One of my favorite things to do is eat.  Whether its going out to a restaurant or snacking on the couch, if it involves food count me in!

This weeks parsha, Shemini talks about the laws of kashrut.  This hits close to home because food is such a big part of my life.  I don’t know if thats because I have grown up in San Francisco, one of the food capitals in the world or if it’s because I am Jewish and our culture revolves around food.

My family has always kept some level of kashrut in our house and now that I have started to become more observant, I have brought more awareness to my family and what is brought into our house.  Shemini talks about the animals we are not allowed as Jews to eat, handle and slaughter.  Though I have never had the desire to have or interact with non kosher animals, I know for many, the temptation is there.

I wanted to share one of my struggles around the issue of kashrut.  Though I am not tempted to eat non kosher meat like pork or shellfish, those crackers, cookies and snacks that go unhecktured remain a personal temptation.  For a while I didn’t understand why things that in my mind were clearly kosher like crackers needed to have a heckture and supervision.  I have been doing research and have asked many rabbis and have found a factor that has greatly influenced me.

Some factories use lard and animal oils as lubricants to help the product they are producing go through the machines.  Because this is not in the product directly it is not required to be listed in the ingredients deeming the product not kosher.  This is a major reason why I think it is important to only purchase goods that are certified kosher.

I think there are many reasons why it is important to keep kosher.  Some of which are: God said so, it unites us jews as a people, it separates and elevates us as a culture and faith.

I hope you all have a wonderful shabbos filled with yummy and kosher chicken, koogle, snacks and more.

Good Shabbos!

Mikayla Kimel