Kosher Connections Dairy Bread During the me of the Beis HaMikdash, there was a unique korban offered on Shavuos which contained two loaves of bread and was known as the shtei halechem (two breads), and to commemorate this a custom developed to eat dairy and meat at the same meal (Rema OC 494:2). How does that custom remind us of the shtei halechem? The answer is that a loaf of bread which was used at a dairy meal should not be used at a meat meal (or vice versa) because of a concern that there might be some residue of dairy on the bread (see Rema YD 88:2). Therefore, by serving dairy and then meat at one meal, the parcipants will be required to have two sepa- rate loaves of bread, and those two loaves are a reminder of the two loaves of bread offered in the Beis HaMikdash. Our discussion will focus on the following related halacha which applies year round. Because bread is a staple food which is made of simple, pareve ingredients and was commonly eaten with every meal. Chazal were similarly concerned that if bread was made with animal fat or with milk people would mistakenly eat it with the “other” type; there- fore, they forbade one from making bread which is fleishig or milchig, and also said that such bread may not be eaten at all.1 A few years ago, the cRc was asked to cerfy a large commercial bakery and found that just about every product they made contained milk powder which meant that none of the products could be cerfied. Further invesgaon showed that very few products actually had any significant amount of milk, and we all assumed that the milk could easily be removed from most of the items. Then the QA person protested and said that the reason for the milk being added was as follows: if there was no milk in the product the labels would have to say “made in a plant that uses milk” which would imply that the QA people in the plant could not thoroughly clean their equipment between products. This would reflect poorly on the QA department so they therefore insisted that every batch of product must contain a spoonful of milk powder so that “milk” could be listed as an ingredient. Eventually, the markeng arm of the company “won” and convinced the QA people to actually clean beer and avoid any reference to milk on the labels. One of the excepons to this rule is that if the “bread” has an unusual shape or marking on it, then it may be made with dairy (or meat) ingredients, because people will realize that this item is not standard bread and will be cauous and not eat it with meat. For example, if there was a drizzle of cheese on top of the roll everyone would know this is a dairy roll and not eat it with meat. When Thomas’ English muffins were first cerfied as kosher, the reason they were allowed to be considered “kosher” (and labeled, OU‐D) in spite of their dairy components because English muffins were considered a non‐standard shape for bread and were therefore permied to be made with milk. [For more details on this point, and the current reason why they are cerfied in spite of their containing dairy components, see the footnote.] 2 Lastly, it is permied to take an already-baked piece of bread and add meat or The cRc invites the community to hear the following shiur- milk to it. Therefore, for example, one may add milk to the baer used in im from cRc staff members on the first night of Shavuos: French toast. Rabbi Dovid Aronin @ Sha’arei Tzedek Mishkan Yair — 1 Shulchan Aruch YD 97:1. The early Acharonim debate whether this prohibion is limited to bread or should From Bones to Bugs: Kosher ingredients from non- possibly include other foods which are usually pareve and commonly used at both meat and dairy meals. Some kosher sources hold that bread is merely an example but in truth the prohibion extends to all foods commonly eaten with both meat and milk, such as spices, wine and eggs (see Taz YD 97:2, Magen Avraham 447:45, and Yad Yehudah 97:6). Rabbi Dovid Cohen @ Bais Yitzchok – Milk from India On the other hand, others cite proofs that Chazal limited their gezairah to bread and argue that it is inappropriate for us to extent gezairos into areas not covered by Chazal (see Chavas Da’as 97:1, Pri Chadash 97:1, and Minchas Rabbi Sholem Fishbane @ Agudath Israel Bikur Cholim Yaakov 60:3). The common pracce among kosher cerfying agencies appears to be to follow the ruling of the — A close look at changes in the Dairy industry and later Acharonim (Chochmas Adam 50:7, Aruch HaShulchan 97:2, and Badei HaShulchan 97:1) who accept the how it affects Kashrus lenient posion. For this reason, there are water, orange juice, tea, margarine, and liquid egg products which are cerfied as kosher dairy even though they are commonly used at fleishig meals. Rabbi Ephraim Freidman @ Mikor HaChaim — Of Milk, 2 Over the years, many companies began producing kosher muffins which are pareve and it is now debatable as to Meat and Onions: The laws of davar charif whether the muffin-shape is sll unique (because people do not associate it with “pareve bread”) or not. Within those who adopt a strict approach to the above queson, some connue to cerfy dairy English muffins because Rabbi Moshe Moscowitz @ Bnei Reuven — The impact the amount of dairy in each muffin is batel b’shishim such that in a certain sense the muffin is actually pareve. As of the Rambam for psak halacha in the modern world a maer of policy, hashgachos would not rely on bitul b’shishim to therefore label the muffin as pareve, as they would consider it a pseudo bitul issur l’chatchilah. However, this issue is avoided by labeling the product as “D”, Rabbi Akiva Niehaus @ Adas Israel — Beer needs a and some are willing to rely on bitul to overcome/avoid the prohibion of creang dairy bread based on the hechsher?! assumpon that adding kosher milk to kosher flour is not bitul issur. Gevinas Yisroel on Acid‐Set Cheeses Kashering Between Milk and Meat is created when the casein (a protein) separates the years have passed, it has become a widespread cus- Cheese from the other parts of the milk. The two basic As tom to eat cheesecake on Shavuos. Magen Avraham4 ways to make this happen are with rennet or with acid. The rennet or acid caus- records a minhag to not kasher between meat and dairy. That is to es the casein and some other items to separate from the rest of the milk (a.k.a. say that a person should not take a pot which had been designated the whey), and the newly formed item – known as curd – is further processed to for meat, and kasher it to use it for dairy or vice versa. The same become what we know as cheese. Although both methods remove casein from minhag applies to an oven. Is there a way for one with a meat oven milk, they don’t work in the same manner, 1 and the curds produced by the two to prepare this tasty dairy desert? methods are quite different from one another. As a rule, milk curdled with rennet creates “hard” cheeses There are two explanaons for the abovemenoned minhag: such as mozzarella, Muenster, pasteurized process (i.e. American cheese) and Swiss cheese, and acid-set Magen Avraham understands that it is to encourage people to cheeses are typically “so” cheeses such as coage have separate sets of dishes and flatware for meat and dairy, cheese, farmer cheese and cream cheese. because if they would just have one set and connuously ka‐ sher back and forth they will invariably make mistakes and use Tradionally, rennet was derived from the calf stom- items which had not been koshered. achs, and Chazal forbade a non-Jew’s cheese as gevi‐ 5 nas akum because of a concern that the cheese might Maharsham suggests that the reason for the minhag is that be set with rennet from an animal that didn’t have most kashering must be done when the utensil is aino ben shechitah (i.e. a neveilah).2 It’s clear that this prohibi- yomo (not used within the past 24 hours) and if people kasher on includes all of the rennet-set cheeses, but there is regularly they are likely to lose track of exactly when the uten- much discussion in the Poskim as to whether it includes acid-set cheeses as well. sils were used and kasher before the 24 hours has passed. This disagreement as to the reason for the minhag has a praccal Quite a number of Poskim hold that the issur of gevinas akum includes all forms applicaon for two cases where aino ben yomo is not required – of cheese including acid-set cheeses. However, the accepted custom in the Unit- kashering from meat or milk to pareve, and kashering via libun. In ed States is to follow the lenient opinion which argues that acid-set cheeses were both of those cases, Maharsham says that since there is no need for never included in the gezairah because those cheeses curdle without rennet (and the utensil to be aino ben yomo there is no minhag to not kasher, somemes without the addion of any coagulant at all – see below) such that and he therefore permits one to kasher between meat/milk and 3 there’s no reason to be concerned that neveilah rennet will be used.