Hello Everyone,
Welcome to our last shiur of the z’man. Today we discussed turkeys. This may come as a surprise to many of you, but one of the pre-eminent poskim of the 19th century, Rav Shlomo Kluger zt”l ruled that it is absolutely forbidden to eat turkey. Today we saw why turkeys were so controversial.
When we look at parashat Shmini (Vayikra, chap. 11) we see the well-known criteria for determining the kashrut of animals (split-hooves, ruminant) and fish (fins and scales). When it comes to birds[1] the Torah gives us a list. We are presented with a list of non-kosher birds. This leaves us free to eat any bird that is not on the list.
This situation obviously leaves the non-ornithologists among us in a quandary. If I do not know how to identify the non-kosher birds, what birds may I eat? So Chazal present us with a list of four characteristics which identify kosher birds:
- a) they have a crop, b) they have a gizzard which can be peeled, c) they have an “extra” toe[2] d) they do not “trample” on their prey[3].
Any bird which possesses these four characteristics is kosher.
Rabbi Zerachiah HaLevi (known as the “Ba’al HaMa’or) added another set of criteria. He wrote that he received from his elders that any bird which has webbed-feet and a wide bill does not trample on its prey.
This seems very straight-forward. When I meet a new bird (like a turkey):
I need only to check it for the four signs of a kosher bird.
The problem with eating a new species of bird is the opinion of Rashi. Based on a story from the Gemarah, Rashi notes that we need to know that the bird does not trample its prey and how can we ever know this? The answer is that, of course, we cannot. So Rashi says we can only eat a bird which via tradition we know that this bird does not trample its prey.
So this dispute is reflected in the Shulchan Aruch. Rav Yosef Karo writes that if we encounter a new species of bird it can be eaten either if we know it has all four signs of kashrut, or if it meets the criteria of the Ba’al HaMa’or. The Rema writes that we only eat birds which we know by tradition that they are kosher.
Over the years various questions about species of water-fowl were brought to the Ashkenazi poskim, some forbade new species (since they do not have a tradition) and others rely on the Ba’al HaMa’or.
This is a duck (obviously) and the tradition says duck is kosher:
Does the tradition rule that this is a duck?
This is a chicken ( and chickens are kosher by tradition):
But what does the tradition say about this?
So Rav Shlomo Kluger ruled that the tradition regarding chickens has nothing to do with “this bird that was brought from America.” Therefore, Ashkenazim may not eat turkey.
So how did turkey “become “ permitted?
We saw an essay by Rabbi Ari Z. Zivotofsky who provides an interesting explanation. Sephardic Jews can eat birds once they establish that it possesses all four signs of kashrut. It may be that Sephardic Jews in Western Europe and Turkey saw turkeys and observed that they are not birds of prey[4] and possess the anatomical signs of kashrut. After they established a tradition of eating turkey, Jews from Eastern Europe “spread the word” about this new bird and it became accepted. No less an authority than Rabbi Naftalu Tzvi Berlin zt”l (known as the “Netziv”) observed that turkey has become known as a kosher species of fowl even though when it first became known in Eastern Europe it was the subject of controversy.
So that’s why we all eat turkey.
I want to thank everyone who participated in these shiurim . I hope that you all found them as much fun as I did. I look forward to meeting with you again in Elul. Have a wonderful summer, Stuart Fischman
[1] And grasshoppers too, but maybe we will leave them alone for now
[2] For an illustration of the “extra finger” and other terms from the shiur please look at the source pages on the web-site.
[3] The Hebrew word is דורס, and there are several opinions as to what this means.
[4] Unless you’re a worm