12 Nov Observance and Kashruth; A Great Unifier

For those of us living in communities where there may be various levels of observance, so keeping kosher in and out of the home can be a challenge.

Kashruth affects the spiritual and physical aspects of our life as it enables us to ignite the spiritual sparks of holiness in our preparation and eating of food, and inspires us to often have a G-d conscious experience. It is an observance that in many ways unifies Jewish communities.

Our journey in Orthodox Judaism included an orthodox conversion from a recognized orthodox beit din. Accordingly, our kashruth observance was set out by the beit din and our Rabbi and would also allow us to invite guests to our home from a diverse range of observance. We also understood that keeping kosher outside our home would be a reflection on our observance. For us, kashruth became more than a set of rules for food, it became a way of having an ongoing and growing conscious awareness of G-d and Torah.

In order to maintain our observance in our community of diverse observance, we needed to have some guidelines not only for our own home, but also for eating at other people’s homes that would be in accordance with the beit din and our Rabbi. We needed to understand how others may be observing kashruth;

• Are all adults in the home Shomer Shabbos?
  · Does the head(s) of the household have an ongoing kesher (connection) with a sole Rabbi for questions of observance (kashruth)
  · Does the household keep kashruth to observant standards of your Rabbi and the Beit Din.
  · Does the man of the household daven regularly and learn Torah regularly.
  · Does the married woman of the home cover and dress tsniut (dresses).
  · Are there older children or others in the homes that are not observant?
  ·Have a single Rabbi and Consult him.  

These guidelines should not to be viewed as a judgment on others observance but a way to maintain our own observance and in doing so we hope to maintain a kosher home where a diverse level of observant Jews can feel comfortable in our home.

There may be common exceptions or stringencies in the observance of kashruth from other communities or individuals such as;

• Pas Yisroel; refers to baked goods that were baked with the participation of an observant Jew
  · Cholev Yisroel; refers to milk and dairy products that have been supervised by an observant Jew from the time of milking to bottling
  · Lebovitch/Chabad shchita/slaughter of meats; a stricter standard of kosher ritual slaughter performed according to the traditions of the Lubavitch movement.    

Because we live in a diverse community of observance, when we invite someone for the first time we share the following;

For deeper kabbalistic insights on Kashruth and Reincarnation see;
https://www.auraoftorah.com/parshas-shemini-reincarnation-kashruth/

Leib Getzel (Lawrence) Lax
Addictions and Counseling
lawrenceJlax@gmail.com