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Cover 8lor
KOSHER from page 1
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Council of B.C., falls more squarely with Plotkin's argument that the two laws are distinct ITiough inhumanity presents its own moral conflict, it docs not impact on kashrut, said the rabbi.
"If you ask me if it is right or wrong, I will tell you it is wrong," he said. But to argue that cruelty to an animal deems it treife is overstepping the boimds of kashrut, he said. "Because it is not humane does not deem it not kosher,"
A more serious issue that observant Jews should be turning their attentions to, Teitelbaum warned, is genetically modified food. One technique used to pro-
long the freshness of tomatoes, he said, is to splice a shark's gene into the tomato gene. The practice raises an interesting question, he said, though a conference on the subject determined that the gene of a product does not render another item treife. As the debate continues over genetically modified food, however, the impact on kashrut is likely to undergo further examination.
Li the meantime, Teitelbaum said it is important to be aware of the guidelines provided kashrut and keep within those Imes.
"We have to know where our boimdaries are and work within them," he said. □
Being kind to animals
In general, the Torah law eiUier forbids cruelty to animals or requires us to show them compassion and mercy. Regarding cruelty, Deuteronomy 25:4 prohibits us from muzzling an ox as it thrashes in the grain. How cruel to let it see the food as it works and not let it eat. Deuteronomy 22:10 prohibits us from plowing with an ox and an ass together on one yoke. Why should a weaker animal have to strugi^e to carry a load in excess of its capadly, while the other worics at its reg-idarpace?
Hunting is forbidden to Jews, since the killing is inevitably long and painfiil (Genesis 9:4). R^prding mercy and compassion, Leviticus 25:6-7 requires Jewish fanners in Israel to leave aU food that grows by itself during sabbatical years for everyone's use includ- t ingfor the cattle and for the beasts that are on thy land...." |
The prohibition from working on Shabbat includes not only the j master and his family and servants, but even the cattle (Earodus | 20:10). Indeed the rabbis teach that we can violate the biblical | ndesctfShabbat to alleviate the pain ofan animal (Shabbat 128b). i ■nierefore, we may milk a cow on Shabbat The Torah obligates | us to help an animal that has slipped and is l3ring under its load i - even "the animals of our enemy." (Exodus 23:5) \
-Excerpted from 'Animal Rights vs. Kashrut: Forbidden, but l not Tretfe," by Rabbi Paid Plotkin, JTS Magazinev winter issue. ^
Kaslirut resources
People who want to keep kosher have a new resource that makes shopping easier. B.C. Kosher published its first Kosher Guide recently, listing kosher products and the stores that carry them. "Through several easy-to-read cross-referenced sections, the book tells kosher consumers what brands of products are acceptable and which of six major grocery store chains carries them.
The book is distinctly local, providing assistance in the oflcn-difficult task of locating kosher products in Vancouver and the rest of the province.
There are other kashrut resources available internationally, including i&s/irus Magaziru:, which publishes five times per year in Brooklyn, N.Y. Recent issues surveyed the 366 kosher-ccrti-f3ring agencies worldwide and offered a travel guide to 26 communities, which included kosher restaurant listings, synagogues, mikvahs and local tourist highlights. Another article discusses kitchen appliances and gadgets as they apply to kosher cooks.
The magazine tells the story of how a small group of Jews convinced an air conditioner company to adapt their whole line of products so they could be pre-programmed to come on and off during Shabbat □