um glad kosher only kosher right away we suspect that perhaps it's not kosher at all because usually in such places there is no proper there is no much gear like I came into one store and um I asked him do you have he said yeah sure over there there is a certificate I looked at the certificate and I said but do you also have a Masjid he said yeah on the certificate it has his name I said yeah but where is he and he said he comes once a month he comes he checks everything everything's okay he collects the check and he leaves for the next month so that of course is unacceptable because what's going to be for the entire month uh that means the owner knows that for the next month nobody is coming to check and even if they do come to check they just look around like a customer and they say everything's okay and the owner says yeah everything's okay so he says bye thank you for the check and therefore any place that doesn't have a full-time match gear any place that says we are not glad kosher Just Kosher right away we consider that place completely completely tariff and you even need to wash your hands after you touch such meat and if the betamic dash was in existence you would not be able to enter beta make that because you would be considered impure spiritually because anytime you touch an animal that died not through proper ritual Slaughter through srita it died for various other other reasons it's considered nevila and in uh because it's called paddle in Russian and that animal has spiritual impurity and if you touch it you would have to go to Mika so a store that is Just Kosher should be avoided a restaurant that's just kosher should be avoided as any other non-kosher restaurant now the benefit of going to a glad kosher restaurant is because there is a valid because there is a Masjid in case God forbid they are lying in case they tricked and they serve not Kosher we are not guilty because we had someone to rely on and because we relied on the um we are clean however if a person goes to a regular kosher butcher or regular kosher restaurant there is no much gear there there is no reliable he just trusts the owner the owner says yes trust me eat by me so then according to Jewish law we're not allowed to trust him because the owner is biased the owner is making money on it of course he wants customers to come and therefore we don't believe him and then when we go to shamaim and they ask us why did you eat not Kosher and we'll say oh it's because he told me it's kosher and they're gonna tell us yes but he's not reliable he is biased so you you didn't have anyone reliable to trust so that means you knew that there is a problem there and you ate anyway because you didn't care and therefore both for reasons of reality reality is that places that are glad kosher have a much greater chance of actually being kosher and plus in case God forbid a mistake happens and they go around the hashgraha and serve not Kosher we are safe we don't have to worry perhaps they serve not Kosher because even if they did we are off the hook because we relied on someone yes it's the the fault of the owner it may be the fault of the Masjid if he wasn't diligent enough Vigilant enough however we are clean um another point about meat is meat has to be salted properly now if you go to a glad kosher place they will salt the meat either at the store or at the factory that's even better because you know everything is um under good supervision therefore any store that tells you we are selling you meat that wasn't salted salted at home don't buy there and that's for two reasons number one because that already shows that their level of kashrut is low and therefore we generally don't trust them and on top of that you can only salt meat for cooking three days for three days after it was slaughtered but by the time it was slaughtered by time it was processed by the time it went on a truck sometimes from another state to the store or to the distributor first and then to the store and it's set on the Shelf more than three days may have passed and you cannot solve it anymore it becomes blood becomes absorbed so much that salt will not take it out and the second reason that you shouldn't buy meat that requires salting at home is that most people don't know how to Salt meat properly most people never learned the laws maybe they saw or heard how their grandmother or great grandmother did it but it's very possible that they are making a mistake and if they make a mistake insulting meat it's a very delicate process a mistake will not only not make the meat kosher but it will make everything that it touched not Kosher which means any container that the meat was in if it wasn't salted properly the container will become not Kosher the spoons the forks the plates everything will become not Kosher and therefore if anybody tells you this meat was not salted take it and salt it yourself at home don't buy in that store and um don't salt it yourself now there's one exception and that is liver liver we don't salt and therefore if you buy raw liver it will always be not salted and remember that you cannot salt liver if you salt liver whatever container you salted it in will become not kosher because there's so much blood and liver the only way to remove the blood is by broiling it not boiling broiling roasting it in Fire and uh that's the only way the blood will drip and the proper way to broil to roast liver is you have to put it on something that has holes either on a grid or something that has holes for example you can take a skewer or a bamboo stick put pieces of liver on it and then put it over Fire and Blood will drip or you can take aluminum pan put a lot of bamboo sticks above it and then put your large pieces of liver on it and roast it like that or again put the pieces of liver uh onto the bamboo sticks put them hanging over aluminum pan over the sides of aluminum pan and you can put it into your oven on broil and the blood will drip down now let's um move to milk there are two kinds of milk on the market one is called khalavi Israel another is called oud Israel is milk that a Jew was present at the time when they milked the cow and he observed how they milked it and he observed that the milk was put directly into the bottles and they didn't add anything not kosher to it so that is the best kind of milk everyone is encouraged to drink it however if that is not available or a person is a beginner and his family is not yet ready for it then there is a lower standard of milk and that is called oud and again if a person finds it difficult or khalabi said it's not available he is allowed to drink oud and eat or oud dairy products like like cheese and yogurt however dairy products also require ashgaha um for example if you have yogurt or cheese or cream cheese all these things will require oud is good enough but if it just has a k it's not good because sometimes they put gelatin in it especially for yogurts and for cheeses they put rennet which is part of the stomach of the cow the enzyme from taken from the cow and again the cow is not Kosher slaughtered in a non-kosher way and therefore we can only um eat cheese that has at least oud on it now the only exception for uh halav Israel if you keep the stricter Dairy standard of halav Israel is butter butter made out of milk is okay if it has oud even for strict people meaning even if you hold khalab Israel you can buy butter that is plain oud and that is because we have a rule and reality that you can only make butter from kosher milk that is the unique property of cow goat or sheep milk that only these three kinds of milk can produce butter if you take Pig's milk or you take horse's milk as much as you Churn it it's not going to produce butter and therefore we have a guarantee if you see a solid block of butter you know for sure that it was made out of kosher milk but if you have regular liquid milk there is a slight chance a little concern that maybe they added non-kosher milk it was especially true in other countries in the United States since the government provides its own supervision with USDA supervisors therefore many people rely on oud in the United States however if you go to another country you can just drink regular store milk because uh there the government doesn't have such strong supervision let's say you go to Mexico and you want to just take regular milk for your coffee you cannot do it that rule only works for the United States where the government inspectors come to the factory and their present most of the time and companies are scared to to mess with them but if you go to uh um a less Advanced country or especially if you go to a private Farm let's say you go to Amish Country and you want to buy their milk you're not allowed to buy their milk because they also have pigs and they also have horses and the the concern that they might add non-kosher milk is real [Music] um but if you do want to go to Amish Country let's say or another country and a farmer can Milk The Cow or the goat in front of you and you see as the milk goes into the container and they sell you the container that is kosher um now let's speak about differentiating between meat and milk we know that Jewish people are a holy people and they took upon themselves stringency is beyond the total law the total law forbids eating meat and milk together if they are cooked together however according to Total law if you ate steak and then afterwards you drink a cup of cold milk according to Total law that would be permissible but the Jewish people took upon themselves more strict law and they said we're not going to eat anything Dairy until the meat already became digested in our stomach and the rabbis set a time limit for it of six hours there are some who are more strict there are some who are more lenient but majority of the Jewish people keep six hours and for safarium they have to be full six hours after meet before you eat dairy uh ashkenazim hold that as long as you have five hours and a little bit you are already in the sixth hour you can be lenient and eat dairy but for safarium you need full six hours however this is for healthy people if you have sick individuals it's enough for them to hold one hour if they eat meat and now they're hungry and the only food available for their nutrition is dairy they are allowed to eat dairy after one hour sick people only have to wait one hour of course they have to be honest with themselves if they need it for their nutrition they need it to get better not just because I'm sick I'm gonna go and eat ice cream and and Candy but if I am still meaty six hours didn't pass and I feel hungry because I didn't eat so much and the only food that is healthy is dairy I'm allowed to eat it if I'm God forbid not feeling well after one hour now there are some people who are even though they're not sick but they are considered sick and that is women who are pregnant women who are pregnant if they feel that they need nutrition they are allowed to wait just one hour after eating meat and they can eat dairy again Dairy that will provide them with nutrition another exception is of course children children don't have to wait six hours but because we have to train them we do it in stages we start with Children of three years old under three children don't have to wait at all they cannot eat it together but let's say they ate meat you wash their tray you wash their hands you wipe their mouth you let them drink something parv eat something part and then you can give them Dairy right away until three years old once uh once a child is three years old we start training them and we teach them that you have to wait one hour at three years old a child should wait one hour now of course if a child is not feeling well or there is no food available and the child is hungry you don't have to make them suffer and just because he ate a piece of hot dog half an hour ago and it wasn't enough and now he's hungry you you don't have to be so strict you can let him eat even early but under normal circumstances a child of three years old has to wait one hour and then we add another hour every two years so when the child is five we add one hour and now he has to wait for two hours when the child is seven we add one hour and now he has to wait for three hours between meat and milk when the child is nine she has to wait four hours and when the child is 11 he has to wait five and then when the child turns Bar Mitzvah or bat mitzvah they already have to wait six hours and yes someone who is sick under the weather even and they feel that they need nutrition they can be lenient and eat dairy after one hour of eating meat and the best leanings is for pregnant ladies that if they feel they need nutrition one hour waiting after meat is enough um now we go even further in our Holiness and we try to separate between meat and milk even further for example we do not eat meat and milk at the same time on the same table for example if I want to eat meat and my wife wants to eat dairy we cannot sit next to each other because there's a concern that I'm gonna forget that I'm eating meat and I might take something from her plate and eat it or she might take something from me and eat it and therefore if two people are eating meat and Dairy they have to be sitting far away from each other so that they cannot reach each other's place and then it's fine because by the time I get up and I walk over and I take there will be enough time for me to remember and the person who is there will remind me because they'll notice that I'm walking that's one um option to allow eating meat and dairy at the same time on the same table another option is to put an object that is unusual something that usually you don't put on the table you put it between two of you and then you can sit even close to each other because that object will remind you it will serve as a constant reminder and even if I want to taste something I will have to pass over that object and I'll be reminded and another leniency is if I am eating on us on a different kind of surface for example let's say my friend is eating dairy and he is eating on a placemat and I'm not eating on the placement that already makes a difference or if you don't have placemat you just open a napkin under your plate and that already shows that I'm different than you you eating on a regular tablecloth I'm eating on a napkin and therefore we can eat on the same table otherwise um we cannot have anything of the opposite kind next to us even if nobody is eating is just standing I sat down to eat mine meet supper and there is a plate of um something Dairy that my children ate before me I cannot eat until I uh remove that plate of dairy from the table because again the concern is that we might taste from it another stringency that we use is that we don't use the same utensils both for dairy and meat even if we're only using them for cold this is a precaution because one time we might forget you and we might put something hot on that plate or we might stick that plate into the microwave and therefore dishes even though they could be used because it's cold just wash it and then you could use it but the customers not to use the same dishes for meat and Dairy um and if we're using it for hot then there is actually a a bigger issue because since utensils do absorb some taste into their walls if we use a pot or a plate that we put in a microwave and we cook something meaty on it some of that meaty taste will be absorbed into the walls of the utensil and then even if we wash the surface it will still have the taste of meat inside of it and then if we put Dairy on top of it and again heat it up now the dairy taste will go into the plate and the meat taste might go into the food and therefore we do not allow same utensils to be used for meat and dairy not only that we don't allow same appliances to be used unless you take certain precautions and we will speak about them now um the only exception to this rule is glass utensils for example glass cups glass plates and glass bowls for sephardim we consider glass as non-porous material glass doesn't absorb anything and therefore for sephardium glass is always kosher and if you are stuck and you need to use a plate and you're concerned that it perhaps is not Kosher use glass just wash it with soap and it's good for example if you're traveling uh Airbnb or at a hotel and they provide you with plates if the plates and cups are glass even though the non-jews use them for non-kosher food it's okay as long as they're clean if you want you can wash them second time to make sure they're clean and you can use them um and if a person is um living with a family that doesn't keep kosher it's going to be very difficult to watch what they're doing and if they're not mixing and therefore it's recommended that they should buy some glass dishes so that they know that these dishes cannot become not Kosher and it brings peace of mind and as long as it's clean they can make their own food on them later we will learn that Glass and Metal utensils need to be taken to the Mikvah so even though glass is kosher always but before you use it if it belongs to a chew you have to bring it to micro of course if it's from Airbnb or hotel that belongs not not to to a Jew you don't need to bring it to Mica and you can use it as is now let's go through utensils and appliances and explained how we can use uh them for meat and Dairy let's start with easy things like refrigerator refrigerator can be used for both Dairy and meat just be careful that shells should be clean so that you don't put a meat meat dish on top of a milk spill or Dairy dish on top of a spilled soup and therefore as long as the surface of the refrigerator is clean for which it's enough just to wipe it with a with a soapy sponge you can use it for both Dairy and meat or another thing to be careful is if you have meat and dairy close to each other make sure they don't spill one on the other otherwise refrigerator is fine just make sure it's clean next is table table can be used for a meat um dinner and then you can wipe it with a soapy sponge and you can use it for your Dairy um meal as long as something very hot doesn't fall on the table if it does you shouldn't eat it but as long as everything is on plates it's fine doesn't matter if the surface itself is not Kosher because you're not eating from it again just keep in mind that if a hot piece of dairy or meat Falls onto um the table and you know that you use the same table for dairy and meat you shouldn't eat it and what what many people do is they change tablecloths they they take either um thin plastic tablecloth and they spread it they eat their Dairy meal and then they collect and throw out the tablecloth and for the meat meal they put the new that is of course a preferable way but it's not required or some people have two sets of thick plastic tablecloth they put one for the dairy and when they finish they just put it aside put the meat one and eat on it and then they use them alternatively and you can reuse them of course if you have a table that's glass that is kosher always and then as long as you washed it with soap beforehand even if something falls on it that is very hot you can still eat it it's still kosher now someone asked what about porcelain porcelain is considered earthenware porcelain is not considered glass and therefore porcelain must be separate um Dairy and separate meat and we don't cut your porcelain and therefore you have to be careful with it now next is sync you can use the same sink to wash both kinds of dishes but don't wash them at the same time and also preferably um to avoid extra stress you should use the sink racks it's a flat rack that you put on the bottom of the sink one for dairy one for meat this way all you need to do is replace one with the other and then you can put the other kind of uh dishes in and wash them if you don't have the sink racks then you should wash the sink with a soapy sponge before exchanging this way you're not putting your Dairy dishes on top of uh their fat and meat residue in the sink and again if you use the sink racks that um helps you to avoid that extra um washing of the sink because nothing touches the bottom of the sink now the next is oven um can I use the same oven for meat and dairy and the answer is you should choose only one thing that you're going to use with in that oven for example meat for most people and then if I want to use dairy in the oven I have to cover it single cover is enough so for example I want a bake lasagna in my meat oven as long as I make sure nothing spills over so for that it's good to put a piece of aluminum foil under um the pan so that if it does spill it's not going to spill into my oven but rather the aluminum foil will collect it that's one option if I want to use my meaty oven for baking Dairy I can bake it but it has to be covered with one layer of aluminum foil it will work for dishes like lasagna or anything that is okay that is covered but sometimes we have to bake open for example Pizza you have to bake open and then the next option is to set your oven for one hour on the highest temperature which is usually 450 or 500. um for one hour and then we can bake Dairy open and then afterwards if we want to use it for meat again we again set it for 500 for one hour and then we can use meat open similarly if I'm visiting a hotel or Airbnb I can caution my oven for one hour on the highs but you have to first make sure that there are no spills because since it's not my personal oven it might be dirty so first you have to make sure that there is no meat or dairy residue on the on the bottom or on the racks and then set it for 500 for one hour and then you can bake your things in it open or if you don't want to bake it um open if you don't wanna bake it open you you you can cover it so cover it but first put a piece of aluminum foil on there a rack put your aluminum pan on top and cover it with aluminum foil on top and then you can use a non-kosher oven to bake your things if they're covered um now let's go to the stove you can use the same stove for dairy and meat just make sure that if anything spills over you clean it on the metal grate on which you put the pot so that your pot doesn't touch the food residue that's spilled over and then um turn the fire on for a few minutes so that whatever got absorbed into it gets burnt up if you have electric stove it's even easier because electric stove is so hot red hot it burns everything right away so if anything spilled on it of course you wipe it and then you turn it on and as soon as it becomes red hot you can already put the other kind when you're using the stove for two different kinds of pots one Dairy one meat you have to be careful that they shouldn't spill one over the other so always be present there so that they don't um or boil over or keep them not next to each other but diagonally so that they're a little bit further from each other next is microwave microwave should be used for only one kind either meat or dairy and if you want to make the other kind you also have to cover it so for example if you want to warm up pizza in your meaty microwave put the plate with pizza into a plastic bag put it in the microwave and of course close the bag and then you can warm up the pizza in in a meaty microwave because it's covered similarly if you have a non-kosher microwave at work or at a at a hotel you can put your food into a plastic bag and then you can warm it up but be careful not to heat it up too much because if the bag explodes then the food will become exposed to the microwave um and the last thing as a toaster oven a toaster oven cannot be used for dairy and meat and toaster oven cannot be cultured because it's not big enough and um we do not rely that leaving it for an hour on highest temperature will do the job therefore toaster oven is small enough so that you if if really necessary you can have you you can have two or what some people do they use the main oven for meat and they use a toaster oven for dairy this way you have one designated just for meat one designated just for dairy um but be careful with the toaster oven because if it becomes not Kosher you will not be able to crush it what about bread toaster the one that you put into bread that also if it becomes Dairy it stays Dairy you cannot use it for meat and that is because we all usually put bread with cheese in it and it gets stuck and it's it's not possible to clean it completely okay now let's move on to um the next section and that is after I wait the the required amount um between meat and dairy as we said it's six hours I can eat dairy however you should first make sure that you don't have meat stuck between your teeth and therefore after you have a meaty uh meal it's a good idea to floss your teeth what if you forgot to floss your teeth and now time comes six hours pass and you wanna eat your Dairy and then you realize you have meat stuck between your teeth don't worry floss your teeth then and you can eat dairy you don't have to wait another six hours because we consider the meat that's between your teeth after six hours we consider that also as if it's digested and it's no longer doesn't have the taste of meat anymore and therefore just remove it and you can eat dairy now what happens if you ate Dairy and now you want to eat meat we don't have to wait any time however you have to clean your hands clean your mouth rinse your mouth and uh floss your teeth and eat something or you can brush your teeth once you do that you can eat meat right away now ashkenazim have a stringency that if they eat hard cheese if they eat cheese that was aged for six months they consider it like meat in terms of waiting and they wait six hours after eating hard cheese in order to eat meat sephardium don't have such astringency and um therefore any dairy that Safari eats afterwards just rinse your mouth eat something part or brush your teeth and then wash your hands and then you can eat meat even if it's hard cheese now um someone asked about a food processor you have to be careful with the food processor because it has a lot of parts a lot of gaskets and parts that that sit one on top of another and they may be Dairy stuck there and if you then later use it for meat some Dairy might go in so therefore it's not recommended to use any of the advanced machines for both Dairy and meat for example meat grinder you shouldn't use for something that's Dairy food processor that you know you put cheese in don't use it for meat now you can be lenient with parv things for example you know that you use your food processor for dairy and now you cleaned it well and now you want to use it for uh salad and then that salad you want to use with your meat meal that is okay because even if there may be a little bit of um dairy in it it will be dissolved in a part of food it will not go directly into the meat but of course you have to make sure to do your best to clean out any residue of dairy but if if you want to have two separate food processes that is of course preferable now any other utensil that you use with hot you cannot use for both meat and dairy whether it is crock pot spoons forks plates knives whatever you use for dairy and meat should be separate for sephardium we are not required to have our utensils or parv pots and pans or parved knives ashkenazim they have parv knives we are not required because for sephardim um as long as you didn't use the knife in the last 24 hours for meat or dairy that life can be used to cut salad that knife can be used to cut onions or garlic and onion and garlic will remain part ashkenazima are strict and if they use a knife that was used ever for meat then if they cut something sharp like onions or garlic those onions and garlic become meaty for Safari that's true only if the knife was used in the last 24 hours for hot meat but since most of our knives are not used for hot meat at least not so often therefore we can safely assume that any regular knife that you find in your kitchen was not used in the last 24 hours and you can safely use it for onions and garlic and hot peppers and you can use those vegetables for any meal that you want now an important leniency that can save you a lot of time and that is that if you have a clean utensil a clean pot and you cook in it parv food the food remains parve even though the utensil is meaty or even though the utensil is dairy for example you cook rice in a meaty pot that rice remains parve because the pot was clean even if you just cooked chicken soup and then you wash the pot with soap and sponge and now the pot is clean you can cook rice in it and the rice will remain part and that Rice I can use with dairy and that is why I said for Safari we don't need to have our utensils ashkenazim are more strict about it um if it so happened that you already cooked it they will allow it but they don't use such utensils to cook part of food but safarium are allowed to do it on purpose so if you want to cook potatoes rice pasta beans in one pot and you want to use it for some members of the family for meat and some members of the family for dairy you can use that part of food for two separate meals or today I want to serve this pasta with cheese and the whatever is left of of the clean pasta I want to use tomorrow for meat I can do it similarly if I boil water in a clean meaty pot that water is parve and I can add that water to my coffee even though I'm adding milk to my coffee and this water was cooked in a meaty pot it's okay because if pot is parve the food will remain part similarly if you bake something parv in them in a meaty oven that food Remains parfed the classical example is kala you bake bread in a meaty oven the bread remains parve and it can be eaten with butter or sour cream um if you bake a cake in the meaty oven the cake remains parve and you can eat that cake with milk similarly and no you don't have to cover any part of food that you bake in the oven you don't have to cover it it remains parve similarly if I use my meaty spoon to eat something parv that food doesn't become meaty because the spoon was clean so for example if I uh made pasta parv pasta and I ate the pasta with meaty Fork let's say I ate it on a plastic plate I ate hot pasta with a meteor Fork and then I changed my mind and I say why don't I add cheese to it that's okay just stop using the meaty Fork put it away take a dairy fork for the same plate of pasta add some cheese to it put it in a Dairy microwave warm it up and then you can eat the same pasta with a dairy Fork because at the time when you used your meaty Fork pasta was parf and therefore pasta stays hard now um another rule about baking bread in the oven is that bread must always be part of we're not allowed to bake Dairy bread or we're not allowed to bake meaty bread and for the obvious reason because people commonly consider bread as parf and if we make dairy bread people might assume it's parv and they're gonna eat it with their piece of uh salami or if we add some beef fat to our bread to make it more nutritious we're not allowed to because someone might think it's par and they're going to eat this bread with uh with butter and therefore the rule is bread must always be made carved we're not allowed to add butter to bread to the dough we're not allowed to add milk or whey to the dough meat I'm sorry bread must always be parv now let's continue to the next section and that is fish fish must be kosher of course and we determine it by noticing that it has scales and you can only notice that it has scales if the skin is still on we don't actually have to see the scales because the skin or usually has indentations and has scale marks you see that they used to be scales and they were clean therefore when we buy fish in a store as long as it has the skin on and we see that it's not smooth we see that there are once more scales we can buy that fish even though right now there are no scales however we are not allowed to buy filet without skin because we don't know where this flesh came from and even though the store owner tells us oh it came from this kind of fish or this kind of fish we're not allowed to rely on that because mistakes happen and sometimes people call the same fish by different names or different fish by same name sometimes they mistakenly switch slices and sometimes they look the same therefore we're only allowed to buy fish if it has scales or scale marks on the skin unless it has now branzini is usually sold with skin on and therefore that's fine salmon should have skin on however there are some who are lenient and they say since any fish that is pink is kosher because there is no non-kosher fish that's pink some people are lenient and they buy salmon filet even though it doesn't have skin so if a person is stuck and they don't have any kosher certified or salmon with skin they can be lenient and rely on those opinions that allow Salma Salman even without skin but of course that only applies to raw fish any fish that is processed must have certification because the utensils must be kosher as well as all the ingredients must be kosher so too if you buy fish that was frozen if it's raw no other ingredients and it has skin on you can buy it but if it's processed for example it's it's breaded or marinated you cannot buy it or if it's filet without skin on then you cannot buy that fish um if you go to a non-kosher fish market you are allowed to ask them to cut the fish for you to to scale it to slice it to clean it and then because you saw that the fish is kosher it had scales they can cut it up for you when you come home just make sure to wash the fish and rub it on all sides so that in case the knife or the board upon which they cut were dirty you will wash it off again if fish has skin on and we see that it had scales it's okay to buy it even if um it wasn't cut in front of you but come home and wash it don't have to wash it with soap you can wash it just with water but rub it on all sides to make sure you wash off any residue of non-kosher fish about we have two restrictions for fish one is that fish should not be eaten with meat that is a universal restriction both fashionism and Safari we're not allowed to eat fish together with meat on the same plate we cannot cook it together and we cannot even bake it together for example if you're baking fish and meat open in the same oven at the same time that's not allowed you can bake fish open separately then take it out and then bake meat or if one of them is covered that's okay they can be together in the same oven because one of them is covered and that is for health reasons it's considered not healthy to eat fish and milk and and meat together sephardium have also restriction on not eating fish and dairy together that is only for safarium most asking don't hold it although there are some ashkenazin who are capitalistically inclined who also don't eat fish and milk together also for health reasons some say it's also for Spiritual reasons however there is an exception and that is butter again butter saves us fish with butter is permitted even according to Safari so therefore you can fry fish in butter or like many people like uh like to eat they put butter on their bread and then they put salmon caviar on top of it and they eat it together that is permissible because butter is permitted with fish now in addition to um these major laws there are a few less known laws and that is first of all wine any grape product must have certification for example wine grape juice grape jelly grape vinegar or wine vinegar or brandy which is made from grapes or cognac all these things must have a reliable certification because grapes are treated differently if it's raw grapes it's I mean in fruits it's fine but once they cut them or they extract juice from them it must have certification foreign now another area of kashrut that is less known is yashan yashan means grain that was planted before last passover that is considered Kosher for us fortunately for us majority of green in the United States is yashan anyway it was planted before last passover however people who are careful about it they make sure that the label says on it yashan so again this is something for more advanced people if um you're ready to take it upon yourself you should if you're not ready yet you can rely on the general statistics that most grains flour Breads and so on are yashan anyway um but that again is only in the United States in other countries that may not be true so you have to be more careful in other countries um now the next less known area is bishul Israel and Pat Israel not only our food must have kosher ingredients and be cooked in kosher utensils but also our food must be cooked or baked by a Jew if a non-jew does the entire process of cooking the food is not Kosher even though all the ingredients are Kosher however there are a few ways to make it uh permissible for example ashkenazim considered that as long as the Jew lights the fire it is Kosher for the nanju to continue the cooking process the safarium are a little bit more strict and they say not only a Jew should fly fire but a Jew should also participate in the cooking process for example a Jew should put the ingredients into the pot that's already on the flame the Jews should stir the food on the Fire the Jews should participate in some small way in the cooking process as well not only turning on the Fire with the bread we're more lenient as long as the Jew lights the fire even Safari them agreed that that's enough and again that's something to pay attention to if you're ready for it that the package that you're buying should say bishul Israel or Fati Israel um if you go to a restaurant that is um that does have hashgraha then they will make sure that the food is bishul Israel and parties right however if you keep the stricter opinion of sephardium that you should participate you should inform the Masjid that you want your food to prepare the corn to Safari these standards of bishul Israel and then the Masjid himself will put your food on fire so next is the area of Medicine medicine like tablets and capsules that we we drink we swallow as long as they don't have taste they don't have to be kosher but that only applies to Medicine which means if you need Tylenol if you need antibiotics if you need any medicine that comes in capsules or tablets doesn't have to be kosher because it's not considered food you're taking it as medication and you're not even chewing it you're not tasting it you're just swallowing it it's fine it doesn't need to be kosher however if it does have pleasant taste like it's liquid medicine then you have to make sure that the food the the ingredients are Kosher um for example if you if you are taking chewables chewable medicine or you taking liquid medicine you should look through the ingredients that it shouldn't it shouldn't have any animal ingredients so a good way out of it is to um Find vegetarian formula because if you find vegetarian or vegan then you know that there is no animal products in it um now another area is vitamins or food supplements unlike medicine vitamins and food supplements are considered food and therefore even if you're taking a tablet or capsule they should be kosher now how do we make sure it's kosher again find the vegetarian formula even better vegan formula um or sometimes they say vegetarian capsule so you know that they they they don't use any animal products that is ideal if you can find vitamins with actual hashgaha which there are many almost every vitamin that you need or food supplement that you need is available with various or you or star k or half k um now and one last um area before we take questions is bugs in fruits and vegetables this is an extensive uh subject which you should learn about separately there are very good guides on OU website or star k website or half cave website you can go on any of them and they will show you different methods and they have charts how to check vegetables and fruits for bugs we are not allowed to eat bugs of course and if we suspect that if the certain fruit or vegetable might have bugs we are required to wash it and check it properly and so in those guys they will teach you which vegetables and fruits don't need to be checked just rinse them and that's it and which ones need to be checked and how to check each one some require washing with soap some require also uh pouring the water through a special mesh and then looking at the mesh if you find any bugs if you find bugs then you have to repeat the procedure of washing it with soap and rinsing it and if you don't find bugs that you know that batch is clean and there are some vegetables and fruits that is impossible to clean and therefore we either don't buy them at all or we buy them if they are um grown in uh hot houses um like there are some companies with hashgraha like para pardes or um there are a few that are positive there are a few more that grow them in greenhouses and they make sure that they um free from Bugs there are some that wash it for you like bodek they wash the produce for you and they guarantee that there are no bugs in them um otherwise you can just learn how to do it yourself and do do wash and check for bugs yourself but it's a very extensive topic that needs additional um learning now in our next class we will learn about how to culture utensils as well as how to bring your utensils to the maker and with that Hashem we will have that class tomorrow at 9 00 PM second part of this class on culturing utensils and appliances and immersing the utensils in mikoi now I will take questions if you have any questions you can add them to the chat I'm going to read the question and answer it in the order that it was received now if you have glass dishes do you need zinc racks and the answer is you don't really need it but it makes life easier because your utensils will not get dirty from the residue on the sink but if you keep your sink clean anyway then yes for glass dishes you don't need sink rack uh does it make a difference if you have electric versus gas stove for the cooking um for cooking it makes little difference it does make it easier to kosher if you have electric stove because it heats up to Red Hot and automatically cautions everything otherwise it's the same now crock pot rice maker and air fryer all these things should not be used for both Dairy and meat if you keep them parked keep them part if you keep them very end part keep them there apart don't put meat in it but not rice cooker not crock pot and not airfryer can be used for both Dairy and meat um when you bake something parv in your meaty oven you don't have to cover it it remains part next now do how do we know that food that was made at the factory was made by a Jew because we said that the food also has to be cooked by a Jew so what some company what somehow do they send them once in a while to light the commercial ovens or what they do is they have a light bulb that produces heat and it's always on and the Jew lights it on or they make a decision that a certain food is not significant enough that it wouldn't be served at a banquet at a wedding and therefore that food we're lenient with it doesn't require to be to be cooked by a Jew because the rule is only food that is is is Honorable to be served to an honorable individual needs to be cooked by Jew so certain kinds of canned food are considered low level foods that you wouldn't serve to honorable guests and therefore they are okay but yes send to Every Morning Light all the fires but then it will say on it pat Israel or bishul Israel um next question what about prenatal capsules that have a taste again if they are vegetarian capsules then it is permissible can a non-jew fill up the water urn for you and then says yes because water is something that is um potable they say it means it's edible raw any food that you can eat or drink in its original state it's permitted to be cooked by a non-jew so if a non-jew makes tea for you or coffee or hot water all that is permissible because again water you can drink even if it's not boiled Tom's happen to be kosher Pepto-Bismol is also kosher there is a list on Starkey website that tells you all the medicines that are Kosher even if they have taste so refer to that list search on it a list of kosher medicines on Starkey website and all those are Kosher now just briefly uh Ricola candies cough drops are Kosher uh Tums are also kosher now regarding making liver kosher is it enough to put it in an aluminum tray and to broil it um that the the tray has to have holes so you can make holes with a knife many many holes and then you can put your liver on it and then you can broil it yes afterwards you will have to discard the trade because you cannot put regular meat on that tray that you use to broil liver if the meat is um now if my family doesn't want to bite God Kosher meat is that okay no that's not okay uh you should try to convince them Inspire them educate them about the difference between glad Kosher meat and the regular meat that's called kosher but it's really not Kosher and um um therefore if you need help to cover the expense of um the difference between Kosher meat and glad kosher meat you can contact me and we will try to find you a sponsor to to cover the difference in price but um the Glad culture meat is kosher and regular Kosher meat is non-kosher okay um thank you for joining and all your questions without Hashem we will post this class as soon as possible and tomorrow we will have the second half on cautioning utensils and um appliances as well as bringing your utensils to the Mikvah thank you for listening have a good night