Kosher Bacon?
I have recently begun keeping kosher and had a philosophical debate with a friend who doesn’t. I want to use soybean sausages and bacon, like Morning Star Farms products that have kosher symbols, because as long as they’re kosher, why not? But my friend argues that if I’m going to keep kosher, to eat “kosher treif,” is just a loophole and not in the spirit of what I’m trying to do. Do you feel this contradicts the spirit of the law?
Kosher
We have always kept kosher, to some degree. I am often challenged by friends who ask why do I need to choose this antiquated dietary system, when today there are many dietary systems, based on modern research, that are far healthier than kosher. Although kosher may have kept us healthier in the ancient world, why do we need to continue that today when there might, in fact, be even healthier systems? Could you please give me some food for thought to be able to answer them? (And myself!)
Why is it that one needs to bury the dishes to make them kosher again?
I recently visited my grandmother (who’s nearly 90 and not in the greatest health), and she told me many things about the family I never knew before. One thing she told me had me very confused and I was hoping you could shed some light on it for me. My grandmother shocked me by telling me that her and my Grandpa kept kosher the first years of their marriage until the kids were young. Then, one day when they were away on vacation, upon returning they realized that the maid had mixed up the meat and milk dishes. My grandmother wasn’t about to dig a hole in the back yard to bury the dishes to make them kosher again, so she decided on the spot that they were done with kosher. Our family, although proudly Jewish, has had nothing to do with kosher, or nearly any other observance for that matter, ever since. That decision obviously had a major impact on the future of her family for generations to come, and it was all based on the need to bury the dishes. Why is it that one needs to bury the dishes to make them kosher again? Dishes don’t die to need to come back to life or something…the whole thing has been upsetting to me and I need some explanation.