Kosher
- Vegetarianism
Since there are few laws of
Kashrut restricting the consumption of plant products it follows that a
truly vegetarian meal would usually be inherently Kosher (as long as the
milk and wine and bread are supervised and the utensils are never used
for meat or unsupervised milk). In practice, however, those who
rigorously follow the laws of Kashrut do not automatically regard all
restaurants or prepared or canned food which claim to be vegetarian as
Kosher, due to some doubt as to whether the degree of supervision
maintained is in all cases sufficiently stringent. Many vegetarian
restaurants and producers of vegetarian foods do acquire a hechsher,
certifying that a Rabbinical organization has approved of them as
Kosher, since this requires no additional care on their part if they are
truly vegetarian.
The situation is not always reversible, however; although parve food can
contain neither meat nor dairy, that label on a product cannot be always
used by vegetarians as a reliable indication, since Kashrut considers
fish to be parve. However, in practice it is rare to find fish products
in parve foods; moreover, because of potential issues of mixing meat and
fish (see Fish and seafood) many Kashrut supervising authorities
specifically indicate the presence of fish products when they are found
in parve foods.
People who have specific dietary needs should be aware that their
standards for certain concepts may differ from the halachic standards
for similar concepts.
* Many coffee creamers currently sold in the United States are labeled
as "non-dairy", yet also have a "D" alongside their hechsher, which
indicates a dairy status. This is because of an ingredient (usually
sodium caseinate) which is derived from milk. The rabbis consider it to
be close enough to milk that it cannot be mixed with meat, but the US
government considers it to lack the nutritional value of milk. Such
products are also unsuitable for vegans and other strict dairy
abstainers.
* On the other hand, kashrut does recognize some processes as capable of
converting a meat or dairy product into a parve one. For example, rennet
is made from stomach linings, yet is acceptable for making kosher
cheese, but such cheeses might not be acceptable to some vegetarians,
who would eat only cheese made from a vegetarian rennin. The same
applies to kosher gelatin which in some cases is an animal product,
despite its parve status.
* Kashrut has procedures by which equipment can be cleaned of its
previous non-kosher use, but that might be inadequate for vegetarians,
or other religions, or others.
* For example, dairy manufacturing equipment can be cleaned well enough
that the rabbis will grant parve status to products manufactured
afterward. Nevertheless, someone with a strong allergic sensitivity to
dairy products might still react to the dairy residue, and that is why
some products will have a "milk" warning on a product which is
legitimately parve.
Genesis 1:29 states "And God said: Behold, I have given you every herb
yielding seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree
that has seed-yielding fruit - to you it shall be for food." According
to many classical Jewish Bible commentators, this means that God's
original plan was for mankind to be vegetarian, and that God later gave
permission for man to eat meat because of man's weak nature. However,
others argue that people may eat animals because God gave Eve and Adam
dominion over them. Some prominent rabbis have been vegetarian, among
them the first Chief Rabbi of pre-state Israel, Abraham Isaac Kook and
fomer Chief Rabbi of Israel Shlomo Goren.
Many Orthodox authorities have ruled that it is forbidden for an
individual to become a vegetarian if they do so because they believe in
animal rights; however, they have also ruled that vegetarianism is
allowed for pragmatic reasons (if kosher meat is expensive or hard to
come by in their area), health concerns, or for reasons of personal
taste (if someone finds meat unpalatable). Some believe that Halakha
encourages the eating of meat at the Sabbath and Festival meals, and
some Orthodox Jews who are otherwise vegetarian will nevertheless
consume meat at these meals.
Other important Rabbis have argued otherwise: former Chief Rabbi of
Ireland David Rosen considered "the consumption of meat as halachically
unacceptable", and made a strong case for Jewish Vegetarianism
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