Thoughts on Kashrut

Kashrut are the Jewish dietary (or kosher) laws. Treif are things that aren't kosher or that go against the dietary laws. They're considered 'unclean'. One of the big ones that many people have heard about is that pork products aren't kosher (or are treif). There are many more laws to it, though. Many can't keep fully kosher, so they might do a 'kosher-style' instead. Ever since I was 14, I've had a kosher-style diet. No pork or shellfish. I hope to get the chance in the future to keep totally kosher. 

The 'laws' don't just apply to what you can and can't eat. It's also on how to properly clean things like fruit and vegetables, keep things separated, cleaning your kitchen utensils, etc. All fruit and vegetables are kosher, but you need to check for bugs and dirt. Those aren't kosher. So, there's a special way to inspect and clean them.

People tend to think that a kosher diet is healthy. It's not necessarily. If you follow it fully, that's not the reason you do it. It's a religious reason. Some people don't understand that concept though...As I've noticed with talking to people who don't know what kosher really means. They eventually say stuff like: "No, really, why do you do it? It's got to be a health reason." The only reason it might be considered healthier is everything is scrutinized. Inspected from the time they start making the product, until it's packaged. (That means every ingredient was thoroughly looked at beforehand, too.) Some hechshers or kosher stamps on products have stricter regulations than others, but they all should follow the basic laws. That being said, the products are more likely to be safe this way. They have stricter guidelines than what the USDA uses. So, if you think safer=healthier, then yeah it might fit that. But, when I think healthy, I think more nutritious. Like more vitamins, minerals, lower calories, low in fats, whole grains, etc. As an example, you can still get baked goods that essentially have no nutritional value...So, nutritionally it's not any better. 

Kosher food is broken up into 3 categories: Dairy (milchig), Meat (fleishig), and Parve. Parve is any other food besides meat and dairy. Like, fruit and vegetables, grains, juices, pasta, other drinks, etc. Fish and eggs are apparently considered parve. In kashrut, you can't mix dairy and meat. The reason behind this is a line from Exodus: You shall not boil a kid in its mother's milk. If you're really strict (and can afford to do so, or your house already has it) you have to have 2 separate stoves. So there's no contamination while cooking. Also, separate utensils, cookware, dishes, sinks, etc. designated as either dairy or meat. (If you don't have separate stoves, there are ways to go about that, too. But, it's easier with them.) There's a certain amount of time you're supposed to wait between having a dairy meal and a meat one. After a meat one, it varies, but many say about 6 hours. (For some communities, like Dutch Jews they only wait an hour.) After a dairy one, it's much less time. In fact, some say you just need to wash your mouth out, or chew some bread to get the residue off your teeth. Some wait about an hour. You can have parve with anything.

What I still don't get, is why you can't have poultry and dairy. Birds aren't mammals. So, you wouldn't be eating them in their mother's 'milk'. I've heard the main explanation as it'd look too close to having things like beef and cheese. Well, what about those Boca burgers with cheese? They're supposedly ok. But, I think they look more like the real thing, so that argument doesn't really hold up to me. Just the idea that it may look like something it isn't. (Heck, then wouldn't most Passover foods be treif this way?) Plus, why is it ok to have eggs and poultry together if I follow the original logic with meat and dairy? Fish is ok with dairy too, considering it's parve...These are the areas of it I haven't found definitive answers for. The rest of the laws make sense to me.

There are more during the holiday of Pesach or Passover. Depending on what your family background is, they could be more strict about it than others. There have been fights between ethnic groups of Jews because of this. They're not huge fights, but more like the sides get irritated with each other. I'm Ashkenazic, which are Jews who originally came from Germany and eastern Europe. They have some of the strictest laws on Passover food. Sephardic Jews originally come from Spain and the Mediterranean. They follow the main laws for it, and don't add more restrictions to it. They tend to think the added restrictions that Ashkenazim (plural form) have for it, are 'stupid'. So, you can see already the tension between them. It's mainly just during Passover. They also have different customs and traditions for the holiday, and the rest of the year. Same with other groups of Jews. We come from all over the world. These 2 seem to be the biggest groups, though. 

Intro

Hi! Welcome to my new blog! I do have a regular blog that's used for day to day type stuff. Hence, its name: A Day in the Life... But, I wanted a place to put my thoughts out there. I think about a lot of stuff during the day, and have felt that they'd go to waste if I didn't do anything about them. It might not have anything to do with me currently...I tried to do a similar thing on twitter, but I find their design annoying. Hopefully, this'll be better for me. I may go off on tangents, too...

I should probably say a few things about myself. I'm cis and straight. Or, what some people (those who haven't really met LGBT people) would call 'normal'. I don't like that word for it. Sounds like it devalues other people. Like they're somehow alien. I start with saying this, because my parent is a trans woman. (Male to female, or MtF for short.) I guess technically she's lesbian, but she might be bi...She doesn't know yet, and that's cool. I haven't always known. In fact, I've only known for about 5 years, but it somehow made sense.

I say 'my parent' so people won't get confused, and yet they do. She's the only one I have now. My mom passed away 3 years ago. I knew my parent as 'Dad' most of my life until 5 years ago. I can't seem to refer to her as 'mom' because of this. If I had known when I was little, it might have been different. 'Dad' is starting to get awkward, and even though she says she's cool with it, it doesn't seem right anymore. Looking for a 'neutral' term still. 'Parent' and her 'name' are good for when we're out with people who don't know us, but seems a bit cold. 

Anyways, I'm also Jewish. I might have things come up periodically that relate to it. I was born and raised Jewish. And, half my family is. (Mom's side is.) I want to explore Modern Orthodoxy, but am Reform at the moment. I might bring up stuff about kosher (dietary) laws, holiday foods, holidays in general, etc. as well. I don't ever try to force my religion on others, and find it really disturbing when others do it to me. Judaism is apart of me and my identity, though. So, it's natural to have thoughts about it.

I love to cook international cuisine. Hope to get a bit more into baking, too. I feel with international cuisine, it's like you get to visit that country for a short time. I also hope to experiment without a cookbook more often. 

Music's a big part of me, too. I started playing the clarinet when I was 10, and still play it. Before that, I played the recorder. Before that, a bit of the violin. Even before that, I played a little of my short electronic keyboard. I think when I was around 2 or 3, I played a plastic short piano harmonica. Probably didn't sound great with that last one, but it was what introduced me to the world of music. So, looking at it this way, it's ingrained in me. I didn't have a tutor when I started playing (and even after I started) the clarinet. (I don't think I had one for the recorder, violin, or keyboard either...) People were surprised with this when I joined band and ever since. They said I sounded like I did have one, and that it was near impossible to do it on your own...I also had the band director, and we learned from each other too. So, technically, I didn't truly learn without anyone. I was in marching band from the beginning of junior high up until a couple of years into college. That part was also a big part of my life.

I love animals, and have 2 cats currently. We've had 3 other cats, 1 beagle, lots of fish (one 'carnival' goldfish lasted 10 years, and had a tumor on one side. Tough, but awesome, bugger. He also ate all the other fish in the tank), stick bugs, and frogs in the past. I cared about all of them, and miss them. I, of course, care deeply for our 2 current cats as well. 

I love learning about other cultures. Makes me feel like I get more of a picture of what it really means to be 'human'. I'm rather fixated on learning about Japan, but it's not the only culture/people I like learning about. I love learning languages. Started learning Hebrew when I was 7, and probably heard it ever since I was born. I took every French class they had at my high school. (Did pretty well in it. I think it amounted to about 3 semesters worth.) Wanted to do more, though. I was doing pretty well with Russian in college, but was taken out of it about a month before the class ended because I was sick. I know some German. Probably more of Yiddish. Learned a bit of Greek in my Greek History class in college. The professor said you can't truly begin to understand a country's history/culture until you master at least the very basics of its language. I thought that was cool. I'm also currently learning Japanese. I also majored in anthropology in college, but wasn't able to finish it. Before that, I tried to major in animal science, but found out it wasn't for me...So, I went from studying animals to humans. Yay!

So, that's just a snippet of who I am. Probably will be more to come, in addition to whatever pops up in my head. Hope some will enjoy it, but if I'm the only one seeing it, that's fine too. I'll get to see more of a clearer 'image' of how I sometimes think.