By Rabbi Leonard Rosenthal
SAN DIEGO — Believe it or not, I watch a lot of cooking shows. (No, I don’t cook much, but I do enjoy eating!) One of the most common ingredients chefs use is “kosher salt.” I never fail to be amused when they use it to season pork!
Salt is kosher by definition. It does not even require a hechsher (official kosher stamp). So what is “kosher salt?” It is regular salt that has been ground to a very coarse grain. Kosher salt received its Kosher Salt name because it is used to kasher meat. Before consumption, any of the animals specified as kosher in parashat Shemini needs to be slaughtered according to strict ritual laws. Afterwards it is “soaked and salted” before being cooked. “Soaking and salting” draws off blood, which Jews are prohibited from consuming:
“And if anyone of the house of Israel or of the strangers who reside among them partakes of any blood, I will set My face against the person who partakes of the blood, and I will cut him off from among his kin. For the life of the flesh is in the blood….” (Lev. 17:10-11)
Blood is a sign of life. Drawing off the blood indicates that we recognize the animal is fully dead before we eat it.
Kosher Salt Grains Kosher Salt Crystals “Kosher salt’s” coarse grain prevents it from dissolving quickly and being overly absorbed by the meat.
“Kosher” means, literally, “fit or proper.” “Kosher salt” is but one way the word “kosher” has entered the English language. It is not uncommon to hear average Americans refer to a questionable person or transaction as “not being kosher.”
According to the website Urban Dictionary, young people have even begun to use kosher as a synonym for “cool” or “chill” as in: “That party was kosher” or “That new guy is pretty kosher” or “It’s all kosher.”
That is all well and good. I enjoy seeing Jewish, Hebrew, and Yiddish terms seep into the vernacular (tzatzkes, anyone?) But for Jews, the primary meaning of kosher relates to our dietary laws, the permitted and forbidden foods, the process by which animals are slaughtered, and which foods may not be eaten together.
There are many reasons for keeping kosher, some rational and some less so. But the primary reason for Jews to keep kosher is that it elevates one of the most basic human needs, eating, to the realm of kedusha, holiness. Judaism teaches us to be sensitive to all of the blessings we enjoy and to be ever thankful to God who created us in everything we do.
When we keep kosher, eating can never be automatic. We have to be careful what we put into our mouths. As we do so, we remind ourselves to be grateful for “the sustenance with which God nourishes and maintains us continually, in every season, every day, even every hour.” (Birkat HaMazon) In everything we do, we must be mindful of God’s goodness to us.
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Rabbi Rosenthal is spiritual leader of Tifereth Israel Synagogue in San Diego. He may be contacted at leonard.rosenthal@sdjewishworld.com