In Parashat Mishpatim this week, we read the first mention in the Torah about Kashrut. The famous words, “do not boil a kid in its mother’s milk” (Shemot 23:19) are the Torah’s roots for all of the separations that a traditional kitchen has between dairy and meat. The rules are vast, and kashrut in general often feels scary, intimidating, and inconvenient.
When I was in Rabbinical School and in my first few years working in the field, I would often have a bizarre experience upon first meeting people. As it often goes, someone would ask, “what do you do?” I would respond saying that I was studying to be a rabbi. Without missing a beat, the other person would respond, “Oh, I don’t keep kosher.” You’d be surprised how often this happened.
This struck me for a few reasons. First, while I adhere to a pretty strict kashrut practice, it doesn’t bother me when someone else doesn’t keep kosher. I was never sure why these people thought it was important, especially in our first meeting, to declare that they didn’t keep kosher. Second, and perhaps more striking to me, was how personal of a piece of information this was to share. Most of us would not declare “I like cheesecake!” when we meet a doctor in a social setting. I never understood why I kept receiving these Kashrut confessions.
How did Kashrut become such a feature of Jewish life? It makes sense: So much of who we are, especially as Jews, revolves around food. Eating is, by nature, an intimate act, and there’s a fine line between what’s physically nourishing and what’s nourishing to our souls. But Kashrut has become an enigma. It is scary and foreign and some might not touch it with a ten foot pole. Some might feel judged based on their own kashrut practices.
We’re here to change this. As a part of a larger effort of cleaning and re-kashering our kitchen and creating a Kashrut Policy for Beth Sholom, we want everyone, regardless of the status of your home kitchen or what you eat, to have a greater understanding of the ins and outs of kashrut. I’ll be teaching a 3-part series discussing Kashrut, and we’ll begin by understanding some of the spiritual reasons and meanings of Kashrut. We’ll meet together on Wednesdays, February 21st, March 7th, and March 21, at 7:00 PM. These classes are a no-judgement zone and are for learning, and we hope that you’ll be a part of it.
