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Path: utzoo!utcsrgv!dave
From: dave@utcsrgv.UUCP (Dave Sherman)
Newsgroups: net.religion
Subject: Re: milk & meat - (nf)
Message-ID: <2884@utcsrgv.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 4-Dec-83 09:19:13 EST
Article-I.D.: utcsrgv.2884
Posted: Sun Dec  4 09:19:13 1983
Date-Received: Sun, 4-Dec-83 10:11:48 EST
References: <2622@hp-pcd.UUCP>, <724@ulysses.UUCP>
Organization: The Law Society of Upper Canada, Toronto
Lines: 34

>>  From: smb@ulysses.UUCP (Steve Bellovin)
>>  		For example, most hard cheeses are cured with animal
>>  rennet, yet most Conservative Jewish authorities consider such cheeses
>>  kosher.  Exactly where the line is drawn varies, of course, depending
>>  on your rabbi.  Some Orthodox rabbis agree with this reasoning, but
>>  insist that the rennet must come from a kosher, ritually slaughtered
>>  animal. 

*** FLAME ON ***

Sorry, Steve, you can't do that. You can *not* refer to Conservative
rabbis (let alone rabbits :-) ) to determine whether something is
kosher. Kashrut is determined by halachic considerations which are
objective standards and have not changed in over a thousand years.
The Conservative movement rejects much of halachah as not necessary and
"not applying to today's times".

You are quite welcome to say that Conservative rabbis will give you
permission to eat X, Y or Z. They also give you permission to drive
on the Sabbath. So what? That does not change the halachah, and it
cannot make a treife item kosher. If someone wants to be less observant,
that's their decision and I have no objection. But don't claim that the
religion allows something when it doesn't.

(flame off)

As to the specific argument, yes, it is possible that ingredients which
pass through an inedible state are not treife, as I mentioned in an earlier
article. This does not apply to cheese, however: the only kosher hard
cheeses are the ones specifically manufactured with kosher rennet (Migdal,
Haolom, Liberty, Great Canadian, and a couple of others whose names escape
me at the moment).
-- 
 {allegra,cornell,decvax,ihnp4,linus,utzoo}!utcsrgv!dave