will you pretty please educate me on the religious side of kosher slaughter (see my reply to you in the old ashley5 petpad thread). i know the basic procedure but really don't know the "why's".

Me, too!

Yes but it will be tomorrow afternoon it is a lot of info to go into and it is very late :)

No problem. I stayed up too late last night myself.

Posted via Mobile Device

OK here we go (I am not nearly a Rabbi if you really really want to know about this in depth talk with a Rabbi or someone involved with kosher meat prep :) Kashrut is a very lengthy subject and goes very in depth, I am barely going to skim the surface)

Why Kosher meat is prepared the way it is prepared:

In Leviticus 7:26-27 & 17:10-14 the consumption of ANY blood is very very very strictly forbidden. So by slitting the throat and hanging the animal upside down it allows the blood to be drained from the body. Then the meat is soaked in cold water, after that it is covered with salt to absorb the blood and placed in an area to drain. This is often done by butchers now because really I don't want to have that much to do with my meat prep. (I know that is bad but hey)

Fish blood is a-ok so no soaking or salting.

Another rule is that a kid should not be seethed in its mothers milk. Exodus 23:19; 34:26; Deuteronomy 14:21. This is why meat and dairy together is a big no no. True kosher kitchens will have two sets of pots/pans, two fridges, etc to keep dairy and meat completely separate. this comes in three parts, don't cook together, don't eat together, and don't make money off the two mixed together either. (If I was working at McDonalds I could not be a cashier and sell a cheeseburger, bad example but first that came to mind)

Here is a bit more about how the slaughter is preformed:
Ritual slaughter is known as shechitah, and the person who performs the slaughter is called a shochet, both from the Hebrew root Shin-Cheit-Tav, meaning to destroy or kill. The method of slaughter is a quick, deep stroke across the throat with a perfectly sharp blade with no nicks or unevenness. This method is painless, causes unconsciousness within two seconds, and is widely recognized as the most humane method of slaughter possible. (I find the source you quoted in the other thread RC to be very disturbing because A. he was breaking tradition to see "what happens if I do this", & B he possibly made the live stock he was experimenting on non-kosher by doing that)

Another advantage of shechitah is that it ensures rapid, complete draining of the blood, which is also necessary to render the meat kosher.

The shochet is not simply a butcher; he must be a pious man, well-trained in Jewish law, particularly as it relates to kashrut. In smaller, more remote communities, the rabbi and the shochet were often the same person.

Draining of Blood

The Torah prohibits consumption of blood. Lev. 7:26-27; Lev. 17:10-14. This is the only dietary law that has a reason specified in Torah: we do not eat blood because the life of the animal (literally, the soul of the animal) is contained in the blood. This applies only to the blood of birds and mammals, not to fish blood. Thus, it is necessary to remove all blood from the flesh of kosher animals.

The first step in this process occurs at the time of slaughter. As discussed above, shechitah allows for rapid draining of most of the blood.

The remaining blood must be removed, either by broiling or soaking and salting. Liver may only be kashered by the broiling method, because it has so much blood in it and such complex blood vessels. This final process must be completed within 72 hours after slaughter, and before the meat is frozen or ground. Most butchers and all frozen food vendors take care of the soaking and salting for you, but you should always check this when you are buying someplace you are unfamiliar with.

An egg that contains a blood spot may not be eaten. This isn't very common, but I find them once in a while. It is a good idea to break an egg into a glass and check it before you put it into a heated pan, because if you put a blood-stained egg into a heated pan, the pan becomes non-kosher.

Forbidden Fats and Nerves

The sciatic nerve and its adjoining blood vessels may not be eaten. The process of removing this nerve is time consuming and not cost-effective, so most American slaughterers simply sell the hind quarters to non-kosher butchers.

A certain kind of fat, known as chelev, which surrounds the vital organs and the liver, may not be eaten. Kosher butchers remove this. Modern scientists have found biochemical differences between this type of fat and the permissible fat around the muscles and under the skin.

Glatt non-Glatt

Some authorities require a post-mortem examination of the lungs of cattle, to determine whether the lungs are free from adhesions. If the lungs are free from such adhesions, the animal is deemed "glatt" (that is, "smooth"). In certain circumstances, an animal can be kosher without being glatt; however, the stringency of keeping "glatt kosher" has become increasingly common in recent years, and you would be hard-pressed to find any kosher meat that is not labeled as "glatt kosher."

OK I only covered meat and dairy there is a lot more but I think this is what you wanted to know right?

Basically in a nutshell preparing meat in this way is not something done to be mean or cruel. It is following guidelines given to the Jewish peoples from G-d. To live a kashrut life is a mitzvot!

Thanks gm.

I toured tillamook cheese in or when my cousin was visiting and they had a display (photograph and short blurb) on the rabbi who attends to their kosher cheeses.

Temple grandin is a she. She's a super neat lady who got into animal welfare because she is autistic. She feels that her autism makes her more attentive to her surroundings and thus she feels she is able to look at and evaluate surroundings more like an animal would. I'm sure when she did her research she consulted with a rabbi so that it was not disrespectful or breaking kosher laws. She's well respected and just a neat lady altogether so I'm sure she didn't just say "I'm gonna try this". I missed a chance to attend a guest lecture by her in college. I was quite bummed.

Posted via Mobile Device

Cheese is SO freaking HARD to find kosher SO hard. Bane of my existence hard. I don't keep a full kosher kitchen though keeping kosher is very hard when you are not brought up that way. I grew up eating all sorts of things I no longer am supposed to eat. Tricky.

Thanks gm.

I toured tillamook cheese in or when my cousin was visiting and they had a display (photograph and short blurb) on the rabbi who attends to their kosher cheeses.

Temple grandin is a she. She's a super neat lady who got into animal welfare because she is autistic. She feels that her autism makes her more attentive to her surroundings and thus she feels she is able to look at and evaluate surroundings more like an animal would. I'm sure when she did her research she consulted with a rabbi so that it was not disrespectful or breaking kosher laws. She's well respected and just a neat lady altogether so I'm sure she didn't just say "I'm gonna try this". I missed a chance to attend a guest lecture by her in college. I was quite bummed.

Posted via Mobile Device

Sorry I didn't mean to insult her :(

This was cool, thanks!

Cheese is SO freaking HARD to find kosher SO hard. Bane of my existence hard. I don't keep a full kosher kitchen though keeping kosher is very hard when you are not brought up that way. I grew up eating all sorts of things I no longer am supposed to eat. Tricky.

well i have a source. tillamook in OR is kosher (they also use veggie rennet) & it's readily available here.

you weren't brought up kosher? did you convert to judiasm? my former roommate's sister did.

Sorry I didn't mean to insult her :(

oh no, i didn't think that, just wanted you to know more about her.