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by Answerbag Staff on April 9th, 2010

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Is kosher food blessed by a rabbi?

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  • by ChabadRabbi on April 13th, 2010

    ChabadRabbi

    Not really, but kosher food is blessed by whoever eats it.

    The reason I say "not really" is that the rabbi (who has to be specially trained) who slaughters kosher animals and fowl does make a blessing before he starts. He also has to cover the blood of fowl with sand and makes a blessing for that too.

    What makes food kosher is the ingredients and the preparation process.

    Kosher animals are those that have split hooves and chew their cud. There are many kosher birds, but Jews usually only eat chicken, turkey and duck. These animals must be slaughtered in a special way that is very quick and almost completely painless.

    Blood is not kosher, so kosher meat and poultry goes through a special salting and soaking process to drain all blood. An egg is not kosher if it has even a tiny spot of blood on it.

    Fish are kosher of they have both fins and scales (no lobsters, shrimp or oysters). There is no special preparation for kosher fish.

    All fruit and vegetables are kosher (although fruit and veg from Israel needs to have kosher certification because the kosher laws of the Land of Israel are more complex than in the rest of the world), but many fruits, vegetables and grains need to be checked for insects, because these are not kosher.

    Any mixture of meat and dairy is also not kosher.

    Kosher wine has its own set of requirements, which can be quite complex.

    So, nobody goes around blessing food to make it kosher, but we do have kosher supervisors who make sure that processed foods follow the kosher laws. These supervisors often attach a label (or print one on the packaging) to let people know that the product is kosher.

    Before eating kosher food, you are meant to say a special blessing (different food types have different blessings), to thank G-d for your food. You also say a blessing after you've eaten.

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