Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
News

Giraffe Milk Is Kosher

NEWS ITEM: An Israeli rabbi, an authority on kashrut, declared that giraffe milk is kosher. Said he: “The giraffe has all the signs of a ritually pure animal, and the milk that forms curds strengthened that.” The rabbi based his ruling on a recent finding by researchers at Bar Ilan University who had taken a milk sample while treating an ailing giraffe.


Imagine milking a giraffe!
The sight’s enough to make one laugh!
Can there be someone who delights
In striving for such absurd heights?
The milk is now proclaimed as safe,
Which means glatt kosher, pure, not treyf.
Whoever thought, or dreamt, or heard
That this secretion formed a curd?
May Providence, we humbly pray,
Illumine still another whey!
But let’s avoid unseemly haste,
First take a sip! How does it taste?

This animal, it must be said,
Is mammal — and a quadruped.
Like other creatures of its ilk,
It lactates liquid we call milk.
To stimulate the fluid-flow,
One lends a hand, on tippy-toe.
By gazing upward, might a guy
Get squirted in his open eye?
Such incidents could cause travail
That goes (who knows?) beyond the pail.
To expedite the milking deal
Perhaps the animal could kneel.
This sight would really be quite rare:
A beast that’s seemingly at pray’r!
Were sages really wise to preach
Man’s grasp should not exceed his reach?


Oysmelkn ken men a zhiraf?
Der moyekh zogt tsu unz: S’iz tough!
Di hoykhenish iz a problem,
Der nopl iz vayt avek (ahem!)

Di milkh iz yetst derklert nit treyf,
Der rebbe zogt der sheid iz safe.
A curd farmogt es — gantz O.K.!
Shray nit “gevald,” shray nit “oy whey”!

Nor hot di milkh a Yidishn tam?
Tsi hot es a geshmak vi sam?
Di gantse zakh iz a pshetl,
Do meynt a tempest in a kettle!

Di khaye mit dem langn fis
Gantz ruik iz, un oykhet zis.
Zi zeltn makht a tsore, fuss,
Un oykhet iz herbivorous!

A man muz oyf di tsipkes shteyn
Tsu kvetshn milkh (vanilla, plain).
Di flisikeit kumt vi a blits:
Zayn oyg ken krign aza shprits!

Nor shtel ir oyfn kni aher,
Der emer’z demolt hart by ir.
Far tsutrit tsu der muter’s brust,
Tsu makhn zikh vi a kalb du muzst!

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.