Halacha

Chok

No logical reason for something

Kashrut - holiness

• And you shall be holy to me, and flesh torn in the fields you shall not eat; you shall not eat; you shall throw it to the dogs - shemot 22:30

• You shall not eat any carcass. You may give it to the stranger who is in your cities, that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner; for you are a holiday people to the lord, your god. You shall not cook a kid in its mother’s milk - Devarim 14:21

• “For i am the lord your god, and you shall sanctify yourselves and be holy, because i am holy, and you shall not defile yourself through any creeping creature that crawls on the ground”

• “For i am the lord who has brought you up from the land of Egypt to be out god. Thus, you shall be holy, because i am holy” Vayikra 111:44-45

Why we observe kashrut

• Self-discipline

• Hygienic motives

• Limits chances of assimilation/preservation of Jewish identity

• Peach tradition

• Holiness - RamBan/nachmanadies

Meat, dairy and parev

“You shall not cook a kid in its mothers milk”

1. “The choice first fruits of your soil you shall being to the house of your god. You shall not cook a kid in its mothers milk” - Shemot 23:19

2. Prohibition of cooking meat and milk together

3. The prohibition of selling or profiting by (for example by giving as a present) meat and milk, if one has deliberately or unintentionally cooked these together (Talmud; tractate Chullin)

Meat and milk

• forbidden due to:

  • Chok

  • Miamonodies - too fatty and difficult to digest

  • According to some scientists, cancer causing substances are released

  • The prohibition of milk and meat against pagan ritual

  • Milk = life, meat = death

Kosher kitchen

• 2 sets of crockery

• 2 sinks

• Seperate dishwashers

• Fridges

• Peach - extra sets

• If things mix it should be put in boiling water/toiveled

Preparation of crockery

• The Jewish table is likened to an alter, its holiness compared to that of the holy temple

• Before dishes and utensils can be used in the kitchen, they must acquire an additional measure of holiness which is conferred though the ritual immersion in a pool of naturally gathered water, or mikveh

• A mikveh is a specially constructed ritual pool connected to a source of pure rain water. The procedure is known as toivelling

Shechita

• the Jewish religious and humane method of slaughtering permitted animals and poultry for food

• It is the only method of producing kosher meat and poultry allowed by Jewish law

Origins of shechita

• Jews allowed to eat meat - “every creature that lives shall be yours to eat“ (Bereshit 9:3)

• Jewish law requires that animals be treated with consideration, kindness and respect. The Torah is the first systematic Legislation prohibiting cruelty to animals and mandating humane treatment

• These laws remain binding to this day.

Shechita examples

• It is prohibited to cause pain to an animal - Tzar Ba’ath Chaayim

• A person is required to feed his animals before himself (Devarim 11:15)

• It is prohibited to sever a limb form a live animal and eat it (Bereshit 9:4)

• One is obligated to relive an animals suffering (Devarim 22:4)

• An animal threshing corn must not be muzzled (Devarim 25:4)

• An ox and a donkey must not be harnessed together (Devarim 22:10)

Performance of shechita

• Shechita is preformed with a surgically sharp instrument (a chalaf), which must be perfectly smoooth

• The shochet constantly examines the instrument to ensure the standard is maintained

• The frontal strictest at the neck f permitted animals including the trachea, oesophageal, the carotid arteries and jugular veins are severed in a rapid and uninterrupted action causing an instant drop in blood pressure to the brain

• Poultry is similarly traced though it is unnecessary and impractical to incise all of the blood easels

• This abrupt loss of pressure results in the immediate and irreversible cessation of consciousness and sensitivity to pain

Stunning and shechita

• Proponents of stunning to achieve the state of unconsciousness by additional ntervention, but shechita humanely incorporates stunning as an integral part of the procedure, which renders the animal insensible to pain and dispatches with a rapid action

• English law defines “stunning” as “any process which causes immediate loss of consciousness which last until death” [welfare of animals (slaughter or killing) regulations 1995, part 1, regulation 2]

• Exsanguination is the bleed out of the carcas

• This is especially important in Halacha as Jews are forbidden to consume blood (“however, be strong not to eat the blood, for the blood is thee sol; and you shall not eat the soul of the flesh” - Devarim 12:23)

• Exsanguination is necessary in all methods of animal and poultry laughter since blood deteriorates quickly and could putrefy the meat if it is retained in the carcass. Shechita ensures maximum Exhanguination

Kashering

• In order to kosher meat, it first my be slacked and salted

• the first step in soaking is to wash off all of the blood

• Soaking is done to enable the holes to open

Shochets

• Only Jews specifically trained for shechita, can preform shechita

• He is required to study for a number of years and is examined, in theory, and practice, in the las of shechita, animal anatomy and pathology

• He serves an Apprenticeship with an experienced shochet before becoming fully qualified. The position of a shochet, as a good fearing person of integrity, is a respected one within the Jewish community

Shochet qualifications

• In the UK, a shochet must hold 2 licences, one issued by the meat hygiene service and the other by the rabbinical commission for the licensing of shochetim

• This commission is a statutory body established by parliament and governemd by section 12 of the welfare of animals regulations of 1995

• A shochet is examined annually by the commission, and must apply for renewal of his licence every 12 months

• In the general slaughtering industry in the UK, a slaughter man is not required to undergo such rigorous training or stringent annual assessment, yet he is ‘licensed for life’

Tefarah

• “And you shall be holy people to me, and flesh torn in the field thou shall not eat you shall throw to the dogs” (shemot 22:30)

  • This applies to a clean dead animal that has suffered moral injustice from wild beasts but is not yet dead, if it is dead, it is nevelah

  • An animal whose death is due to physical defects or injuries is said to be tefarah

Tefarah in the Talmud

1. Clawing

2. Perforation

3. Deficiantly

4. Missing

5. Severing

6. Falling

7. Tearing

8. Fracturing: e.g., fracturing of most of its ribs

Kashrut and reform

• the reform position was set out in the Pittsburg platform of 1885, ‘we hold hat all such mosaic and rabbinical laws as regulate diet…. Organised in ages and under the influence of ideas altogether forign to our present mental and spiritual state

• They fail to impress the modern Jew with a spirit of priestly holiness; their observance in our days is apt rather than abstract to further modern spiritual elevation’

• Although this blanket rejection of the dietary laws as outmoded represented the “official” position of the reform movement through most of a century, it did not prevent individual reform Jews and reform congregations from adopting certain dietary laws for a verity of reasons, including the desire to not offend traditional or religious guests

Relevance of kashrut in society

1. Cost of meat

2. Kosher restaurants

3. Availability

4. Vegetarianism

5. Separation of community

6. Social issues

7. Kosher kitchen expenses

8. Koshering crockery

Origins of loans in the Torah

• “You shall not give interest to your brother, whether it be interest on money, interest on food or interest on any other item for which interest is normally taken

• You may, however, give interest to a gentile, but to your brother you shall not ive interest, in order that the lord, your god, shall bless you in everyone one of your endeavours on the land to which you are coming to possess” (Devarim 23:20-21)

• “If your brother becomes destitute and his hand falters beside you, you shall support im whether a convert or a resident, or that he can live with your

• You shall not take him interest or increase, and nor shall you give your food with increase” (Vayikra 25:35-37)

What is interest

• “Interest” is any time a person gets back more than they loaned, whether it was pre-arranged or not

• Not only is it forbidden for the browser to give the lender back more money than what was loaned, but he must not give anything extra as a result of the loan

Charging interest

• Interest is forbidden because we are obligated to help out others when in need

• If someone is in dire need for money, in order to sustain himself and his family, and he refuses to accept charity, we should lend him the money he needs, without him worrying about the interest ruining his future

Usury

The action of proactive of lending money at unreasonably high rates of interest

Practical applications

• in any case, it is permitted to borrow and/or lend from a non-Jew with interest, which is why many observant Jews prefer using banks that are owned by non-Jews

• There are also rabbinic authorities who say there is no prohibition of taking/giving interest form a Co-opertation, only from interest

• Some People rely on this case of great necessity

Contemporary issues

• Working at bank

• Payday loans

• Tenach system

• Heter Iska

• Mortgages

Deception

• Monetary deception - Ona’at mamon

• Verbal deception - Ona’at Devarim

• Accuracy in weights/measures

• Contemporary application

Onat Devarim - verbal deceptions

• “And you shall not wrong, one man his fellow Jew, and you shall fear your god, for i am the lord, your god” (Vayikrah 25:17)

• Rashi - here the Torah is warning against wrongly verbalising, namely, that one must not provoke his fellow Jew, may not offer advice to him that is unsound for him but according to the moral of life or the benefit of the advisor

Practical application of onat Devarim

• It is forbidden according to the Torah to ask someone who is interested in selling or leasing something, how much he or she is charging for that item, if the person asking has no interest in purchasing the item and is only interested in knowing the price for other reasons

• Similarly, a person may not ask a worker who is interested in a job, how much his fees are, if the employer has no intent to hire the worker to work for him

• By asking the police, he is raising his friends hopes that he has a potential customer, only to be disappointed when he realises his hopes were raised for nothing

• This is forbidden even though the person asking has no intent to disappoint the merchant or salesman

Ona’at mamon

• “And when you make a sale to your fellow Jew or make a purchase from the land of your fellow Jew, you shall no wrong one another” (Vayikra 25:14)

• Rashi -you shall not wrong: this meaning atoning through money

• This verse comes to prohibit overcharging in the sale of moveable items

In the Talmud:

• this prohibition is on the sale of an article at so much more, or to the purchase of an article at so much less, then its market value as fraud or the taking of an undue advantage is presumed

• A discrepancy of 1/6th enables the wronged party to secure the cancellation of the sale or purchase; that is, and article worth 6 money units in the market may not be sold for 7 or bought for 7

Accuracy in weights and measures

• “You shall not commit a perversion of justice with measures, weights or liquid measures

• You shall have true scales, true weights, a true ephah, and a true hin. I am the lord, your god, who brought you out of the land of Egypt” (vayikrah 19:35-36)

In the Talmud:

• an inspector of eights and measures must be present in every marketplace

Treatment of workers

• Rabbi Jill Jacobs authored a responsa in 2008, approved by conservative Judaism committee on Jewish law and standards, which that Jews are:

  • Obligated to pay their workers on time

  • Strive to pay their workers a living wage

  • Treat their workers with dignity and respect

• The response prohibited “publicly yelling at, mocking, or otherwise embarrassing workers; forbidding form speaking their native languages at work; banning all bathroom breaks; changing work hours and adding shifts without advance notice; or making improper sexual comments or advances towards workers”

Working well

• it is important not to steal company time. Rabbis have often noted the importance of working hard, such as the biblical Jacobi, who forked very hard for 14 years, despite being deceived by his father in law

• Therefore, employees should avoid spending too much time online or other diversion when their at work

Whistleblowing

• Rabbi Barry Leff authored a response in 2007 approved by conservative Judaisms committee on Jewish law and standards, regarding and employees obligation to report wrongdoing on the part of their employer

• He concluded that “in any case of wrongdoing, there is an obligation to rebuke the reason doing wrong if it can be assumed there is a reasonable chance to rebuke will be listened to, and the rebuke can be administered without substantial personal cost to the reporter”

Sex - scriptural origins

• and the lord god said, “it is not good that a man is alone, i shall make him a helpmate opposite him” (Bereshit 2:18)

• “Therefore, a man shall leave his father and his mother, and cleave to his wide, and they shall become one flesh” (Bereshit 2:24)

In the Talmud:

• Any man who does not have a wife is left without joy, without blessing, without goodness

• He proceeds to quote verses to support each part of his statement. He is without joy, as it is written: “you shall rejoice, you and your household” (devarim 14:26)

Sex in Judaism

• Judaism considers sex natural and holy

• Judaism only approves of sex between a husband and wife

• The first commandment in the Torah is to be “fruitful and multiply”, and procreation is one of the reasons that sex is considered holy

• Contraception is problematic because it interferes with the religious obligation to procreate; nonetheless, i is not absolutely prohibited

Marriage as Kiddushin

• Kiddushin - sanctification

• Marriage is the sacred relationship

Sex as pleasure

• “If he takes another wife for himself, he shall not diminish her sustenance, her clothing, or her marital relations” (shemot 21:10)

• Contraception issues

Reactions to marital sex

• Jewish law prohibits sex during menstruation

• Though the Torah prohibits only intercporse during this time, later rabbinic authorities prohibited all physical contact

• Adultery is forbidden - 10 commandments

• Beastiality/incest forbidden - Vayikrah 18

Homosexuality

• the sources of Judaisms traditional position on homosexual and gay issues are well known

• 2 verses in Vayikrah express clear condemnation of male homosexual sex

• According to Vayikrah 20:13: “if a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them”

• Many in the reform community dispute this issue

Niddah - source

• “If a woman has a discharge, her flesh discharged blood, she shal remain in her state of menstrual separation for 7 days, and whoever touches her shall become unclean until evening

• And whatever she lies on during her menstrual separation shall become unclear, and whatever she sits on, shall become unclean

• Any anyone who touches her bedding shall immerse his garments and himself in after, and he shall remain unclear until evening”

Main points of Niddah

• A husband may not have intercorse with a menstruating woman

• The rabbis extended the period of separation to 12 days (5 days period + 7 days of seperation)

• Separation begins from the first sign of blood

• Apart from intercourse, the husband and wife should have no physical contact with each other

• Whole section of Talmud dedicated to these laws

Reasons for Niddah observance

Physical benefits:

• 2 weeks after a woman has begun to menstruate, she is most fertile and most likely to conceive

• At the am time, a man who has abstained from sex for 2 weeks will ave an increased sperm count

• Thus, observing this period of seperation for 2 weeks will have an increased likely hood of conception

• Secondly, it is believed that women who have sexual intersex while ensuring are more vulnerable to infection and even cervical cancers

Psychological benefits:

• a coupe that abstains from sex for 2 weeks each month is more likely over time to form a strong non-physical attachment to each other

• Over time and especially as the coupe ages, his non-physical bond becomes n important part of a marriage

• Secondly, like anything that isn’t constantly available, the physical relationship between the husband and wife becomes more special and appreciated as a result of this period of physical separation

Blu Greenberg

“It was intended to protect women’s selves and sexuality; not bad, considering that society was oriented to the female serving the male, sexually or otherwise. Niddah also provided safeguards against women becoming sex objects; even when the law could not change social perceptions, at least it minimised those times when this attitude could be acted upon”

“The laws of Niddah continually remind me that i am a Jew and Niddah reinforces that deep inner contentment with a Jewish way of life. Acceptance of the mitzvah, then, is the base: attendant sensations of the community, ‘jewish womanhood’ and ‘chain to tradition’ are the embellishments”

Reform on Niddah

• Many reform Jews are strongly against the was of niddah:

  • Sexist

  • Demeaning

• Other see it as an expression of Jewish femininity

Mikveh

• Bath used for the purpose of ritual immersion in Judaism to achive ritual purity

• One must througholy bathe before entering and being purified by a mikveh

• They prepare for the mikveh by removing all clothing/jewellery

• A woman completes the niddah process by immersing herself in a mikveh (exempt you kippur and tisha baV)

Obligatory immersion in orthodoxy

• immersion in a mikveh is obligatory in contemporary Jewish practice in the following circumstances:

• Women:

  • Following the niddah period after menstruation, prior to resuming marital relations

  • Following the niddah period after childbirth, prior to resuming marital relations

  • A bride, before her wedding

• Either gender - as part of conversion to Judaism

• Immersion of Utensils acquired from a gentile

• Men:

  • By a groom, on the day of his wedding in some communities

  • By a father, prior to the bris of his son, according to come custom

  • By a John’s prior to a service where he will give a priestly blessing

  • Before you kippur, according to the custom of some communities

  • Before a Jewish holiday, according to the custom of some communities

  • Weekly before Shabbat, under Hasidic and charade customs

  • Every day, under chasidic customs

Conversion

• the religious conversion of non-Jews to become members of the Jewish religion and Jewish religious comunity

• A formal conversion is also sometimes undertaken by individuals whose Jewish ancestry is questioned, even if they were raised Jewish, but may not actually be considered Jews according to formal Jewish law

Judaism and conversion

• Judaism is not a missionary faith and so does not actively try to convert people (in many countries anti-Jewish laws prohibited this for centuries)

• Despite this, th modern Jewish community increasingly welcomes would-be converts

Why do people convert?

• marriage

• Schools?

• Seeking religious meaning

Primary sources of conversion

1. Circumspection

2. Questions to prostelytise

3. Mikveh

Differences in conversion

“If a convert is a woman, sit her down in the water up to her neck and the rabbinic judges remain outside and inform her of a few of the less strenuous and more serious mitsvot whilst she sits in the water.

Afterwards she submerges herself in front an they return there and leave in order that they do not see her while she is getting out of the water ”

LBD conversion

• Judaism is deception to someone who sincerely wishes to join Jewish people - there should be no ulterior motive

• Does consider applications for the motive of marriage

• Must make contributions to the Jewish community

Converts commitment to mitsvot

• Shabbat observance

• Maintains kashrut laws

• Niddah

• Read Hebrew

• Follow synagogue services

• Knowledge about festivals

• Halacha principles about running a Jewish home

Conversion process - beit din

1. Letter of reccomendation to the BD from their local rabbi

2. Applicant should write a letter describing themselves

3. BD will asses the candidate

4. Formal application - interview - reading list

5. Second interview - appointment tutor - syllabus

6. BD will meet applicant regularly (6 months)

7. Applicant should live in ‘Jewish area’

8. Convert to live with Jewish families (6 months)

9. Mikveh/brit millah

Completion of conversion

Bet din will check for:

• Knowledge of Jewish laws

• Personal observance of mitsvot

• Lived experince of Jewish community

• Readiness to take on the responsibility’s of being a Jew

• Time frame - 2 - 5 years

Reform conversion

• although not missionary, Reform Judaism sees no reason why a person should not b Jewish if they wish to be

• Requirements:

  • Sincerity

  • Knowledge

  • Participation

• Time frame: 12-18 months

• Candidate should attend services and participate in communal life

• Candidates appear before a reform beit din for completion

• Men have a Brit, all go to mikveh

Liberal conversion

• time frame ~ 15 months

• Interview with liberal rabbis to ascertain motives

• Formal course of education

  • Jewish history

  • Jewish literature

  • Hebrew language

• Support from the community to help experience the festivals

Completion:

• candidate submits 2 essays before receiving certificate from RBLJ

• Admittance ceremony where the candidate affirms their status as a Jew

• Brit Milah is not compulsory but recommended

Masorti conversion

1. Registration - MBD

2. Mentoring and tuition

   1. Isreal, Hebrew, prayer, kashrut, Shabbat

   2. Essay and written/oral exam

3. Conversion

   1. Interview, confirm commitment, mikveh, Brit millah

Matrilineal Judaism

• the idea that Jewish status is determined by the mother

• Everything else is determined by the father

• The Torah does not state this specifically

• Reform - the child of a Jewish father is presumed Jewish if the child is exclusively raised in Judaism and engages exclusively in public Jewish acts

Patrilineal Judaism

• 1983 - reform central conference of American rabbis passed the resolution on patrilineal decent

• Hebrew name

• Torah study

• Bar/bat mitzvah

• Jewish identity is only the father and everyone names them through the father