Last November, I koshered my kitchen for the first time. I did so with the full understanding that my decision came with certain compromises, like giving up my favorite cheeses and my delicious but uncertified collection of vinegars. While a bit heartbreaking, these were sacrifices I was willing to make as I welcomed in my new lifestyle. If only I had known that I might have to give up salad, too.
Leafy salad greens, along with berries, asparagus and a variety of other produce, have come under serious scrutiny in the kosher world over the past decade. There’s nothing treyf about these particular fruits and vegetables, except that they have a tendency to attract insects, which are halachically forbidden. Once they are removed from a spinach leaf or the inside of a raspberry, the produce is theoretically fit to eat. But kosher agencies like the Orthodox Union and KOF-K argue that certain bugs (for example, aphids, thrips and mites) are too small to spot easily, but large and common enough to be compromising.
As a result, the kosher industry and a growing number of consumers have started to eye their refrigerator crispers with suspicion. Meanwhile, new products have emerged, like vegetable soaps, and light boxes that make insects easier to see. While most Jews probably still have never heard of light boxes, for some they’ve become a way of life. All catering companies certified by Star-K, for example, are required to use them, and two years ago, the company started selling them directly to consumers for home inspection.
But why the heightened interest in insects now? One answer, according to the Orthodox Union’s Web site, is Rachel Carson, the scientist whose 1962 book, “Silent Spring,” led to a national ban of DDT and other pesticides. As Menachem Genack, CEO/rabbinic administrator of the O.U., has stated, “Since the days of Rachel Carson, the federal government has quite correctly limited the use of insecticides on food… therefore, knowing how to check for these insects has become increasingly important.” In other words, when it comes to kashrut’s bug restriction, organic produce is actually deemed more “dangerous” than its conventional counterparts. This explanation seems historically anemic, however, since the kosher laws long predate the use of pesticides, and produce has been organic-by-default for most of human history.
The actual reason for the insect fixation has little to do with a 20th-century biologist and everything to do with bagged lettuce. Pre-washed salad greens were a late but powerful arrival to the American love affair with industrial convenience foods. As they, along with shredded coleslaw, baby carrots and similar products, have grown in popularity, they unwittingly opened the door to kosher certification.
“Value-added [meaning “processed”] products made all the difference,” Rabbi Tzvi Rosen, who edits Star-K’s journal, Kashrus Kurrents, told me. “The Halacha was always clear about bugs, but now the awareness about it has been heightened.” Kosher consumers know to look for hechshers, kosher endorsements, on packaged foods, but until recently, that category didn’t include fresh produce. Now that the line is blurred, the broccoli sitting quietly on the edge of our plates has become the center of attention.
While not necessarily the stuff of daily headlines, the increasing preoccupation with bug infestation has the potential to change the kosher diet dramatically, and not for the better. Every major certification agency has guidelines on its Web site (or, in the case of the O.U., for sale on a 90-minute DVD) about proper inspection. The Chicago Rabbinical Council takes things a step further by banning the use of fresh Brussels sprouts and other produce that, because of their tightly packed leaves or small crevices, are deemed too difficult to inspect adequately. Similarly, the Kashruth Council of Canada prohibits catering services from using fresh broccoli, artichoke leaves, frisee, mixed greens, oyster mushrooms, curly spinach, watercress, dill, curly parsley, blackberries and raspberries.
Perhaps only a handful of people mourn the loss of Brussels sprouts. But many believe that there is something larger at stake here. As these industrial standards begin to trickle into people’s homes, they encourage stilted norms, including the incorrect notion that certain “seed bearing plants,” which God gave to humans to eat in Genesis, might not be fit for consumption, after all. Some argue that eventually, whole categories of fruits and vegetables could be considered untrustworthy — a stance that could, ironically, further deter kosher keepers from seeking out the healthy, organic, unadulterated foods so highly recommended by nutritionists and food experts. (Not incidentally, bagged lettuces and baby carrots both have been linked to food-borne pathogens, like salmonella and E. coli contamination — both unfortunate side-effects of industrial food production.) On the fleyshik side of things, hormone-free and free-range meat is becoming increasingly possible to find under kosher auspices. But the vegetable part of the meal seems headed in the opposite direction.
Perhaps more important, kosher agencies overstep their bounds by beginning to hechsher fresh produce. From the industry’s perspective, any expansion of business is understandably a good thing. But these agencies were developed to take the guesswork out of kosher consumption, not to discourage the use of inherently kosher fruits and vegetables, or to profit by creating a new need for inspection DVDs, light boxes and the like. The lesson to be learned here is to not give up common sense. The halachic prohibition against insects is not the issue; kosher caterers and consumers alike should certainly check for, and remove, bugs. But when this honest concern turns grocery shopping and dinner preparation into battle scenes, we can only lose.
Leah Koenig writes a monthly column on food and culinary trends. She can be contacted at ingredients@forward.com
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My rule of thumb on these issues is this: if was deemed kosher by the standards of 13th century scientific knowledge, it is now. The nitpicking (literally and figuratively) as well as the tolerance of unsanitary and sweatshop like kosher slaughterhouses, b the kosher certifying establishment, only decreases respect for the entire practice in anyone who thinks about it.
Excellent work. Well argued. And I thought all the problems had ended with kosher Bacon Bits...
Goodbye nutrition, hello 12th century. Can the Taliban be far behind?
Here's something that's healthy, compassionate, eco-sustainable, and embodies the highest ideals of Judaism:
The Vegetarian Mitzvah http://www.brook.com/jveg
"Why the heightened interest in insects now?" you ask. One of my friends put forth a theory a number of years ago -- before produce became suspect about the prevalence of raising the bar in kashrut, the proliferation of humrot, stringencies. As a modern Ortho women in NY, she noted the growing ease of keeping kosher: more kosher restaurants of great variety; more prepared foods of great diversity; mainstreaming of kosher products. Her theory is that as it becomes easier to keep kosher, the bar is raised to separate the men from the boys, so to speak, or the really, really observant from the wannabees -- keeping the separation not so much between kosher and treyf, but between the faithful and the fringes. It was not a development she eyed with approval, but one she observed.
Another thought: the War on Vegetables has the potential to delegitimize traditional Judaism. What makes Orthodoxy so appealing in the eyes of Joe and Jane Baalteshuva is that it represents an unchanging tradition (or at least a tradition that changes so gradually that they can shut their eyes to the changes of the distant past).
But if Orthodoxy is just as flexible as its rivals (albeit in the opposite direction) this ideal becomes a bit less compelling.
Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, raspberries, some varieties of spinach, etc...So at this rate, they propose to ban all fruits and vegetables, right? Wouldn't want too many healthy foods in our diets, now, would we? Done right and honestly, certification can be a benefit. This is a bad joke, especially given the slaughterhouse issues -- how safe was the meat from Agriprocessors, et.al., and how many insects got into those processing lines? -- To say nothing of how they treated their workers.
Why is everyone making a connection between the problematic slaughterhouses and individuals Jews across the World keeping Jewish law about bug inspection. There is none. I live in the MidWest and have never eaten meat from New Square. Do you have a problem with me too? Am I a hypocrite because < 1% of the Orthodox world has had major legal issues and I happen to be Orthodox like them. This is sinas chinam- irrrational free hate which can only ruin the Jewish people. Take it easy!
Finally someone brings this to attention - it has been bothering me for quite some time now - The kashrus Halachus are tightly bound with capitalism, where there is money to be made we dig deep and found a way to ride on the innocence of hasidic jewery, the torah is flexible in whichever way you want to direct it, We have to stop to think of kosher certification as a authority body but rather as a business model
And this is why I will never keep Kosher.
Wait a minute here, all you Orthodox/kashrut dissing folks.
As Lea pointed out, since the elimination of many pesticides (which is a good thing), the counterpoint is that there are now more bugs in our foods. There are approximately 6 halachas that are forbidden with regard to the consumption, even unintentionally, of bugs. They are just as much forbidden to Jews to eat as pork and shellfish.
It really isn't that complicated to soak lettuce leaves, or strawberries (for example), to ensure that we are not eating bugs. True, it's a new "inconvenience", but then again, I don't have to soak and salt meat, while my parent's generation did.
Lea, Yasher Koach to you for kashering your kitchen!
My late mother taught me two rules about kashrut: 1) If a Jew says something is kosher, it is. 2) If you cannot see it, it doesn't exist. She did not say if a rabbi says, nor did she mention the use of any visual tool other than the human eye.
I believe the current trend of kashrut over-strictness is simply a means to provide employment to otherwise unemployable young men and women, persons who have no concept of living in contemporary society. These people can explain the way of life in 17th cent. Poland and hold that as the sine qua non of eternal Jewish life.
And we yet wonder at the state of things today... G-d is watching and waiting. But perhaps these above-mentioned people believe that if they really screw things up, it will hasten the Geulah?
This nonsense with the vegetables is just that, nonsense. Our ancestors ate vegetables all the time, when they could get them. This is just an extremist position that says, "everyone notice me. See how kosher (or pious or observant) I am. Yay, me." What this has to do with piety or observance is purely in the eyes of the person doing it, and of course doing it in a way taht everyone has to notice you are doing it. Otherwise, what's the point? Poor Leah. She needs a rabbi with his head on straight.
Thank you Dov for posting the Vegetarian Mitzvah. This should be required reading for all Jews and anyone else who wishes to live ethically.
I grew organic kale on my property. The leaves upon being soaked with salted water were found to be heavily infested with tiny flies that would not have been discernable unless they were seen floating in the water and not sitting on the leaf. After numerous soakings no more insects were visible. How many people would be that patient to remove all traces of insects from organically grown unsprayed kale?? Lets be real- how many people actually EAT kale instead of just using it as a base for chopped liver???
We have a few things going on conncected to this nonsense about inspecting fresh fruits and vegetables. As noted, there is the economic incentive for Kashrut committees to expand their business. We only need to remember the Kashrut wars of the early 20th century in the New York and New Jersey areas to recall how much greed and corruption there can be in the Kashruth Certification business.
But as has also been pointed out, there is a growing movement of making all aspects of halakhah more and more restrictive and stringent as competing factions within the Orthodox world compete for access to the resources and privileges that governments can grant. Political competititions for patronage and favors and graft in the in Israel, New York City, and, to a lesser extent, other state and local political arenas esp. in New York and New Jersey account for this competition of Orthodox clericalists to prove that they are holier and more stringent and uncompromising than their rivals.
The Orthodox clericalist establishment has devolved.
There are better models of kashruth and of kashruth supervision available to American Jews -- and incereasingly many of us are looking to Reconstructionist, Renewal and Reform rabbis and organizations for guidance. Many of us are finding eco-kashruth to be an attractive model consistent with our values even if inconsistent with the business and political interests of the Orthodox clerics.
Oh, and did I mention that I eat rice on Passover and brussel sprouts and lettuce all year round. And if a bug or two adds a bit of crunch to my salad, I just don't worry about it or care because I know that our traditions and customs and laws are for us to live meaningful lives according to our values. Clericalist attempts to make it harder and more stringent to be part of a particular Jewish community only serve to reinforce my decision to stop being a member of that particular Jewish community.
The halakha clearly states that you are only obligated to check what the human eye can readily see. If you check with your own eyes and you see no insects, then the vegetable or fruit is kosher.
i do not have an ax to grind with the veg-bug people, pro or con. I do however find it interesting that the dominant position here seems to be that we should not raise our standards of kosher observance. This flies in the face of every other facet of our lives and lifestyle, from environmental awareness to stereo equipment. Hmmm.
We watched this trend emerge in Israel some time ago. An Ultra-[O] friend was translating a book on this topic when last we were there.
Our Modern Orthodox friends are at their wits’ end because of this issue. In one recent instance, I suggested at good quality wine, hechshered by a prominent Orthodox rabbi, to a Chabad friend, only to be told, “Well of course it is kosher. It just isn’t kosher enough for us.”
I see this trend as representative of the rapidly increasing emphasis on “stringencies” (chumras).
As shomer kashrut Jews ourselves, we have friends who consider us “not kosher enough” to eat in our home. We are evolving into a multi-tier Judaism, thus dividing us further at a time when we are facing some of the greatest threats to Jewish survival since the Holocaust.
A dear friend, who came here from Germany in 1938 with his tallit but little else, and who is student of medieval Jewish texts, once said: “In the Middle Ages, Jews could travel throughout Europe by saying in the homes of other Jews. Nobody asked if their hosts were really, really kosher. Kashrut, which used to unite us, now divides us.”