When washing your hands using the One-Time Method, in all cases except when washing for bread, here is what to use:

• Best: Cup that holds at least a revi'it of water.
• Next Best: Wash hands from a spigot within 12” of the ground, turning the spigot off and on between hands.
• Third Choice: If the spigot is more than 12” above the ground, simply hold your hands under a regular faucet in the flow of water so that your hands get wet all over.  No need to turn the water on and off.
  Note This is a b'di'avad case. 
• Fourth Choice: If there is no water, say whatever blessings you need to say anyway (for example, asher yatzar) rather than not saying the blessing at all. You will still have the tum'a on your hands (but you should rub your hands on cloth of clothing first).

Taking care of many of our physical needs before Shabbat begins allows us to enhance our physical rest and emphasize our spiritual nature on Shabbat.
To prepare, we make or buy the food we will need for Shabbat, clean the house, and put it in order.  The custom is to shower or bath especially for Shabbat.
Before sunset on Friday, we turn on whatever lights we will need during Shabbat so that our homes are well lit. We leave the lights on until Shabbat is over (or we set timers to regulate when the lights go on and off since we cannot be involved with controlling them).
 

1. Place arm tefila box (bayit) on center of bicep of whichever arm you do not write with (knot on the arm tefila should touch the side of the box). If you are ambidextrous, put the tefila on your left arm.
2. Say the first blessing, “lehaniach tefilin.”
3. Tighten the strap.
4. Wrap the strap around your arm seven times between your cubit (inside of your arm, opposite the elbow) and your wrist.
   Note If you wrap more times, it is OK.
   Note You may wrap the tefilin strap over a wristwatch or put a watch on top of the tefilin strap.
   Note Tefilin straps should not overlap with each other and should not be wrapped on top of the ulna protuberance, but if they do--it is permitted.
5. Wrap the excess around the palm of your hand (tuck in the end to keep it tight and out of the way).

Normally, for a pie say:
Fore-Blessing
Fore-blessing of borei minei mezonot, even if it contains less than 1.3 fl. oz. (39 ml, or 1/6 cup) of flour. 
After-Blessing
To say the after-blessing, al ha'michya, you must eat a total volume of at least 1.3 fl. oz.--even if the flour was a minority of the ingredients. 
            However, if you prefer the filling to the crust (if you would not eat the crust by itself), say the appropriate fore-blessing over the filling, such as:

• She'hakol (after-blessing: borei nefashot), or
• Borei pri ha'eitz (after-blessing if on more than 1.3 fl. oz. of the Five Special Fruits--figs, dates, grapes, or pomegranates:  al ha'eitz.

Saying the blessing on a talit gadol, while intending to cover all other talitot (whether talit katan or talit gadol), will cover:

• All talitot that you already put on.
• All talitot that you will put on later that day.
• If you go out of whichever building you are in when you say the blessing on your talit, you must say a new blessing if you put on a talit (even the same talit) in a different building.

Exception You may intend for the blessing NOT to cover other talitot.
Example You say the blessing over your talit gadol on the morning preceding Yom Kippur.  You may intend for your blessing not to cover the talit gadol that you will put on just before Kol Nidrei.

Note If you don't have a talit gadol, say al mitzvat tzitzit over your talit katan.

Note If you remove your talit gadol, go to a different building, and put the talit gadol on again, you DO say a new blessing.

You may not salt certain foods, whether cooked or raw, on Shabbat if the:

• Salt will materially (not just due to the flavor of the salt) change the flavor of the food, as in salting cut or chopped onions or salting tomatoes.
  
  Note You may dip the tomato or other food into salt using your hand as you are eating it.
• Foods have a shell; e.g., corn kernels (on or off of the cob), beans, peas.
• Salt has not been heated previously (e.g., during the processing of the salt) and the food you are salting is hot (over 120° F, or 49° C).

Leniency  If the food has oil in it, you may add salt even if the food contains onions or has a shell. Even a thin layer of oil will exempt the salt.

Although the Five Special Fruits do not combine in volume with non-special fruits for the after-blessing of al ha'eitz if eaten sequentially or even interspersed with each other, they DO combine for the after-blessing if:

• They are considered to be one food, AND
• The main component is the Special Fruit.

Example
                        Situation
You eat at least 1.3 fl. oz. (39 ml, or 1/6 cup) within four minutes of dates stuffed with almonds.
What To Do Say the after-blessing of al ha'eitz over both types of fruits.

Tevila is the Hebrew word for immersion.  You must tovel (immerse in a mikva or other halachically purifying water) new utensils made of metal or other materials that require tevila unless you know that they were:

• Made by a Jew,
• Sold by a Jew, and
• Not owned by a non-Jew in between.

Toveling: Utensils: How To Tovel
To tovel a utensil, you may go to any kosher natural mikva (see section on natural mikvas) or to a mikvat keilim (a small mikva for utensils, often attached to the outside of a regular mikva building). To tovel several items, some of which require a blessing and some on which there is doubt whether a blessing is necessary, say the blessing over the item that requires the blessing and have in mind that the blessing will cover all the rest of your items.
Remember to remove all stickers, rust, etc., before you begin. Nail polish remover may help with stubborn stickers. Say the blessing al tevilat keilim and then let the item free fall through the water. Unlike with hagala, during which the item may be immersed in sections, when you tovel a utensil, the entire item must be in contact with the water at the same time, even if only for an instant.

Toveling: Utensils: What Gets Toveled?
The below chart is copied with permission from the Star-K (www.star-k.org):
 
 

Utensil	Tevila Guideline		Utensil	Tevila Guideline
Aluminum Pans, Disposable if intended to be used more than once	Tevila with Brocha		Meat Tenderizer Hammer, Metal	No Tevila
Aluminum Pans, Disposable to be used only once	Tevila w/o Brocha		Melamine	No Tevila
Blech	No Tevila		Metal Cutlery	Tevila with Brocha
Blender with metal blade on bottom	Tevila with Brocha		Metal Flour and Sugar Storage Canisters	Tevila w/o Brocha
Bone	No Tevila		Metal Pots Coated with Teflon, Enamel or Plastic	Tevila w/o Brocha
Brush, Pastry	No Tevila		Metal Spoon Specifically for Medicine	Tevila w/o Brocha
Brush for Grill, Metal	No Tevila		Microwave Turntable, Glass	Tevila w/o Brocha
Can Opener	No Tevila		Mixer Beaters	Tevila w/o Brocha
Cans, Reusable Empty if opened by a Yehudi	No Tevila		Paper	No Tevila
China, Bone	Tevila w/o Brocha		Peeler, Vegetable	Tevila with Brocha
China, Glazed	Tevila w/o Brocha		Plastic	No Tevila
Colander, Metal	Tevila with Brocha		Porcelain Enamel	Tevila w/o Brocha
Cookie Cutters, Metal	No Tevila		Racks, Cooling	Tevila w/o Brocha
Cookie Sheets, Metal	Tevila with Brocha		Racks, Oven	No Tevila
Cork Screw	No Tevila		Rolling Pins Metal or Wood	No Tevila
Corningware	Tevila w/o Brocha		Sandwich Maker	Tevila with Brocha
Crockpot Ceramic Insert	Tevila w/o Brocha		Silicone	No Tevila
Crockpot Glass Lid	Tevila w/o Brocha		Sink Racks, Stainless Steel	No Tevila
Crockpot Outside Metal Shell	No Tevila		Spatula, Metal	Tevila with Brocha
Dish Rack, Metal	No Tevila		Stoneware	Tevila w/o Brocha
Dishes, Ceramic	Tevila w/o Brocha		Stoneware, Non-Glazed	No Tevila
Earthenware, Non-Glazed Dull Finish, e.g. Flower Pot	No Tevila		Storage Utensils, Glass not brought to the table	No Tevila
George Foreman Grill	Tevila w/o Brocha		Styrofoam	No Tevila
Glass (including Pyrex, Duralex & Corelle)	Tevila with Brocha		Tea Kettle, Corelle	Tevila with Brocha
Grater, Metal used for foods that are ready to eat, eg, apples, onions	Tevila with Brocha		Toaster which will not break	Tevila w/o Brocha
Grater, Metal used only for foods that need further cooking,eg potatos	Tevila w/o Brocha		Toaster Oven rack & tray only	Tevila with Brocha
Hamburger Maker	Tevila with Brocha		Trivet, Metal	No Tevila
Hot Air Popcorn Maker, Metal	Tevila with Brocha		Waffle Iron	Tevila with Brocha
Hot Water Urn, Metal	Tevila with Brocha		Warming Tray	No Tevila
Knife, Arts & Crafts	No Tevila		Wood	No Tevila
Knife Sharpener	No Tevila		Wooden Cask with Metal Straps	Tevila w/o Brocha
Meat Thermometer	No Tevila

Your fore-blessing covers all other same-category foods that you will eat at the same time (same sitting), if:

1. They are in front of you when you say the blessing, OR
2. You intend your blessing to cover all other same-category foods that you own and will eat at the same sitting--even if they are not in front of you when you make the blessing.
   Note You do not need to state your intention out loud, just think it.  If you usually have this intention but you forgot on an occasion, you do not need to say new blessings on the subsequent foods of that type that you already own.

• You say she'hakol over two kinds of she'hakol foods on your table.  The blessing also covers a third she'hakol food in your refrigerator and a fourth in your pantry that you know you own.
• You say she'hakol and are eating an omelette when a visitor brings you a gift of chocolates: you must say a new she'hakol]blessing before eating the chocolates.
  Note Anytime your spouse is serving you food, it is assumed that your initial fore-blessings will cover all food that you will eat.

• Guest at Someone's Home
  Whenever you are a guest at someone else's house, it is assumed that whatever foods you will eat, will be covered by your initial fore-blessing as long as they are in the same category.
• Attendee at Kiddush or Wedding
  If you say she'hakol over fish at a kiddush or wedding, the blessing covers all she'hakol foods in the room.
• Diner in Restaurant
  If you have made an order in a restaurant, all ordered foods will be covered by your first fore-blessing(s). However, if you later order more food, even if the fore-blessings are the same, you must still say a new fore-blessing.

A mezuza (pl., mezuzot) is a small, sofer-inscribed parchment scroll containing the two Torah paragraphs commanding us to put mezuzot on our doorposts and gates: Deuteronomy/Devarim 6:4-9 and 11:13-21 (these are the first two paragraphs of the shema prayer.)  Each doorway that is related to where people live must have a mezuza.

Mezuzot are placed on the right side of doorways as you enter in apartments, buildings, or even recreational vehicles that you rent for 30 days or more (or that you purchase/own), in which you sleep.

A mezuza has protective value in that it reminds us to think about God each time we walk past a doorway or gateway, and so the particular name of God written on the mezuza (shin-daled-yud) likewise can serve as an acronym for God's role as “Shomer dirot Yisrael”—Watcher over the dwelling places of Israel.  

Introduction To CHARITY/TZEDAKA: ON WHAT TO GIVE
Give charity on 10\% of your net, after-tax income or received gifts of money (cash, checks, or equivalent).
 
Items or Material Gifts
If you receive or inherit items or material gifts that you use, you do not need to give charity from their value. If the items or material gifts were intended for sale and you sold them, give to charity 10\% of the money you receive.
 
Trusts, Funds, and Securities
A trust or other inherited or gifted fund does not pay charity on money it receives or earns. Only the recipients give charity, when get they get any money.
If the trusts or funds are intended for sale and you sold them, pay 10\% on the value you received to charity.
 
You do pay 10\% on inherited or gifted securities once you have inherited them, even if you do not intend to sell them. If you do not have enough cash to give 10\% of the securities' value, you should sell 10\% and give that money to charity. The remaining securities do not incur a requirement of owing charity, whether they increase or decrease in value in the future.
 
Heir: Charity on Money or Property for Sale
You must give to charity 10\% of the value of an inheritance or gift of:

• Money, and
• Property, including a building or house, that you to sell (but not if you will keep or use it for yourself, such as to live in). If you do not have enough cash to pay 10\% of the building's value, you may pay it off over time.

Note If  you inherit (or will inherit) from a person who died, you are required to pay for (or help pay for) the dead person's burial. You may not deduct this money for burial or funeral expenses from your ma'aser charity.

Whether a food made of the Five Grains qualifies as bread (ha'motzi) or mezonot (borei minei mezonot) depends on whether the food was intended to be eaten as a meal or as a snack, as follows:

• Bread for a meal: Say ha'motzi.
• Mezonot (but you will eat a full meal): Say ha'motzi.
• A snack (including bread as a snack): Say borei minei mezonot.
  Note Some foods may qualify as either ha'motzi or mezonot (such as pizza).
  Note Whether the bread/mezonot was made with fruit juice instead of water may not affect its blessing, since the blessing is determined by the food's intended use. “Mezonot” rolls on airline flights may still require the blessing of ha'motzi if you eat them as part of a meal.
  Note Bread that has been cut into small pieces and fried may be reduced in status from bread to mezonot.

In a non-bread food containing a mixture of grains, at least 20\% of the main ingredients must be from one of the Five Grains in order to require the fore-blessing (bracha rishona) of borei minei mezonot (after-blessing:al ha'michya).
If at least 20\% of a bread's flour is from one of the Five Grains, say a fore-blessing of ha'motzi (and birkat ha'mazon afterward if you ate at least 1.3 fl. oz. within four minutes).
Normally, the fore-blessing for bread (ha'motzi), or for other cooked or baked foods made from flour (borei minei mezonot), will override the remaining foods in a food mixture.
Say borei minei mezonot over:

• Cholent whose main ingredient is barley;
• Ice cream cone (ice cream + cone)—see “ice cream cone” for further details;
• Pie; and
• Cheesecake with any kind of crust.
  Note Cheesecakes are sold in bakeries and not in cheese stores, indicating that the mezonot part is more important than the cheese part as regards fore- and after-blessings.

Here is a typical order of waking/morning prayers for weekdays (many people say these blessings at the synagogue instead of at home):

• Wake
  Wake and wash hands (Three-Times Method).
• Bathroom
  Take care of any toilet needs, wash your hands (One-Time Method).
  Say blessings al netilat yadayim and asher yatzar (until l'fgarim meitim).
• Torah Blessings

• Talit Katan
  Put on talit katan (for men).
  Say blessing if not married or if not putting on talit gadol later.
    Note You may put on the talit katan before washing your hands

• Birchot HaShachar

• Talit/Tefilin

 

• Talit (for married men or other men with that custom).
• Tefilin (for men).

• L'olam Yihei Adam/Korbanot

• L'olam yihei adam,
• Short shema,
• Paragraph ending mekadeish et shimcha ba'rabim,
• Readings on sacrifices/korbanot,
• 13 rules.

• Psukei D'Zimra

• Psalm 30/Mizmor Shir Chanukat habayit.
• Baruch she'amar through yishtabach (includes ashrei).

• Bar'chu/Shema/Amida

• Psalms/Alenu

Terms To Know

• Neitz, HaNeitz—Sunrise
• Alot HaShachar—72 minutes before sunrise
• MiSheyakir-- 36 minutes before sunrise in New York in winter and 40 minutes in summer. Nearer to the equator, the maximum time is shorter.

When Things Happen
Before Alot HaShachar (72 minutes before sunrise)
You can put on tzitzit/talit and tefilin without blessings.

Alot HaShachar
You can say:

• Birchot ha'shachar.
• Shema and amida, b'di'avad.

Mi'sheyakir (36-40 minutes before sunrise)
You can say:

• Blessings over tefilin and tzitzit/talit.
• Shema and amida as necessary.

K'Vatikin
You can say shema l'chatchila--and begin saying the amida exactly at sunrise.

By Third Halachic Hour of the Day
You have until the third halachic hour of the day to say:

• The blessing mekadeish et shimcha ba'rabim if you want to include the word Adonai.
• Morning shema.

By Fourth Halachic Hour of the Day
You have until the fourth halachic hour of the day to say any of the prayers from barchu until the end of the amida.

Halachic Mid-Day
You have until halachic mid-day, b'di'avad, to say the shacharit amida.

          

By Sara-Malka (Diane) Laderman

Kosher (Hebrew for “fitting” or “suitable”) means foods that comply with certain laws. Kosher rules could be summed up like this:

• The food must start out kosher. 
• The food must stay kosher during processing.

Starting Out Kosher
The Food's Natural State

Rule #1

Plants
All Plants, Raw, Are Inherently Kosher

All raw, unprocessed plants are kosher. However, restrictions on produce grown in Eretz Yisrael may apply (teruma, ma'aser, shmita), and orla may apply to produce grown anywhere in the world.

• For laws about eating perennial fruits, see appropriate listings under Agriculture. 
• For laws regarding bugs in plant produce, see below.

Rule #2

Mammals
All Mammals that Chew Their Cud and
Have Split Hooves Are Inherently Kosher

Kosher mammals are all cud-chewing, split-hooved animals (Leviticus/Vayikra 11:1-8 and Deuteronomy/Devarim 14:3-8). Included are both domestic ("beheimot"--goat, sheep, and cow families ) and wild ("chayot"--deer, giraffe, and wild goat and sheep families) mammals. There are two (sometimes) practical differences between the two groups:

• You may eat the cheilev (a type of fat) from a wild kosher mammal, and
• After slaughtering, you must cover the blood from a wild kosher mammal but not a domesticated kosher mammal.

Below is a sampling of kosher mammals:

Hooves

Q: How can you tell if an animal has split hooves?

A:
1)  Split Hooves Must Be Hooves

Hooves must be made of hoof material--a hard substance similar to your fingernails—not fleshy feet.

2)  Split Hooves Must Be Split

Hooves must be split all the way through from front to back.

Cud-Chewing

Q:  How can you tell if an animal chews its cud?

A:  Watch for the sliding ball.

When a cud-chewing animal starts to eat, you will see it bolting down its food into its first stomach, like a hungry 9th grade boy (much like humans racing to throw groceries into their shopping carts), in case a lion or bear is coming to eat him or her.

Next, it will find a safe place to more leisurely bring up its cud and chew its stash. During cud-chewing time, especially for goats (sheep are usually too woolly to make out shapes), you will distinctly see:

• Racketball shape popping up the goat's throat, 
• Goat's cheeks ballooning out and its lower jaw chewing in a horizontal figure-eight pattern, and, a little later,
• Racketball shape sliding down the throat again.  

You will soon see the shape of a new racketball pop up the throat.

By contrast, a non-kosher animal will chew slowly and well the first time—it will not have another chance to chew its food later, like the kosher animals do.  

Imposters

Animals in the camel family (camel, llama, alpaca, vicunya, etc.) appear to have split hooves when seen from the front.  These are actually just two long toenails in front of a padded, fleshy, incompletely split foot, which you can easily distinguish as a whole foot when looking from the back.

One non-kosher animal has great-looking split hooves but doesn't chew its cud—animals from the pig family.

Insight from Masechet Chullin

All kosher mammals inherently have horns; all non-kosher animals are hornless.  Bottom line:  If you find a horned animal, it's definitely kosher.

But horns are not a halachic requirement from the Torah like split hooves and cud chewing are, which is a good thing, since some breeds of goats, sheep, and cows are naturally “polled” (born hornless) or their horn buds were removed when they were young to prevent damage later.

Rule #3

Fowl
All Fowl That Have “Masoret” Are Inherently Kosher

Not everyone's agreed as to what the Torah means by a “netz” or a “yanshuf.”  So when Leviticus/VaYikra 11:13-19 lists the 20 non-kosher flying species—allowing us to eat anything NOT on the list—we ignore the list and just eat what we know our ancestors traditionally ate as kosher.  This tradition is known as masoret.

In the US, we eat all breeds of chickens and--in most circles--turkey, all breeds of goose except those whose beak is black (such as the Canadian goose) or whose beak does not go straight back to its forehead (like the Chinese goose), and Peking duck (we don't eat mallard or Muscovy ducks or their close relatives).

In Israel, additional birds eaten as kosher include mallard and Muscovy ducks, guinea fowl, Couternix quail, pigeons, and turtle doves.

Note Some Jewish families originating in Germany, Iran, and other places maintain their masoret on eating pheasant, and you may be able to receive masoret on various species from researchers such as “The Aris”--Dr. Ari Greenspan and Rabbi Dr. Ari Zivotofsky, both Jewish ritual slaughterers (shochtim) who have spent the last 20 years interviewing and videotaping elderly European and Sefardi immigrants to Israel as to what birds they ate as kosher in their home countries. You can google their work or read some of Dr. Zivotofsky's articles on www.kashrut.com.

Zivchei Cohen, a book written and published by a Jewish ritual slaughterer (shochet) in Italy, shows colored illustrations of 29 species known to be kosher, including peacock, pheasant, Couternix quail, mallard duck, and numerous songbirds.  Maor L'Masechet Chullin U'Vechorot (vol. 2, Feldheim, pp. 29-33) reproduces these colorful illustrations and names each bird in five languages, noting that the 29 were listed to acquaint students of Jewish ritual slaughter (shechita) only with rarer birds' identities and that the well-known kosher species were not included in the 29!

Chazal noted that kosher birds share certain characteristics:

• They sit on a branch with three toes in front and one in back.  Non-kosher birds usually sit two and two, as they need equal strength on both sides of their feet for killing and carrying off food, except for:
  • Owls, whose feet are flexible and can move their toes to the side, forward, or back, and 
  • Vultures, who need balance walking instead of gripping, since they walk on the ground to eat food that is already dead.
• They lay eggs that are not entirely round or oval but are, well, egg-shaped, with kad v'chad—a rounded end and a pointed end. Not all egg-shaped eggs are kosher, but all totally round eggs, if from fowl, are not kosher (fish eggs from kosher fish, which are perfectly round, are of course kosher). There are some eggs, including from doves, that seem perfectly oval but are actually kosher.

Rule #4

Fish
All Fish That Have Fins and Scales Are Inherently Kosher

This excludes most eels (some conger eels that have kosher scales are kosher!) and all shellfish, catfish, sharks, swordfish, sea urchins, jellyfish, sea slugs, and many other sea creatures.

In addition to commonly eaten kosher fish such as salmon and tuna, some unexpected fish are also kosher, including barracuda, goldfish, and many other pet and tropical fish.

Rule #5

Grasshoppers

All other creatures, except the four kosher locusts, are not kosher. Rule #6

Kosher from Kosher
Whatever Food Substances Come Out of a Kosher Animal Are Inherently Kosher…

except for some fats (cheilev), blood, and the sciatic nerve (gid ha'nashe).

Milk from a cow (a kosher animal) is kosher. Milk from a pig (a non-kosher animal) is not. An egg from a kosher bird is kosher; an egg from a non-kosher bird is not kosher.
Exception

Q:  Since bees are not kosher, how can we eat honey? 

A:  Honey is not produced from bee parts, but rather from flower parts.

Rule #7

Animal Blood
May Not Be Eaten in Any Form.

Note Fish blood is not forbidden.

Preparing Kosher
Harvest and Kitchen

Plants

What To Check

• Remove bugs (see Why Bugs May Not Be Eaten)
• Select fruits and vegetables that have no harvest-related problems such as orla (and in Eretz Yisrael, kilayim, shmita, etc.); separate out teruma and ma'aser from any Israeli-grown produce that requires it (see Teruma/Ma'aser: Ownership: What Is Hefkeir Produce)
• Make sure that any liquid grape product to be handled by a non-Jew for a Jew has been cooked or pasteurized before being handled.  Cooking turns the wine into an inferior product disqualified for use in idolatrous practices.

Animals

Mammals

Slaughter/Shechita

Kosher mammals must be slaughtered in the quickest and most humane manner possible, according to halacha.  A highly trained ritual slaughterer (shochet) must perform the slaughtering (“shechita”).  He checks the knife before the slaughtering to ensure there are no burrs to catch on the animal's throat.  He says the blessing “al ha'shchita” and then cuts the windpipe and the esophagus as well as the neck arteries.  After slaughtering, he checks the knife again for burrs (if he finds one, the animal is not kosher) and checks the animal's lungs to make sure the animal wasn't about to die of lung perforation in the near future.  

Certain types of adhesions may be found on the animal's lungs. If they can be removed (by peeling) without perforating the lungs, the meat is kosher. If there are only small and easily removed lesions, the meat is glatt (“smooth”). If there are no lesions at all, the meat is classified as “Beit Yosef.”

Kosher lamb and goat are always glatt/chalak kosher.

Actually, there are 18 organic or physical defects that may make meat non-kosher but, as a practical matter, we only check for lesions in the lungs and also in the second stomach. 

If the animal proves to have been healthy, it is sometimes hung upside down to allow the arterial blood to drain out. (It is possible to hang the animals before being slaughtered but this is not the usual method). 

Skinning and Traiboring

The animal is skinned.

Next, the animal is traibored. Traiboring removes certain nerves, sinews, blood vessels, and fats that we don't eat, including the sciatic nerve damaged when our forefather Jacob wrestled with the angel at the Jabbok stream.  

In the US, only the forequarters are traibored and eaten, and the hind portion is sold to the non-Jewish consumer. In Israel, the hind portion is traibored too and eaten as kosher.

May you traibor meat once it's cooked?  And if not, how did Jews traibor more than 1 million Passover lamb offerings that had to be slaughtered and prepared between midday and evening (and it takes 2-3 hours to traibor one lamb!). The Jewish commentator The Raavad says the Passover lamb was traibored before roasting; Rambam disagrees, since the lamb had to be roasted whole. Rambam opines that the sinew, unlike fat, does not impart its flavor to the meat and that people would just traibor the Passover offering meat on their plates.

Removing Blood

The next steps involve removing blood (“kashering”) and can be done at the butcher's or at your home.  The meat is cut, rinsed, soaked for at least 30 minutes, put on a slanted board to allow the blood to run off, and covered with kosher (a coarse) salt for one hour.  After being rinsed three more times, the meat is now kashered.

Preparing the Liver

The liver is cut halfway through several times and covered with kosher salt top and bottom.  You can oven broil the liver on a rack reserved for that purpose. The blood must be able to drain away from the liver 

You can instead broil the liver over a fire outdoors.  Grilling outside will give the liver a delicious smoky flavor that even children like--but do NOT allow the neighborhood cats to steal your livers off the grill!  

Fowl

Covering Blood

Kosher fowl is slaughtered and, when it stops flapping, is usually hung upside down to allow the arterial blood to run out and onto the earth. Cover all the blood with dirt (a mitzva from the Torah--mitzva d'oraita) and say the blessing “al kisuy dam b'afar.”

Defeathering

Rinse with water and remove the feathers. Defeathering can take a while for chickens and up to two hours for one small duck, especially if you are saving the down!  

Removing Internal Organs

Rinse the bird. Usually, a circle of flesh surrounding the anus is cut out.  Start pulling out the digestive system.  Recognizable items such as the liver, heart, and giblets will come out and eventually you will be able to stick in your hand and pull out the lungs.  This is not as cold and unpleasant as it sounds because the bird will be warm for quite a while.

Salting

Once the bird is defeathered and the internal organs have been removed, rinse and salt with kosher salt inside and out and put it on a slanting board for an hour. Rinse three more times and cook!

Preparing the Giblets

Cut off the hard coating at one end of the giblets and rinse out the fine sand within. Remove the yellow internal lining.  Salt and kasher with the rest of the bird.

Preparing the Liver

To kasher the liver, see Preparing the Liver, above, for meat liver.

Fish

Buying Fish

Kosher fish bought from a store in which non-kosher fish are also sold should have any cut surfaces scraped and should be rinsed before using. Ideally, the knife that cuts the fish should be washed with soap and water beforehand. 

Grasshoppers

Chagav Grasshoppers

Not much preparation needed here. Many Yemenites just twist off their heads and eat. B'tei'avon!

Substances from Animals

Milk

Dairy must be kept separate from meat, with a separate set of pots, pans, servers, scrubbers, and dishpans each for dairy and meat. See Kashrut: Dairy/Meat Combinations.

Eggs

Eggs must be checked for blood spots.  Throw out a fertilized egg with a blood spot. You may remove the blood in the white of the egg and eat the rest of an unfertilized egg, but the custom is to not eat the egg at all.

Unwanted Additives

Manufacturing Aids

In the US, food manufacturers are allowed to add “manufacturing aids”--even more than 1/60th of the volume of the other ingredients--without listing them. Some foods therefore need special supervision to ensure non-kosher substances have not been added.

Examples

• Kosher oils may be deodorized by heating them in vats that previously contained non-kosher oil, which renders the formerly kosher oil non-kosher. Or they may be put into tankers previously used for non-kosher liquids.
• Food colorings may come from the cochineal insect, which is non-kosher, and flavorings may be derived from the musk of non-kosher animals.
• Cheeses may have non-kosher rennet or pig milk added. Also, the rabbis of thousands of years ago made an injunction that even where the ingredients are kosher, cheese still requires kosher supervision.
• Maple syrup in the vat may be stirred with bacon (which is non-kosher) to reduce the froth produced by boiling.  
• Candy may include non-kosher oil that is put into the molds so the candy does not stick.
• Kosher meat might not be kosher for Passover.

Transference of Taste (Ta'am)

Sometimes dairy will spatter onto a meat utensil, or someone will set a hot pot of kosher food into a non-kosher sink.  Or someone will cut a lemon or onion with a dairy knife and then put the lemon into a pot used for meat.  What happens next depends on whether the offending substance was:

1. Charif (spicy/sour/strong) enough to transfer the taste to the new item.
2. Hotter than yad soledet bo (too hot to hold your hand in it for a few seconds—about 120° F, or 49° C).
3. More than 1/60th of the total volume.

See following halachot for what to do next.

Kitchen Set Up

A hungry Martian landing in a modern kosher kitchen must assume earthlings eat in binary: Ideally, two sinks. Two dish towels.  Two sponges.  Two dishpans. Two cutting boards.  Even, if the owner is fortunate, two dishwashers.

And what about those strange markings on the pots, pans, and servers?  Perhaps he'll find a bright splotch of red paint or an “F” (for fleishig--Yiddish for “meat”) lettered in nail polish on utensils in the left cabinets.  Blue paint or nail polish, or an “M” (for milchig--Yiddish for milk) on utensils in the right cabinets. The plates, bowls, and silverware in left cabinets do not in any way match those in the right cabinets. Somewhere in a central cabinet, pots, pans, and servers are painted with a white dot, marked with a “P” for pareve, or left unmarked.

Opening the pantry, little symbols jump out from canned and packaged goods.  Star-K, O-U, O-K, KOF K…..  Only the dried beans and grains seem symbol-less.  And the freezer?  Well stocked but no frozen bacon, pepperoni pizza, and shellfish TV dinners.…

How do these people eat?

The Great Divide

Separating Dairy and Meat

Welcome to the world of dairy and meat. Most kashrut problems in the kitchen involve the transfer of milk or meat flavor to the other gender by means of heat or, less commonly, by hot/spiciness.

It's easy to be jealous of vegetarians, or people who only eat plants and dairy products or who only eat plants and meat products!  They never confuse their pots and serving utensils or deal with spatters of hot dairy foods onto meat utensils or vice versa.  Large institutions and kosher cafeterias, similarly, may not have these mix-ups, since they can usually devote a whole room to a dairy or a meat kitchen.

Here's how the rest of us live:

Countertops

If you can, designate some countertops for dairy and some for meat.  This will help you stay organized spatially.  If you have only one sink, you may need to use the counter to the left for one dishrack (dairy or meat) and the counter to the right for your other dishrack. 

Some countertop materials, such as granite, can be kashered by pouring boiling water over them.  This will make the counters kosher and pareve (neutral--not dairy or meat).  Once you have kashered your counter(s), you will be able to set down hot utensils, pots, and pans directly onto the counter (dairy utensils on your designated dairy counter; meat utensils on your designated meat counter). 

If your countertop is not kosher or kasherable, you will need to cover the countertop before setting down hot (above 120° F) utensils, pots, and pans. Trivets work fine but so does a simple piece of corrugated cardboard in a pinch.  

Dishes and Flatware

If feasible, select different patterns of dishes and flatware for dairy and meat so you can tell them apart.  It is helpful to store the dairy and meat dishes in separate locations, preferably close to the counter of its gender. Porous dishes (stoneware, china, ...) cannot be kashered once used for hot non-kosher food and cannot be changed from one gender to the other. Metal dishes generally can be kashered. Glass only assumes a gender if it is placed directly on a fire or other heat source (to at least boiling temperature) or into a hot oven, so even if you pour boiling water or hot food into a glass bowl, such as hot pasta, and add cheese or other dairy food, the bowl remains pareve (or whichever gender it was previously).

Sinks and Dishracks

If you don't have two sinks--one for dairy and one for meat--and must use the same sink for both, try to choose different colors for your dairy, meat, and pareve dishpans, dishracks, and sponges/scrubbers (or sponge holders). If not, distinguish your dairy dishpans, dishracks, and sponges/scrubbers (or sponge holders) from your meat ones by placing them on opposite sides of the sink. Neutral, or pareve, dishes/cookware require a third sponge and dishpan. In a pinch, you can wash dishes, pots, and utensils by holding them in the air or placing them on a counter (whether either kashered or not) next to the sink as long as the dishware, pots, etc., do not reach 120° F.  

Drawers

You can designate one drawer for dairy flatware and a second drawer for meat (and a third drawer for pareve). Color-coding or purchasing “dairy” and “meat” stickers to place on the outsides of cabinets and drawers can be especially helpful if anyone else will be cooking/washing dishes in your house and doesn't know your kitchen well.  

Cooking Utensils/Food Processors

Distinguish your cooking utensils (your choice of colors) for dairy, meat, or pareve by using paint or nail polish, using different patterns, or even different shapes (one person uses round baking dishes for dairy and rectangular ones for meat!). If you lack drawer space, hang utensils from the wall or overhead rack or put them on your counter in jars color-coded for dairy, meat, or pareve. In a pinch, colored electrical tape can be used temporarily to mark dairy or meat servers or serving pieces (until it falls off during washing or turns black in the oven…).

You will only need one blender, blending stick, bread machine, mixer, food processor, etc., if you always keep them pareve.  Otherwise, you may need duplicates of these items. Color-code them as well.

Stove Burners

To kasher a non-kosher stove burner, clean off any hard deposits on the grate, cover the burner with a sheet of metal (to hold the heat on the grate), and heat it full-blast for 45 minutes. (See halachot below for kashering burners by putting them in the oven.) 

Stovetop

A stainless steel stovetop can be kashered, but a ceramic one (due to porousness) might not be kasherable-consult a rabbi.  When cooking, place an appropriate spoon rest or bowl nearby (for dairy or meat, depending on what you are cooking) to hold your hot stirring spoon or spatula. This way, you won't need to set down your hot stirring utensil onto a non-kosher countertop or stovetop, or place a hot dairy stirrer where you previously set down a hot meat spatula.  

Oven

You can kasher a non-kosher oven by cleaning off any accumulation of old food (whether burned on or not, it must be removed) and turning up the oven full blast for 40 minutes.  You may use the same oven for dairy and meat foods if you always keep either the dairy or meat covered. Consider the oven to be one gender and always cover liquid foods of the opposite gender (dry foods do not require a cover).

Cutting Board

If you only have one cutting board for fruits and vegetables and one knife, you may want to keep them pareve. The main kosher problems with knives and cutting boards happen when cutting a fruit or vegetable with a strong-spicy taste that can transfer the milk or meat status of one utensil or food to another.  Such items are garlic, lemon, onion, and sour apples, and sour grapefruits.

Examples

• Garlic was chopped with meat knife on a dairy cutting board (rendering the garlic, the knife, and cutting board non-kosher), or
• Onions cut with a dairy knife were tossed into a boiling meat pot (rendering the pot and contents non-kosher unless the onions were less than 1/60th the volume of the pot's food). 

TABLE'S SET

Glasses, washed, can be used for a dairy or meat meal. You can use the same salt and pepper shakers and clean glasses for dairy and meat; however, it is recommended to use separate salt and pepper shakers since you might have food of one gender on your hands when you use the shakers of the opposite gender. If you typically use a table for serving either dairy or meat, and want to serve the opposite without switching tablecloths, lift the tablecloth and use the original table surface or cover the tablecloth with placemats. If one person wants to eat dairy and another wants to eat meat at the same time on the same table, place a reminder to remind them not to mix the foods (different placemats or tablecloths, physical barrier between the people's dishes, etc.).

COOKING FOR RELIGIOUS JEWISH FRIENDS

Let's say you don't keep kosher and want to have your kosher-observant friend over. What to serve?

As long as your utensils are clean, you chose kosher foods (see Going Shopping, below) or fresh fruits and vegetables, nothing gets 120° F or above, there is no involvement of anything spicy (charif), and you don't mix dairy and meat (don't offer a kosher bologna sandwich with kosher Swiss cheese!), everything should be OK. Some people will prefer if you serve them using disposable plates, bowls, flatware, and cups; if you are Jewish, you should only serve on disposables. Some will prefer to be in the kitchen during food preparation. Don't be offended; it's hard to keep track of everything to remember even in a kitchen set up for being kosher!

You might want to keep the wrappers or containers from any processed food so that the kosher guest can see what you actually are serving and check for the ingredients or for a kosher supervision symbol.

GOING SHOPPING

Major towns usually have at least one kosher supermarket, but you can find plenty of kosher food in regular supermarkets too. (Even in Salt Lake City, home of the Mormons, a major supermarket chain sells Empire Kosher Chickens!) Here are some tips:

• You may consider all fresh and uncut fruits and vegetables to be kosher. Sharp-flavored fruits and vegetables such as garlic, when cut, must be cut with a kosher utensil.
• Look for a kosher symbol (“hechsher”) on prepared foods (except those foods that do not need a hechsher—see When Hechsher Needed  and When Hechsher NOT Needed).

For more information on kosher symbols and on what goes into certifying a prepared food as kosher, see this link: http://kosherquest.org/symbols.php

WHY EAT ONLY KOSHER?

The basic reason that Jews only eat kosher food is because God commanded us to do so. There are many explanations of how eating kosher benefits us. One approach is that kosher food enhances the spiritual well being of the Jewish people. That holiness is blocked when we eat non-kosher.

While kosher food raises us up spiritually, we raise it up too. When we say the correct blessing before or after we eat, we acknowledge that God is the food's true source. When we use food's resulting health and strength to perform God's commandments, we reunite our food and ourselves with our higher purposes, “rectifying the world.” That brings spiritual and physical blessing down to us and to the world.

You don't want a rapacious spirit?  Don't eat predators. You don't want to think like a bottom-feeder? Don't eat scavengers—whether catfish or vultures or pigs—or reptiles, amphibians, or bugs (except kosher grasshoppers!). You don't want to be callous? Don't eat the life-blood of a bird or mammal—or even the bloodspot of an egg. You don't want to be cruel? Make sure the animals you eat were slaughtered quickly and humanely. Don't want to separate yourself from worshipping the Only One? Don't drink wine or grape juice that could have been used for idol worship.

And non-Jews? Shouldn't they keep kosher too?

Non-Jews must keep only one kosher law--aver min ha'chai. This means non-Jews, like Jews, may not cut off and eat the limb of a live animal.

We can come up with numerous explanations for why keeping kosher is healthier, more pleasant, more logical, or more spiritual than eating non-kosher. But the bottom line is, we do it because God says to, we are here to serve Him, and we trust that God wants what is best for us!

(from kashrus/kk-medi-terumos.htm">http://www.star-k.org/kashrus/kk-medi-terumos.htm, used with permission)

Post this document in a conspicuous place.

1. Break or cut off more than one hundredth of the food and set it aside (for teruma and terumat ma'aser).
2. Say the following (either in Hebrew or English):
   
   
   
   Yoteir me'echad me'me'a she'yeish kahn harei hu teruma gedola be'tzad tzefono. Oto echad me'me'a she'yeish kahn ve'od tish'a chalakim k'moto be'tzad tzefono shel ha'peirot harei hu ma'aser rishon. Oto echad me'me'a she'asitiv ma'aser rishon asuy terumat ma'aser, uma'aser sheini b'dromo, u'mechulal hu ve'chumsho al peruta be'matbei'a sh'yichidita lechilul ma'aser sheini ve'revai. Ve'im tzarich ma'aser ani ye'hei ma'aser ani bi'dromo. Im hu revai ye'hei mechulal hu ve'chumsho al peruta be'matbei'a she'yichidita le'chilul ma'aser sheini ve'revai.
   
   (Im ma'aser minim harbei tzarich le'hosif) “kol min al mino.”
   
   
   Translation
   (If there is a food of one type that requires separation) Whatever is MORE than one hundredth of this food shall be teruma on the north side of the piece that I have set aside. The one hundredth that is left in the piece I have set aside plus nine other pieces the same size on the north side of the food shall be ma'aser rishon. That same one hundredth in the piece I set aside that I have made ma'aser shall be terumat ma'aser.
   Furthermore, I am proclaiming ma'aser sheini to be in effect on the south side of the food, and I am redeeming it and its fifth on a pruta (smallest amount of money recognized by the Torah for most purposes) of this coin which I have in front of me. If this food needs ma'aser ani, the ma'aser ani shall take effect on the south side of the food.
   If this food is subject to the laws of neta revai then it and its fifth shall be redeemed on a pruta of this coin that I have in front of me.
   
   If there is a food of more than one type, add each type of food for its type.
    
3. Wrap the broken or cut-off piece in plastic and discard.
4. The coin--dime or coin of greater value--must eventually be disposed of in such a manner that it will not be used.
5. The food may now be eaten.

 
If you do not want to say the long version, you may say this shorter version, after having separated a piece larger than 1\% of the total food:
All separations and redemptions shall take effect as is specified in this Star-K document outlining the Procedure for Separating Terumot and Ma'asrot, Tithes and Redemptions, which I have in my possession.

Whether saying the long or short version, only a little over one hundredth of the food will not be permitted to eat; all the rest may be eaten. Even though the tithes constitute over one fifth of the food, one is permitted to eat most of the tithes oneself, even though he may not be a Cohen or a Levi. Under no circumstances will it suffice merely to break off a piece of the food and throw it away. The aforementioned instructions must be strictly followed. The laws of the tithes apply to everyone, including the Cohen and Levi.

You must say the blessing lehafrish trumot u'ma'asrot if you know the produce definitely needed to have teruma and ma'aser taken; it was definitely:

• Grown on Jewish-owned land in halachic Eretz Yisrael and
• Had not yet had teruma and ma'aser taken from it.

BUT you must not say the blessing if the produce might have:

• Not been grown on Jewish-owned land in halachic Eretz Yisrael, OR
• Already had teruma and ma'aser separated.