I don't know where a lot of those childhood rhymes we learn come from. A Jewish child was in my house and found some money I had dropped on the floor and not bothered to pick up. She said to me, "Finders keepers, loosers weepers." I told her that finding and taking anything in someone's house is stealing; I took the money away from her.
I suspect that her mother didn't teach her about theft, because twice, in my house, her mother took something of mine without asking me and gave it to someone else. She didn't think she was wrong because she didn't see any value to the things she gave away. That they were mine meant nothing to her.
I once watched as a Jewish woman picked up some money on the street. The man who had lost it was coming towards her, not seeing her but counting the money he was holding, clearly upset to be missing something. She put the money into her pocket and did not give it to him. These women were both unschooled in Judaism. One would never be schooled and the other woman was new to Torah Judaism.
As for words, not only can words hurt, they can kill. They have killed and even resulted in suicide; and in fact, we have recently had teen suicides in the news as a result of cyber bullying. One of those bullies turned out to be an adult, a mother--an example of how immature and dangerous some adults are. Sometimes, we say things that we think are constructive, but we hurt the people we think we are helping. We call this inappropriate use of words "lashon hara." There are various forms of it. When our words hurt others, we call that "Ona'at devorim."
We Jews try to learn not to be using our words this way. We are all of us sometimes guilty of using words that hurt others, hurt ourselves or cause embarrassment. We have to be careful not to repeat such mistakes. We can only do that if we keep learning and try to be the best we can be.
Speaking of values, those two lines remind me of another line: "Might is right." That is a value that is also opposed to Judaism. Might is right is the value of the ancient Romans, the more recent Nazis and the present day radical Muslims.
In contrast, the Jewish value is Justice is right. Having a Jewish homeland could only be possible if there is always a Jewish army. That does not mean that might is right in Israel today. But rarely if at all has Israel been the aggressor. True, those who settled overnight in the territories that were the homelands of non Jews for generations have trespassed on other's rights. For this reason, the move of the Israeli government to oust them is just.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
What does it mean to you to be a slave to dress, friends, work , or habits?
You have asked one question and you have asked four questions. To be a slave to anything at all means to make it the more if not most important part of your life, so important that it overwhelms other interests and takes up much of one’s thoughts. In America, for instance, a large percentage of the population focuses on food, status symbols and money. One can even become a slave to exercise, denying his family his time in favor of satisfying his desire to go biking or swimming or hiking with the guys. A man may go as far as to deny his wife her connubial rights so as not to diminish the energy he needs or wants to have available for his exercise. When anything becomes so important that it takes over one’s life in some way that denies what is truly meaningful to his friends, family and community, then one has become a slave to it.
Workaholics do this. They may do it as an escape from family and problems at home. That’s a cop out that clearly shows a weak personality. Are friends so important that you insist on using certain language, dressing a certain way and flaunting some aspect of your person? Then you are worshipping your friends and whatever it takes to look “cool.” Is it so important to drink with your friends that you party to the point of becoming ill? Then that becomes a habit that is like a serpent biting at your heels. We can overcome any of these urges which crouch at your door. Not doing so is akin to worshipping them. We make idols of singers, of sodas, of dress styles, of Egyptian cotton, of money, of cars, of plaits or dreadlocks in our hair, of jewelry—you name it, it can become what we focus on and make more important than healthy eating, living and socializing.
Workaholics do this. They may do it as an escape from family and problems at home. That’s a cop out that clearly shows a weak personality. Are friends so important that you insist on using certain language, dressing a certain way and flaunting some aspect of your person? Then you are worshipping your friends and whatever it takes to look “cool.” Is it so important to drink with your friends that you party to the point of becoming ill? Then that becomes a habit that is like a serpent biting at your heels. We can overcome any of these urges which crouch at your door. Not doing so is akin to worshipping them. We make idols of singers, of sodas, of dress styles, of Egyptian cotton, of money, of cars, of plaits or dreadlocks in our hair, of jewelry—you name it, it can become what we focus on and make more important than healthy eating, living and socializing.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
I have a special needs child. I don’t feel like I am getting anywhere. How do I know I am making progress? What is the meaning of success? I happened
Success is not having a credit card and success is not a product. A better word for success might be a process, or “growth.” Getting a credit card is often a milestone in a young adult's life. If the person has not learned to manage money, having a credit card can be a disaster. It was for me. I got into such debt that I had to have someone bail me out. I no longer even have a credit card even though I trust myself not to get in over my head again.
I had an experience that illustrates what success means to me. I was working with a two year old boy, a beautiful child. He didn't talk. He did what we call in Hebrew "hitkashkesh." That would translate as “scribbled," but in his case, it referred to his making noises instead of words. We teachers would speak to him as we might do with a six month old, teaching him to take turns speaking. We didn't use any baby talk with him.
One day, out of the blue, he began to speak in the most perfectly intelligible sentences. All the staff went bananas. We couldn't hear his voice enough that day or the next. It hit me that we had been having success with him every day, even though all we seemed to be celebrating on that one amazing day was a milestone he had reached in his development.
A milestone like that lets you know that you have been having successes all along. If we had been working futilely, he may not have reached that milestone so well or when he did.
Success is a process and life is a process. They are hopefully intertwined. They are like a ladder. You climb each rung, and reaching the top is a milestone, but you cannot reach it unless you are able to lift a foot and move your body upwards. Our children have successes every day that we do not always get to see. Maybe we think the day was unsuccessful because there was no visible achievement. But the milestone, even if we think of it as a product, is not the success. The child and his growth is the product, and as he learns to function like a typical child, he has to climb many rungs of a ladder, and he will not climb each rung in a day or even sometimes in a week or a month. But every rung that he climbs invisibly towards that milestone is a success.
Celebrate each day with your precious child. I did, and while it hurt to see her grow up so fast, moving from one stage into the next, I was thankful that she was growing well. In a pinch, my infant was a toddler and the day it hit me, I cried. In a snap, she grew up and is a woman. Now, I watch her in amazement as she resolves situations on her own as she makes shidduchim for others, enjoys and cares for her husband and raises her own child. I was successful. I hope someday you get to celebrate your child’s successful development.
I had an experience that illustrates what success means to me. I was working with a two year old boy, a beautiful child. He didn't talk. He did what we call in Hebrew "hitkashkesh." That would translate as “scribbled," but in his case, it referred to his making noises instead of words. We teachers would speak to him as we might do with a six month old, teaching him to take turns speaking. We didn't use any baby talk with him.
One day, out of the blue, he began to speak in the most perfectly intelligible sentences. All the staff went bananas. We couldn't hear his voice enough that day or the next. It hit me that we had been having success with him every day, even though all we seemed to be celebrating on that one amazing day was a milestone he had reached in his development.
A milestone like that lets you know that you have been having successes all along. If we had been working futilely, he may not have reached that milestone so well or when he did.
Success is a process and life is a process. They are hopefully intertwined. They are like a ladder. You climb each rung, and reaching the top is a milestone, but you cannot reach it unless you are able to lift a foot and move your body upwards. Our children have successes every day that we do not always get to see. Maybe we think the day was unsuccessful because there was no visible achievement. But the milestone, even if we think of it as a product, is not the success. The child and his growth is the product, and as he learns to function like a typical child, he has to climb many rungs of a ladder, and he will not climb each rung in a day or even sometimes in a week or a month. But every rung that he climbs invisibly towards that milestone is a success.
Celebrate each day with your precious child. I did, and while it hurt to see her grow up so fast, moving from one stage into the next, I was thankful that she was growing well. In a pinch, my infant was a toddler and the day it hit me, I cried. In a snap, she grew up and is a woman. Now, I watch her in amazement as she resolves situations on her own as she makes shidduchim for others, enjoys and cares for her husband and raises her own child. I was successful. I hope someday you get to celebrate your child’s successful development.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Should an observant Jewish girl study ballet? (A. C.)
Ballet is a sport with specific requirements that are at odds with Torah. The attire is one problem, and even though ballet can be a solitary sport, it is not meant to be. And why would you want your daughter to engage in a sport that places such emphasis on body size, shape and weight? And it may at times include men. It is not an activity that she would do with her husband except in private and assuming he also has studied ballet, and would she keep it up in solitude into old age with sufficient satisfaction?
Unlike other physical activities, ballet demands a certain body structure. A small body promises a center of gravity close to the ground. The toes on the feet have to have a specific form in which the first three toes ideally will touch the ground simultaneously when the toes are pointed downward. Since ballet is a competitive activity and is as demanding as it is, it is not one that is likely to build a good self-image in the average girl.
Better ways to develop strength for grace and balance along with a good self-image are through such activities as skating–-roller skating, rollerblading and ice skating. The girl can dress tzniyusly (modestly) and she can engage in the activity with her girl friends and with her husband and children later in life. She can continue the activity into old age, too, to keep up strength and to work for good balance.
While there will be girls who will desire ballet or running or even riding bicycles, the problem with all of these is that one cannot maintain an appropriate level of modesty. When my daughter was little, she loved gymnastics, and then at the beginning of one class (it would be her last), the teacher insisted that she stop dressing in normal clothing and put on a pair of leotards. She was horrified, and she refused to return there again. So I bought her a pair of roller blades, and she still roller blades, and she can do so with her husband. Even though she dresses modestly for her “workouts,” she chooses out of the way locations where she will be safe but not in sight of others. Additionally, rollerblading can be done indoors as well as outdoors. The same is true for roller skating and ice skating.
Other sports that are harder but possible to do only with other women or in solitude are swimming, basket ball, jump rope and weight lifting. I know women who do any and all of these things. One woman gets her exercise with a hula hoop, and I use walking and stair climbing to get my exercise, although I do not consider these a sport.
When considering activities for an observant girl, consider an activity that will provide a lifetime source of health and joy and that will get her out in nature as well as fulfill her indoors. If tap dancing is what she really wants, or ballet, make sure she understands what that will involve for her and what it won’t. It won’t involve performance except in a strictly female group.
Unlike other physical activities, ballet demands a certain body structure. A small body promises a center of gravity close to the ground. The toes on the feet have to have a specific form in which the first three toes ideally will touch the ground simultaneously when the toes are pointed downward. Since ballet is a competitive activity and is as demanding as it is, it is not one that is likely to build a good self-image in the average girl.
Better ways to develop strength for grace and balance along with a good self-image are through such activities as skating–-roller skating, rollerblading and ice skating. The girl can dress tzniyusly (modestly) and she can engage in the activity with her girl friends and with her husband and children later in life. She can continue the activity into old age, too, to keep up strength and to work for good balance.
While there will be girls who will desire ballet or running or even riding bicycles, the problem with all of these is that one cannot maintain an appropriate level of modesty. When my daughter was little, she loved gymnastics, and then at the beginning of one class (it would be her last), the teacher insisted that she stop dressing in normal clothing and put on a pair of leotards. She was horrified, and she refused to return there again. So I bought her a pair of roller blades, and she still roller blades, and she can do so with her husband. Even though she dresses modestly for her “workouts,” she chooses out of the way locations where she will be safe but not in sight of others. Additionally, rollerblading can be done indoors as well as outdoors. The same is true for roller skating and ice skating.
Other sports that are harder but possible to do only with other women or in solitude are swimming, basket ball, jump rope and weight lifting. I know women who do any and all of these things. One woman gets her exercise with a hula hoop, and I use walking and stair climbing to get my exercise, although I do not consider these a sport.
When considering activities for an observant girl, consider an activity that will provide a lifetime source of health and joy and that will get her out in nature as well as fulfill her indoors. If tap dancing is what she really wants, or ballet, make sure she understands what that will involve for her and what it won’t. It won’t involve performance except in a strictly female group.
In response to your post on vegetarianism, is the Torah asking us to conquer a desire for meat?
The short answer is yes. Actually, that is only one of the behaviors we are to restrain ourselves from doing. Hashem wants us to conquer all desires of the body.
When Hashem (G-d) made humanity (odom or Adam), He stated that mankind would have a specific power over the creatures of the earth. The verb "ridu" is in the plural, so it refers to all humankind, not to some man called Adam who is going to be put in charge of the animal kingdom. This principle of ridu means to make the animal kingdom subservient to man. That does not mean that we use animals as slaves or force them to serve us. Rather, the principle refers to the animal kingdom within a man that man would be able to keep under his control.
Like the fish, we love the water and like to swim in it. Like the birds, we love to fly. Even lions and horses have inspired people. Humanity throughout history in various places has even made these creatures into their gods, just the opposite of making the animals subservient to humanity. One of the reasons we sacrificed animals in The Temple was to make clear to ourselves and to other peoples that animals were not gods but were subservient to us. If they were gods, they would not be dying by our swords just as Abraham’s father’s idols could not resist his hammer that broke them.
Hashem's plan for Adam is to overcome the animal kingdom within himself, within every human being. In part, this was why Hashem did not want the Hebrew people to have a human king. No man should make another man subservient to himself or to others. This is in part the problem with what we call homosexual behavior between men. A man is not allowed to put another man by force into the position of a woman, women being subservient to men in a patriarchy. That includes men of his own position in the community, slaves and children. The Torah never said that homosexuals were evil or bad news or different in the sight of Hashem. The Torah did not even discuss them. The principle was all about power and subservience. This is also why a man should only have one wife and a woman only one husband. No man should treat his wife like anything but his mate. She is not his pet or his servant that he should allow himself to dominate her. Women also must not dominate their husbands.
This is our challenge to become divine-like by having power over all our animal compulsions. That includes resisting eating meat, having power over others, selling our children into slavery (just one way to sacrifice them to our lusts for power or money) treating slaves and debtors badly, and practicing any form of incest that is forbidden in the Torah. It also includes not stealing, murdering or doing any of the other do-not commandments that come later.
To place someone above oneself is to demean oneself and descend spiritually—to become like a beast. That is why someone who wanted to be a slave was to be marked like a beast with a tag attached to his ear. His behavior would not be seen as befitting a human station. This should remind us that free will involves only two choices. We can aspire to divinity or we can descend to the level of the animal kingdom within us, a realm of behavior which is far lower spiritually and behaviorally for humanity than even the animals demonstrate in their behavior.
How bad can we humans be? Consider the flood that Hashem caused in the time of Noach. Whatever men wanted, they took and did, and they thought of everything. There was no restraint at all. Rashi says that the behavior of humanity was rebellious against Hashem's laws and that the heroes of the time, the giborim, gained fame for the scope of their degeneracy. It was not a matter of one law or two but of whatever men could imagine doing. The broadness of their behavior did not exclude any one behavior. They were so bad that it was a mercy to the earth to destroy them. Consider how we behave in the world today, polluting the earth the way we do and hurting each other, committing genocide the way we do. What we eat is the least of our evil, although eating meat is a behavior that increases pollution of the air and water. We humans still do not restrain ourselves as Hashem wants us to do.
When Hashem (G-d) made humanity (odom or Adam), He stated that mankind would have a specific power over the creatures of the earth. The verb "ridu" is in the plural, so it refers to all humankind, not to some man called Adam who is going to be put in charge of the animal kingdom. This principle of ridu means to make the animal kingdom subservient to man. That does not mean that we use animals as slaves or force them to serve us. Rather, the principle refers to the animal kingdom within a man that man would be able to keep under his control.
Like the fish, we love the water and like to swim in it. Like the birds, we love to fly. Even lions and horses have inspired people. Humanity throughout history in various places has even made these creatures into their gods, just the opposite of making the animals subservient to humanity. One of the reasons we sacrificed animals in The Temple was to make clear to ourselves and to other peoples that animals were not gods but were subservient to us. If they were gods, they would not be dying by our swords just as Abraham’s father’s idols could not resist his hammer that broke them.
Hashem's plan for Adam is to overcome the animal kingdom within himself, within every human being. In part, this was why Hashem did not want the Hebrew people to have a human king. No man should make another man subservient to himself or to others. This is in part the problem with what we call homosexual behavior between men. A man is not allowed to put another man by force into the position of a woman, women being subservient to men in a patriarchy. That includes men of his own position in the community, slaves and children. The Torah never said that homosexuals were evil or bad news or different in the sight of Hashem. The Torah did not even discuss them. The principle was all about power and subservience. This is also why a man should only have one wife and a woman only one husband. No man should treat his wife like anything but his mate. She is not his pet or his servant that he should allow himself to dominate her. Women also must not dominate their husbands.
This is our challenge to become divine-like by having power over all our animal compulsions. That includes resisting eating meat, having power over others, selling our children into slavery (just one way to sacrifice them to our lusts for power or money) treating slaves and debtors badly, and practicing any form of incest that is forbidden in the Torah. It also includes not stealing, murdering or doing any of the other do-not commandments that come later.
To place someone above oneself is to demean oneself and descend spiritually—to become like a beast. That is why someone who wanted to be a slave was to be marked like a beast with a tag attached to his ear. His behavior would not be seen as befitting a human station. This should remind us that free will involves only two choices. We can aspire to divinity or we can descend to the level of the animal kingdom within us, a realm of behavior which is far lower spiritually and behaviorally for humanity than even the animals demonstrate in their behavior.
How bad can we humans be? Consider the flood that Hashem caused in the time of Noach. Whatever men wanted, they took and did, and they thought of everything. There was no restraint at all. Rashi says that the behavior of humanity was rebellious against Hashem's laws and that the heroes of the time, the giborim, gained fame for the scope of their degeneracy. It was not a matter of one law or two but of whatever men could imagine doing. The broadness of their behavior did not exclude any one behavior. They were so bad that it was a mercy to the earth to destroy them. Consider how we behave in the world today, polluting the earth the way we do and hurting each other, committing genocide the way we do. What we eat is the least of our evil, although eating meat is a behavior that increases pollution of the air and water. We humans still do not restrain ourselves as Hashem wants us to do.
Monday, August 3, 2009
My friends tell me it is against the Torah to be a vegetarian? Is it?
While Hashem gave us permission to eat certain animals, He never said or implied that we must eat them. Because Adam and Chava (Eve) ate a forbidden food, they were ousted from Gan Eden. The food they ate was forbidden and therefore not kosher. Why it was forbidden is answered in part after they ate it. But that still does not say that the tree was safe to eat. It might have been poisonous—poisonous enough to overcome their immortality.
I once mistook a plant for an onion, and I vomited almost immediately after eating it. That was a good lesson, but I would have to say that I still have not learned that lesson. Many delicious looking plants are poisonous, either known to cause diseases like cancer or known to be fatal. While I know that, I still have to fight myself when it comes to tasting fruits. I was walking in the neighborhood just in the past few weeks, and I noticed a lovely fruiting plant growing in a neighbor's yard by the sidewalk. The fruits were about the size of cherries and just as red. I was enchanted, and I had to try one. It was delicious. It tasted like an apple. It could also have been poisonous. Curiosity could have killed the cat—me! While I do not have to eat everything, I like to taste everything. Therein lies my own struggle with restraint, and I do not fight against it hard enough when it comes to fruits.
When parents tell their children not to eat or do something, it is often for their own good and even for their protection. The proverbial cookie jar isn't going to kill them or give them cancer, but a belly full is not going to contribute to good health and could give them a belly ache.
As soon as we are told "no," we have to make a choice to restrain ourselves or to let our curiosity or desire get the better of us. Since mankind could not refrain from eating animals, Hashem, being as merciful as He is, gave them other prohibitions. Noah was given the law not to cut off the limb of a living animal. The Chinese do not obey this law. You can go to a Chinese market in China, and you can buy a piece of a living (and miserably dying) animal.
Read Bereshis (Genesis) 1:29. A person who is a vegetarian is keeping the first dietary law given to mankind. He is conquering his desire for meat. How can the Torah have a problem with that?
Unfortunately, there are people who will have a problem with that. People do not like when someone in a group acts differently. Look, that's one of the reasons Jewish people are so often disliked. We do things differently. Jewish people are as human as others, so if one person acts differently, it may make others at the table feel nervous. It is as if they are confronted with their own lack of restraint and feel guilty about it. No one likes to feel guilty, and if someone is of the opinion, even subconsciously that his guilt is a result of someone else’s behavior, he will fight back to protect his ego and justify his behavior.
The Torah is in great measure about the problem of restraint. Consider any number of people who could not restrain themselves from abominable behaviors: Cain who murdered his brother, the people who taunted Noah and had not restrained themselves from taking whichever women they wanted, Lot’s wife, Lot with his daughters, Kimchi, Bilaam, and thousands more. Adam and Chava were the first examples and the role model for all their children all the way to us. We have not learned yet to restrain ourselves and obey Hashem.
We are all of us humans, and we each have our own challenges, and the issue of restraint is often at the bottom of our behavior, and it is always about that free will—choice! Adam and Chava were curious and they liked their fruit. Lot’s wife could not restrain herself from looking back for her daughters, Lot could not restrain himself from committing incest, Kimchi had to bed Kosbi, Bilaam could not resist the wealth that Balak promised him, even when he had multiple divine warnings. Like so many others throughout the Torah and throughout history, Bilaam is an example of those who are more afraid of evil men than they are of Hashem.
You do not have to let other people get on your nerves. You are on this earth to serve Hashem, not other people. I applaud you for your sticking to your vegetarian diet, and I also encourage you to continue what you are able to do and which so many other people are incapable of doing because they must have their meat.
Links:
http://www.jewishveg.com/jv.html
http://jewishvegetarianism.com/
http://www.jewishveg.com/schwartz/dietgod.html
I once mistook a plant for an onion, and I vomited almost immediately after eating it. That was a good lesson, but I would have to say that I still have not learned that lesson. Many delicious looking plants are poisonous, either known to cause diseases like cancer or known to be fatal. While I know that, I still have to fight myself when it comes to tasting fruits. I was walking in the neighborhood just in the past few weeks, and I noticed a lovely fruiting plant growing in a neighbor's yard by the sidewalk. The fruits were about the size of cherries and just as red. I was enchanted, and I had to try one. It was delicious. It tasted like an apple. It could also have been poisonous. Curiosity could have killed the cat—me! While I do not have to eat everything, I like to taste everything. Therein lies my own struggle with restraint, and I do not fight against it hard enough when it comes to fruits.
When parents tell their children not to eat or do something, it is often for their own good and even for their protection. The proverbial cookie jar isn't going to kill them or give them cancer, but a belly full is not going to contribute to good health and could give them a belly ache.
As soon as we are told "no," we have to make a choice to restrain ourselves or to let our curiosity or desire get the better of us. Since mankind could not refrain from eating animals, Hashem, being as merciful as He is, gave them other prohibitions. Noah was given the law not to cut off the limb of a living animal. The Chinese do not obey this law. You can go to a Chinese market in China, and you can buy a piece of a living (and miserably dying) animal.
Read Bereshis (Genesis) 1:29. A person who is a vegetarian is keeping the first dietary law given to mankind. He is conquering his desire for meat. How can the Torah have a problem with that?
Unfortunately, there are people who will have a problem with that. People do not like when someone in a group acts differently. Look, that's one of the reasons Jewish people are so often disliked. We do things differently. Jewish people are as human as others, so if one person acts differently, it may make others at the table feel nervous. It is as if they are confronted with their own lack of restraint and feel guilty about it. No one likes to feel guilty, and if someone is of the opinion, even subconsciously that his guilt is a result of someone else’s behavior, he will fight back to protect his ego and justify his behavior.
The Torah is in great measure about the problem of restraint. Consider any number of people who could not restrain themselves from abominable behaviors: Cain who murdered his brother, the people who taunted Noah and had not restrained themselves from taking whichever women they wanted, Lot’s wife, Lot with his daughters, Kimchi, Bilaam, and thousands more. Adam and Chava were the first examples and the role model for all their children all the way to us. We have not learned yet to restrain ourselves and obey Hashem.
We are all of us humans, and we each have our own challenges, and the issue of restraint is often at the bottom of our behavior, and it is always about that free will—choice! Adam and Chava were curious and they liked their fruit. Lot’s wife could not restrain herself from looking back for her daughters, Lot could not restrain himself from committing incest, Kimchi had to bed Kosbi, Bilaam could not resist the wealth that Balak promised him, even when he had multiple divine warnings. Like so many others throughout the Torah and throughout history, Bilaam is an example of those who are more afraid of evil men than they are of Hashem.
You do not have to let other people get on your nerves. You are on this earth to serve Hashem, not other people. I applaud you for your sticking to your vegetarian diet, and I also encourage you to continue what you are able to do and which so many other people are incapable of doing because they must have their meat.
Links:
http://www.jewishveg.com/jv.html
http://jewishvegetarianism.com/
http://www.jewishveg.com/schwartz/dietgod.html
Why does one spot of blood make the whole egg treif and make the other egg treif that I cooked with it? Why can’t they just be fleishig?
In the past, eggs were fertile unlike the eggs most of us buy today in the supermarket. A blood spot might have been the beating heart of the chick beginning to grow. Today, with eggs that are not fertile, the issue of life starting is no issue at all anymore. If you eat fertile eggs, you abide by the rules as established by the sages. But the blood of eggs is still not kosher and sometimes, you will find an egg where you don’t even see a blood spot but the white of the egg is pink from blood. That egg must be discarded.
Remember that the only eggs that are kosher are the ones that come from kosher animals—kosher birds and kosher fish. The eggs of turtles and platypuses and owls are not kosher.
When eggs are raw and to be broken for use, one usually breaks the egg and drops it into a glass dish. If you were to drop it directly onto a hot frying pan, the pan would become unkosher if the egg had a blood spot.
Consider another idea that is put forth in the Shulchan Oruch (Code of Jewish Law.) Fish blood is kosher and pareve, but if you collect it into a basin, you may not use it for food. This is because one should never create the appearance of eating or using blood. Someone might misinterpret what you are doing as using blood. The prohibition often translated as eating blood also refers to the use of blood in divination. It was a custom of other peoples to open a bird (thereby killing it) and to divine the future by the trickling pattern of the blood as it flowed out from the dead body of the bird. Using a blood egg might have created the same misunderstanding if one were to notice it. Jews were forbidden to divine or to use up an animal’s life needlessly. That’s why the pasukim (verses) contain the reminder that the life is in the blood: Lev. 7:26-27 and Lev. 17:10-14.
In some cases, the spot can be removed and the rest of the egg left intact. This is usually the case of a boiled egg. When the blood discolors the whole egg or cannot be removed without leaving a trace of blood, then the egg is not kosher. Most of the blood I have seen in eggs is so abundant that there is no thought of even trying to find a part of the egg to use. At times, there will be just a spot of blood. Usually, the spot is on the yolk, and trying to remove it would break the yolk. So that egg is not kosher.
When cooking eggs, the rule is to have three eggs in a pot at the minimum. Eggs were considered treif (not kosher) if one egg was cooked in a pot with a blood egg. If two eggs were cooked in a pot with a blood egg, they were not considered treif. Compare this to a pot of beef soup into which is dripped accidentally one drop of milk. The soup may still be kosher depending on the quantity of soup in the pot. In such cases, one should consult a rabbi.
It is not necessary to cook an odd number of eggs in a pot. That idea comes from the minimum number three of eggs that should be cooked together.
Some eggs are certified to be kosher. But this doesn’t mean they will be. You still have to check them for blood spots.
In my experience, when eggs are certified to be kosher, they have few blood spots because they have been checked so carefully. When I buy other eggs, I find lots of blood spots. And when I’ve bought fertile eggs, I’ve had to throw away so many that I stopped buying them altogether.
Do eat eggs. They are nutritious, containing some of virtually every nutrient known except Vitamin C.
Remember that the only eggs that are kosher are the ones that come from kosher animals—kosher birds and kosher fish. The eggs of turtles and platypuses and owls are not kosher.
When eggs are raw and to be broken for use, one usually breaks the egg and drops it into a glass dish. If you were to drop it directly onto a hot frying pan, the pan would become unkosher if the egg had a blood spot.
Consider another idea that is put forth in the Shulchan Oruch (Code of Jewish Law.) Fish blood is kosher and pareve, but if you collect it into a basin, you may not use it for food. This is because one should never create the appearance of eating or using blood. Someone might misinterpret what you are doing as using blood. The prohibition often translated as eating blood also refers to the use of blood in divination. It was a custom of other peoples to open a bird (thereby killing it) and to divine the future by the trickling pattern of the blood as it flowed out from the dead body of the bird. Using a blood egg might have created the same misunderstanding if one were to notice it. Jews were forbidden to divine or to use up an animal’s life needlessly. That’s why the pasukim (verses) contain the reminder that the life is in the blood: Lev. 7:26-27 and Lev. 17:10-14.
In some cases, the spot can be removed and the rest of the egg left intact. This is usually the case of a boiled egg. When the blood discolors the whole egg or cannot be removed without leaving a trace of blood, then the egg is not kosher. Most of the blood I have seen in eggs is so abundant that there is no thought of even trying to find a part of the egg to use. At times, there will be just a spot of blood. Usually, the spot is on the yolk, and trying to remove it would break the yolk. So that egg is not kosher.
When cooking eggs, the rule is to have three eggs in a pot at the minimum. Eggs were considered treif (not kosher) if one egg was cooked in a pot with a blood egg. If two eggs were cooked in a pot with a blood egg, they were not considered treif. Compare this to a pot of beef soup into which is dripped accidentally one drop of milk. The soup may still be kosher depending on the quantity of soup in the pot. In such cases, one should consult a rabbi.
It is not necessary to cook an odd number of eggs in a pot. That idea comes from the minimum number three of eggs that should be cooked together.
Some eggs are certified to be kosher. But this doesn’t mean they will be. You still have to check them for blood spots.
In my experience, when eggs are certified to be kosher, they have few blood spots because they have been checked so carefully. When I buy other eggs, I find lots of blood spots. And when I’ve bought fertile eggs, I’ve had to throw away so many that I stopped buying them altogether.
Do eat eggs. They are nutritious, containing some of virtually every nutrient known except Vitamin C.
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