What Makes Food Kosher?

There is a wide misconception that food will only be rendered as Kosher when it is “blessed by a Rabbi”. This however, is an inaccurate description. In fact, the word “Kosher” in Hebrew means fit, or can also mean appropriate. So what makes food Kosher or “Appropriate” to eat?

Kashrut’s Biblical and Talmudic Origins

Close readers of the Torah might notice that according to the book of Genesis, vegetarianism was commanded by God as the ideal diet (see Genesis 1:29). However, in the course of the biblical narratives, this changed to include a variety of different animals. According to the Torah (Leviticus 11), only certain kinds of animals are considered inherently kosher. For land animals, any creature that both chews its cud and has split hooves is kosher. For sea creatures, any fish that has both fins and scales is acceptable, and for birds, only those birds approved by the Torah (or others that later authorities have judged to be like them, a list that excludes scavengers and birds of prey). In addition, it is repeated three times in the Torah that it is forbidden to cook a baby goat in its own mother’s milk.