Chapter 46 : Laws Pertaining to Forbidden Foods

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§1

The blood found in eggs is forbidden, and occasionally, it is forbidden to eat the entire egg. Therefore, when using eggs in any food, the eggs must be examined [for blood spots].

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§2

Blood of fish is permitted; nevertheless, if it is collected into a utensil, it is forbidden because of the appearance of wrongdoing. However, if it is obvious that it is blood of fish, for example, when it contains scales, it is permitted.

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§3

If you bit into some bread or similar food and blood flows from your gums onto the bread, you must cut off the part with the blood and throw it away. However, the blood that is still between your teeth may be sucked in if it is a weekday, since it did not leave your mouth. (But you may not do this on Shabbos. [see Chap. 80 parag. 54])

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§4

Occasionally, blood is found in milk, when blood is drawn with the milk from the udder of the cow. [When this occurs,] a Rabbinic authority must be consulted.

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§5

A mixture of meat and milk is forbidden to be eaten or to be cooked. Any benefit from this mixture is [also] forbidden. Therefore, if something becomes forbidden due to a mixture of meat and milk, a Rabbinic authority must be consulted about what should be done with the mixture for sometimes it is forbidden even to derive benefit from it and sometimes, deriving benefit is not forbidden.

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§6

Two Jews who know each other, even though they are critical of each other, are forbidden to eat at the same table, if one [eats] meat and the other dairy food, unless they make a noticeable mark between them. For instance, each one should eat on his own tablecloth or they may place, on the table between the foods, an article that generally does not belong there. They must also be careful not to drink from the same cup, because food clings to the cup.

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§7

And certainly they must be careful not to use the same loaf of bread for meat and dairy meals. It is also customary to designate separate salt-dishes, one for meat and one for dairy foods, because sometimes the [food] is dipped into the salt and bits of food are left in the salt.

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§8

It is customary to mark knives that are used for dairy foods, as well as other dairy dishes so they are not interchanged [with meat utensils].

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§9

If you ate meat or even a dish prepared with meat you may not eat dairy food for six hours. If you chew meat for a child, you must also wait [six hours]. Even after waiting six hours, if you find a particle of meat between your teeth, you must remove it, but you do not have to wait after that, all you need do is cleanse your mouth and rinse it; that is, eat a little bread and cleanse your mouth with it, and then rinse [your mouth] with water or another liquid.

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§10

If the food you ate did not contain meat nor the fat of meat, but was merely cooked in a pot used for cooking meat, even if the pot was not cleaned out well, it is permissible to eat dairy foods afterward.

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§11

After eating cheese you are permitted to eat meat immediately thereafter at another meal, as long as you examine your hands to make sure that no particles of cheese cling to them; or you may wash them with water. You must also brush your teeth and rinse your mouth. But if the cheese was hard, i.e. cheese which was aged for six months or which was moldy, if you wish to eat meat afterwards you must also wait six hours.

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§12

If after eating cheese you want to eat meat, you must remove from the table the rest of the bread which you ate with the cheese. It is forbidden to eat cheese on a tablecloth used for meat, and vice versa. It is also forbidden to use a meat knife to cut bread that will be eaten with cheese, and vice versa, even if the knife is clean. However, if there are extenuating circumstances; for example, if you are traveling, you are permitted [to cut bread] with a meat knife if it is clean and wiped very well, and it is permitted to eat [the bread] with cheese, and vice versa.

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§13

If, however, you use a meat knife to cut onions or any other pungent things and you put them into a dairy food, or vice versa you must consult a Rabbinic authority.

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§14

If you make a meat dish using a milk substitute made from almonds you must leave [whole] almonds in it in order to avoid the appearance of wrongdoing.

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§15

It is the accepted custom not to kosher dairy utensils or dishes in order to use them with meat, or vice versa.

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§16

Wine, meat or a piece of fish that does not have a distinguishing mark that you entrust or send with a non-Jewish messenger, and certainly if you send it with a non-observant Jew, must have a double sea1.5 But boiled wine, wine vinegar, or milk, bread and, cheese, need only one seal.

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§17

If you send or entrust any of these items in a sack, it is necessary that the stitches of the sack be on the inside so that it can be tied and sealed.

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§18

If you sent a slaughtered animal or fowl or anything else without a seal [on the package] with a non-Jew, you should consult a Rabbinic authority.

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§19

It is forbidden to eat cheeses or other items that are in the possession of a non-Jew, although they are sealed or stamped stating that they are kosher, as long as it is not known who sealed them.

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§20

Care must be taken not to cook or roast your food and the food of a non-Jew when the two pots are next to each other, one pot containing kosher meat and one pot treife meat, if the pots or the pans are uncovered. Care must also be taken not to leave any pots in the care of non-Jewish maids when there is no Jew in the house [or when there is no Jew] going in and out of the house.

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§21

It is forbidden to buy wine or any other doubtful food from someone who is not recognized as an acknowledged keeper of kashrus: However. if you are his house guest, you may eat with him as long as you are not certain that there is reason for suspicion.

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§22

Care must be taken not to leave culinary utensils in the house of a non-Jew lest he make use of them. Even when you give such utensils to a non-Jewish craftsman to be repaired, if you suspect that he used it, you should consult a Rabbinic authority.

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§23

Occasionally people buy a live fowl with its legs trussed, and they throw it to the ground and then have it slaughtered. This practice is strictly forbidden because an animal or a chicken which fell to the ground must not he eaten until it is observed afterwards, walking four amohs8 in a normal manner. Concerning Iambs or calves also, it is well to be extremely careful in this regard.

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§24

During the summer it is very common for ducks to develop small blisters like warts in their intestines and many become treife because of them. Therefore great care must be taken to examine the intestines, and if such small blisters are found, a Rabbinic authority must be consulted.

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§25

It is not permitted to knead dough with milk lest it be eaten with meat, and if you did knead it, it is forbidden [to eat] the entire bread even by itself, because of the Rabbinic interdiction lest it be eaten with meats. If, however, it was a small quantity sufficient only for one meal, or if the bread has been shaped so that it is noticeable that it is not to be eaten with meat, then it is permissible. The same halachah applies if dough was kneaded with animal fat. No type of bread should be baked with [meat or dairy] knishes in one oven [at the same time] for we are afraid that some of the butter or some fat will flow under the bread; and if it did flow underneath, the same halachah applies as though it were kneaded together, and the bread may not be eaten even by itself.

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§26

If bread was baked together with a roast, in the same oven, and the oven was closed and the roast was uncovered it is forbidden to eat the bread with dairy foods. However, if the roast was covered or the oven was open and the oven is as large as ours, the bread is permitted. Nevertheless, initially, care should be taken not to mast meat in an oven in which bread is being baked, for fear that some fat will flow under the bread; and even if the roast is in a pan, there is room for concern.

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§27

If animal fat or milk overflowed on the floor of an oven, the oven must be cleansed by glowing heat in accordance with halachah, that is to say, glowing coals must be spread over the whole floor of the oven until it becomes white hot.

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§28

Castrated chickens may be eaten because we rely on the presumption that the non-Jewish castrator is an expert and in sewing up the chicken did not cause any defect to the intestines. However, if any defect is found, even if it is merely that the intestines do not lay in the normal position, it is forbidden to eat them.

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§29

In some communities, it is the practice of non-Jews who raise geese for sale to Jews to stab them under the wings with a needle, or similar sharp object, so that the flesh becomes swollen and the geese look fat. A Rabbinic authority should be consulted if they are kosher or not. It also happens when an animals is overfed and becomes critically ill, that it was cured by striking it with an awl opposite its stomach.10 This procedure also raises a question for a Rabbinic authority to decide whether such an animal is kosher.

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§30

In preserving fruit it is customary to place the fruit in a jar and to cover the mouth of the jar and tie it with the bladder skin of an animal. It is then placed into a hot oven so the fruit may be preserved. Care must be taken that the bladder skin be from a kosher animal, and it must also be kashered by proper salting and rinsing.

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§31

It is forbidden to drink water from wells and rivers that are known to be infested with worms (or insects), until the water is filtered, and even if inadvertently the unfiltered water was used for cooking, it is forbidden to eat the food. Similarly it is forbidden to soak meat in such water or to use it for rinsing any food because the worms attach themselves to the food.

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§32

When filtering such water, care must be taken to filter it through a cloth that will not allow passage even for the very thinnest worms.

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§33

Vinegar that contains worms should not be eaten even if filtered, because even the thinnest worm of the sort that grow in vinegar, will pass through any cloth and the filtering will worsen the situation. It is best not to filter it because worms that develop in beverages contained in vessels are not forbidden as long as they do not become separated; and through filtering, it is possible that the worms will be separated and remain on the filter and later return to the vinegar. It is best to boil the vinegar first and then filter it; because once the insects are killed by the boiling, they will not pass through the filter.

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§34

Worms that grow in fruit when still attached to the tree are forbidden even though they did not move from place to place. Sometimes black spots or dots are found on fruits, beans, and legumes. This is the first stage of their breeding and they must be cut out with deep penetration, because this area is forbidden as the worm itself.

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§35

Some fruits have worms when sill attached to the tree. If twelve months have passed from the time they were picked, they may be eaten, because any creature that does not have a vertebra cannot exist [more than] twelve months, and have, therefore, become like mere dust. However, since it is possible that the fruit became wormy after being picked, it should be examined, and cleaned from all the worms and insects found upon the surface. Afterwards they should be placed in cold water and the water should be thoroughly stirred. As the worms and worm-eaten particles rise to the surface, they should be thrown away. The rest should be placed into boiling water so that if any worms remain they will die immediately, and will not become separated from the fruit. This procedure may be relied upon only in the cases of legumes or lentils and the like and then only after the expiration of twelve months.

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§36

All fruits that require examination must be opened one by one and the pits removed and discarded, in order that the examination is thorough. Great care must be taken regarding this when preserving fruits in honey and sugar, and similarly when making lekvar (a prune jam). It is not sufficient to examine only a portion of the fruit, and even if the greater portion was examined it is not sufficient, but, rather, each fruit must be examined separately.

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§37

Flour or similar ground substances occasionally have large worms, and it is sufficient to sift the flour, because the worms will not pass through; but if it is infested with mites, sifting is of no avail [and it should be discarded]. If you have wheat that is infested with worms, consult a Rabbinic authority as to how it should be ground.

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§38

Anything which is infested with worms and is something not usually examined for worms is forbidden to be sold to a non-Jew, when there is a likelihood that the non-Jew might resell it to a Jew. It may be used, however, in the making of whiskey, and we are not afraid that it will cause a problem of someone eating it in its present state, providing it is not kept for a long time.

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§39

There are many kinds of vegetables that are known to be infested with worms and some that are infested with mites. Some housewives claim that singeing the vegetables in fire [destroys the worms], [however, such a method] is of no avail. There are also certain kinds of fruit and vegetables that are so infested with worms, that it is almost impossible to examine them. It is fitting, therefore, that a God-fearing Jew should not eat any of these. There are certain fruits whose kernels are infested with worms and it is forbidden to eat them.

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§40

Walnuts are often infested with mites. They can be tested in this manner, when the kernel is taken from the shell, the shell should be tapped on a warm surface. This will bring out the mites that remained in the shell. Great care should be taken concerning this.

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§41

Sometimes the rim of the container in which fruits were preserved in honey and sugar, contain mites. This area must be thoroughly cleansed and some of the [surface] preserves removed, until it is quite certain that no insects were left in the preserves.

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§42

If while cutting a fruit or radish with a knife, you happen to cut up a worm, you should wipe the knife very well and from the radish or the fruit, scoop out a bit from the place where the worm was cut.

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§43

The interior of fish often contain worms, [especially] in the brain, the liver, the intestines, mouth and ears. This is especially true with a fish called 'Hecht' (pike), which contains thin, long worms. The places where they are commonly found must be thoroughly examined. In herrings thin worms are often found in the milk, and it, therefore, requires examination. In some regions, the outside of the fish near the fins and on the fins, in the mouth and behind the ears, are infested with very small insects that are round as a lentil. These places should be examined and scraped off very well.

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§44

If the worms found in cheese, and not repulsive to you, they may be eaten as long as they are not completely separated from the cheese.

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§45

Many Divine commandments are written in the Torah regarding insects. [One who eats them] transgresses many prohibitive commandments. They also defile the soul, as it is written: "You will be defiled through them." Therefore, everyone must be very careful not to eat them inadvertently.

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§46

If you ask a Rav a question concerning the permissibility of an item and he has forbidden it, you are not allowed to ask another Rav for his opinion [about the same matter], unless you inform him that the first Rav decided it was forbidden.