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Basics
of keeping Kosher or Kashrut
Kashrut
or kashruth, kashrus
(Hebrew:
כַּשְרוּת,
karϋt)
or "keeping kosher" (Hebrew:
כָּשֵר,
kāēr) is the name of the
Jewish
dietary laws.
Food in accord with halakha (Jewish law) is termed
kosher in
English, from the
Hebrew term kashιr, meaning
"fit" (in this context, fit for
consumption by Jews according to
traditional
Jewish law). The equivalent for
Muslims, as per
Islam, is
Halal food.
Food not in
accord with Jewish law is termed treif,
trafe (Yiddish:
טרייף
from טְרֵפָה
ṭərēp̄āh, "torn"); the Hebrew term
refers to animals (from a kosher
species such as
cattle or
sheep) which had been either
incorrectly slaughtered or mortally
wounded by wild beasts and therefore were
not fit for human consumption. Among Sephardim, it typically only
refers to meat that is not kosher.
Sometimes, non-kosher food in general may
be dismissed with the colloquial term chazir-treif, which literally means
"as unfit as pork", the pig having become
perhaps the most notable symbol of the
non-kosher animal.
Many of the
basic laws of kashrut are in the
Torah's Book of
Leviticus, with their details set down
in the
oral law (the
Mishnah and the
Talmud) and codified by the Shulchan Aruch and later
rabbinical
authorities. Many varied reasons have
been offered for these laws, ranging from
philosophical and ritualistic, to
practical and hygienic; see below for
examples and explanations.
The word kosher has been borrowed by many
languages, including English. In its
strictest meaning it means "fit", but as
in Yiddish it also generally means
legitimate, acceptable, permissible,
genuine or authentic in a broader sense.
 ~ excerpt
from
Wikipedia
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