For Good Measure: Baking with Gluten-Free Blends, Whole Wheat Flour, Sourdough and at Challah Bakes

By: Rabbi Dovid Heber

Spring 2024

Once upon a time, baking a loaf of bread was simple. Today, when gluten-free blends and processed whole wheat flour are found in many homes, that is no longer the case. Baking with sourdough starters and group baking at “challah bakes” have also become popular. The halachos involved are complex and bear examination.

Let’s begin with a review of the measurements necessary for mitzvos related to regular wheat flour.[1]

Mitzvos Involving Wheat Flour

► Separating Challah (hafrashas challah) Without a Bracha – One should separate challah without a bracha when kneading a dough that contains at least 8 ⅔ cups of wheat flour (on average 2.6 lbs.).[2]

► Separating Challah With a Bracha – There are differences of opinion as to how much flour is needed to recite a bracha. Some individuals do so when kneading at least 12 ¼ cups of flour (slightly more than 3 ⅔ lbs.).[3] Others only do so when kneading at least 5 lbs. of […]

Producción de Carne Kasher: Shechita Flies South

By: Rabbi Zvi Holland

Spring 2024

From time immemorial, no matter where in the far-flung Diaspora, the presence of a Jewish community has always meant that there was shechita in proximity. The position of community shochet was one of a klei kodesh and the shochtim of a community were subject to the supreme jurisdiction of the local rav and/or Beis Din.

Here, in the U.S., it was no different. On November 15, 1660, a man named Asser (Asher) Levy acquired a license to serve as the first kosher butcher in the small Dutch-controlled hamlet of Nieuw Amsterdam – now better known as New York City.[1] Ever since, maintaining a reliable supply of kosher beef has been an integral part of Jewish communal life in the U.S. Previous Kashrus Kurrents articles have offered a glimpse into the challenges shechita has faced on these shores and the changes to the way kosher meat is supplied […]

Acids in Digestion

By: Rabbi Tzvi Rosen

Spring 2024

When my father z”l went to pharmacy school at George Washington University, his course of study had a heavy concentration of chemistry. His background in chemistry proved extremely useful in his forty-year career as an examiner in the U.S. Patent Office. On his workbench, he had shoe boxes with all his pharmacological paraphernalia: Bunsen burners, beakers, and little vials of litmus paper. As a child, I remember my fascination with watching the red litmus paper turn blue when dipped into a base and the blue litmus paper turn red when dipped into an acid. These were literal litmus tests, a term which over time has crept into everyday language to denote a means of determining an outcome.

Although the world of industrial kashrus may not require the deep analysis found in chemistry textbooks, it behooves kashrus administrators and mashgichim to have a working knowledge of chemical compositions and formulations. Solid […]

Yoshon: To Keep or Not to Keep

By: Rabbi Mordechai Frankel

Winter 2024

The Gemara seems to conclude that the prohibition on the consumption of chodosh applies worldwide.[1] However, many shomrei mitzvos outside Eretz Yisrael do not restrict themselves to eating only yoshon grain. Various reasons have been proposed:

► The Rema says that people rely on the fact that for any particular product that are two uncertainties. It is possible that there the food was made from a previous year’s wheat crop and is yoshon. It is also possible that this year’s crop took root before 16 Nissan and is yoshon. As there are two areas of doubt – a sfek sfeika – one can be lenient.[2] Others disagree and maintain that there is only one uncertainty here, whether the grain is chodosh or yoshon, and one should be stringent.[3]

► The Bach says that the prohibition does not apply to grain produced in a field owned […]

What’s “New” in Chodosh

By: Rabbi Sholom Tendler

Winter 2024

The Torah states[1] that chodosh (new) crops of the five grains may not be eaten until after the second day of Pesach (outside of Israel, not until the third day).[2] Thus, grain harvested in the summer of 2023 would not be allowed until Pesach 2024. On the other hand, yoshon (old) crops, which were harvested in the summer of 2022, became permitted after Pesach 2023. Grain planted at least two weeks or more before Pesach are permitted upon harvest, since they took root before Pesach.[3]

Outside of Israel, there are various customs based on numerous sources as to whether or not one needs to be stringent about using only yoshon products (see Rabbi Mordechai Frankel’s article in this issue). Each person should consult their rav for guidance. In Israel, however, these leniencies do not apply. Therefore, any product from Israel bearing a reliable kosher […]

Controlling Your Temper

By: Rabbi Tzvi Rosen

Winter 2024

The baalei mussar, our guides in ethical character development, have instructed us that in order to develop and refine one’s behavior, one has to control one’s temper.

Controlling temper in manufacturing is a means to refine and improve the quality of the product in question. When steel is tempered, the resiliency of the steel is improved through the process of heating and cooling. When chocolate is tempered, through a similar process of heating and cooling (albeit at a much lower temperature), the chocolate acquires a lustrous, luxurious sheen, impervious to changes in color.

Likewise, tempering grain for milling improves the grain so that the final product – wheat flour – is rendered white and fluffy. The source of this final product is the humble wheat kernel.

A wheat kernel or berry is the seed of the wheat plant and is comprised of three edible parts: the nutritious bran wrapped protectively around the […]

Navigating the Ins and Outs of Renting an Airbnb (Including Guidelines for Shabbos and Pesach)

By: Rabbi Zvi Goldberg

Winter 2024

Who would have imagined, just a few years ago, that you could go on vacation and rent a stranger’s private home? But that is exactly what people now do every day, with the rise of Airbnb and similar short-term rental platforms that list millions of units in over 100,000 cities.[1]

A Torah-observant individual who enters into such an arrangement will encounter numerous halachic challenges when signing up as an Airbnb “guest.” This includes properties listed as “kosher” – even ones in Israel – since an owner usually cannot vouch for every renter who has used the kitchen, nor for each renter’s kashrus standards, which can vary widely. Likewise, one who owns and is the “host” of an Airbnb property will have to address his own set of halachic concerns. Let’s analyze some of the more common ones.

Kashrus Concerns During the Year (Excluding Pesach)

The primary area of concern for […]