Oven Kashrus 101: Using the Same Oven for Meat, Dairy, Fish and Pareve

By: Rabbi Dovid Heber

Spring 2016

If your kitchen is equipped with four ovens – for meat, dairy, pareve and fish – you don’t need to read this article. However, if you do not have such a luxury, you will find various halachic details enumerated below quite relevant.

There are numerous factors involved in an oven “going back and forth” between meat and dairy or using an oven for fish or pareve.1 They include the following:

The oven: Is it clean? Was it kashered? When was it last used?

The food: Is it liquid? Is it covered? When was it prepared?

Does the question arise to do the action l’chatchila (I can do this) or is it only okay bedi’eved (it already happened)?

NOTE: The halachos addressed are based on the psak of HaRav Moshe Heinemann shlit”a, STAR-K Rabbinic Administrator.2 This article addresses issues only involving regular gas or electric ovens. It does note address […]

Kashering Liver

By: Rabbi Moshe Heinemann

Published Spring 2016

Before one is permitted to indulge in kosher Jewish delicacies such as chopped liver, liver steaks and onions, or sauteed chicken livers, raw liver must undergo various processes before the liver is deemed fit for kosher use. First, as with all kosher meat, the liver must come from a kosher species of animal or fowl that has been schechted, slaughtered, in the proper manner prescribed by the Torah. If it is an animal liver, all the fat must be meticulously removed. Furthermore, the Torah forbids eating the blood of an animal or bird. Therefore, it is necessary to extract the blood from the kosher slaughtered meat or liver.
How is the blood removed? With meat, this process is commonly known as kashering and is accomplished by soaking the meat in water, salting it, and then rewashing it. With liver, this method of extraction is insufficient. Since liver contains such a large concentration of […]

When to Recite Hatov V’Hameitiv Over Wine

By: Rabbi Mordechai Frankel

Kashrus Kurrents Spring 2016

Q: When is the brocha of Hatov v’Hameitiv recited over wine?

A: Before drinking a cup of wine, one recites the brocha of Borei Pri Hagofen. Under certain circumstances, if a different wine is subsequently drunk one recites an additional blessing – the brocha of Hatov Vehameitiv.1 The brocha gives thanks to Hashem for blessing the person with a richness of wine. The Hebrew text of the brocha is 2ברוך אתה ה’ אלקינו מלך העולם הטוב והמטיב

This brocha is recited only if a number of conditions are met:

If the second wine is of lesser quality than the first wine, Hatov Vehameitiv is not recited.3 There is one exception to this rule. If the first wine is red and the second one is white (but not the other way around), Hatov Vehameitiv is recited even if the second wine is known to be of slightly inferior quality. This […]

A Crystal-Clear Halachic Approach to Glass

By: Rabbi Tzvi Rosen

Published Spring 2016

Glass is one of nature’s most versatile products created from some of nature’s most prevalent raw materials: sand, soda and lime. In the food industry, glass applications are extremely diverse. Glass can be made into delicate drinking glasses, as well as tough heat resistant ceramic cooktops tops withstanding temperatures over 1000°F.

How is glass made? Basically, the raw ingredients are heated and melted in a large furnace. The molten glass is shaped, blown, or pressed into its desired shape. The finished product is then annealed in an annealing oven and tempered to give the newly formed glass strength and durability.

Although glass can be made to be stronger and less porous than steel, the halachic status of glass remains enigmatic. On the one hand, Chazal recognized the fact that glass is tough, resistant and non-porous. On the other hand, glass raw materials are the same as earthenware which is very porous, extremely […]