Q: What does it mean when a food is described as “kosher”?
— D., Colfax, N.C.
A: Kosher laws come from the Bible (Leviticus, Chapter 11), where God commands Jews to eat only meat from ruminants (animals that chew their cud) and those which also have cloven hooves (essentially, domesticated animals). Pigs, for example, are not kosher because they have cloven hooves but do not chew their cud.
Even kosher animals like cattle must be slaughtered in a ritually proper way that reduces suffering to the animal. Also, only the front part of a cow may be eaten. Kosher fish must have fins and scales (no eels, no lobsters, no shrimp). Fowl must not be birds of prey. Insects and reptiles are not kosher (big deal). Milk and meat dishes must never be mixed (no cheeseburgers!).
All kosher meat must go through porging — being soaked in salt to remove all traces of blood. That is real kashrut (keeping kosher), but many Jews have developed their own quirky modifications of kashrut. There are Jews who eat Chinese food out on Sundays (or in the basem*nt on a card table). There are Jews who eat shrimp when no one is looking.
Of course, none of these modifications have any religious standing but they have a big following, especially in New York City. The basic idea behind kashrut is that Jews are asked to consider their eating to also be a way of showing respect for God and for God’s commandments.
Many liberal Jews do not keep kosher because it makes eating in restaurants, going to dinner parties and general social intercourse impossible. Some Jews have embraced vegetarianism as a way to both keep kosher and also spare living creatures the pain and suffering of living out their short lives only to become our lunch.
Q: My employer conducts random drug tests at work. My roommate just met a girl who smokes pot and she’s over at our apartment a lot. I’m worried about testing positive for drugs because of all the pot smoke in our apartment. I can’t afford to move. What should I do?
— J., Huntington, N.Y.
A: Move anyway. Don’t move because pot smoke might cause a false positive for you on a drug test. We’re told the chances of that happening are not very great. You should move because living with pot smokers is going to make you a pot smoker — or an accomplice to pot smokers.
You are living in a spiritually dangerous place, and you should try to find a new apartment where your roommates are into chess, or basketball, or anything that makes you strong of mind and body and soul.
Q: My wife and I have been arguing over water. Our four teenagers refuse to drink tap water and we go through 4 to 6 cases of bottled water a week. We have a water filter, but the kids say they need spring water. We’re spending $60 to $80 a week on water. It’s crazy!
My wife says this is a small price to pay for the kids’ good health. I find half-empty bottles in the trash because no one wants to finish water that isn’t theirs. Could you guys come and bless our water so it will be pure and so I can save some money?
— S., Massepequa, N.Y.
A: Why don’t you just buy the big bottles of water instead of the smaSll ones? Or . . . you could buy one case of the little bottles and refill them from the big bottles when they’re empty. Or . . . you could move your family to the edge of a glacier and drink the water that melts in your front yard. Or . . . you could join people of good will everywhere to fight for effective clean water laws that will not force people to drink expensive bottled water. Or . . . you could sit down with your family and have a talk about the large amounts of money that are wasted by little acts of thoughtless waste.
Or . . . you could just ask yourself this question: With all the bad stuff happening in the world, why am I obsessing about bottled water?
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Concerned about a religious, ethical or moral issue? Need advice on workplace worries, spiritual battles, life and death, family and friends? Send questions only to The God Squad, Telecare, 1200 Glenn Curtiss Blvd., Uniondale, N.Y., 11553; post them on the God Squad Web site, www.askthegodsquad.com; or send them via E-mail to [email protected]
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