Daily Chidush: How & Why Should I Kosher My Kitchen?

0:00Hello, friends. Good week, blessed week. I hope you had an amazing Shabbat. I wanted to go over some halachot that are very necessary for all of Am Yisrael, especially for those who are doing teshuva right now, as well as anyone in the process of converting or recently converted but has not yet koshered their kitchen. There are a few things we need to understand when it comes to koshering a kitchen. First and foremost, why is it so important to even kasher a kitchen? When Hashem talks to us in the Torah about eating non-kosher food, He specifically tells us that when we eat non-kosher food, we become tamei, we become impure. And He uses the word v'nitmetem, and you've become impurified.

1:07but rather spiritually diminished in a sense that it's very, very difficult for us to learn Torah and actually connect to it. So someone who is trying to do the will of Hashem, and is trying to connect to Hashem, and build their emunah, build their fear of Hashem, and build their connection to Hashem, an ultimate connection with Hashem, must eat kosher. Now, this is specifically addressing Jewish people or someone who is already in the process of converting. If someone is a Noahide, they're not obligated by the kosher laws. If they want to comply with them, they can, but it doesn't impact their neshama to the same extent as it does a Jew, because a Jew is obligated by it, whereas a non-Jew is not obligated. However, I would recommend everyone eat kosher because, in general, it's also healthier. it's also healthier. Now, as far as koshering a kitchen, there are a few things that we need to understand. In general, there are certain materials, such as metals, that we can actually kasher, even if they were used for non-kosher products. However, there are also materials that we cannot kasher. For example, clay or ceramic cannot be kashered. If you've ever used ceramic,

2:20A bowl of some kind used for non-kosher food cannot be made kosher, and you have to throw it out. However, with regards to metal, metal actually has these pores—microscopic pores—which the pot or the pan actually swallow or absorb some of the actual, um, or absorb is a better word, absorb some of the actual... juices and flavors of the non-kosher meat and non-kosher products. So, those things have to be corrected or, in essence, koshered. The way to do this with regards to the spoons, knives, and forks, as well as pots that were used to make, you know, wet food, meaning stews and things with water in them, they have to go through something called Hagalah. Hag'ala means that it's a professional process. It's usually an Orthodox Jew who knows what they're doing, an expert in this field. They actually take a very, very large pot that could practically fit every other pot in it and put in extremely hot, boiling water.

3:34uh, in there, and they're actually, you know, constantly under fire. They put these pots, forks, and knives into this extremely boiling water, which opens up the pores and releases any of this non-kosher residue that was actually in it. This is the process that has to be done for anything that was used to eat non-kosher products, whether it's meat or anything hot and things of that nature. Now, when it comes to pans, pans are usually things that use oil, but not water in them. And it actually has to go through a process called libun. Libun is done under fire, where usually that same person would take a blowtorch and actually put the fire through all of the different parts of the pan to make sure to open up the pores and burn any of the residue, any of the actual chemicals or... Juices that the pan absorbed from the non-kosher meat or non-kosher product that was in it. Now, many of the pans today also have Teflon.

4:45on top of the pan, which usually gets destroyed with this fire, which means that, most likely, the pan will not survive, it will not be the same, so you'd actually have to buy a new pan. But, Baruch Hashem, today, the prices for pots and pans are drastically cheaper, because, obviously, it's much easier to make than it used to be. Also, this applies to anyone that wants to use the same pots and pans for Pesach, they would have to either do hagalah or libun in order to make their pots and pans kosher for Pesach. For those that are expensive for Pesach (Passover), they would also have to either perform this hagalah or this libbun in order to make their pots and pans kosher for Pesach. In regards to um... uh... Cups, if the cups were actually only used for, you know, just liquids and not for food, you don't have to do anything. If it was just for, you know, juices and drinks of that nature, you don't have to kosher them under any of these libun or hagalah. In regards to the microwave, you have to put a cup...

5:54First, you have to obviously stop using it for 24 hours. Then you put a cup with a cleaning product, usually baking soda. in there, and put it on for 20 minutes. Then, do not use it again for another day or so. Absolutely under no conditions should you put bleach in there because it's very, very dangerous. So, baking soda is usually the best. You put baking soda in a cup with water inside the actual microwave. Now, regarding the oven, you should utilize one of those options. If it has a self-cleaning function, then you should definitely use that. However, in general, it's also advisable to employ some type of baking soda or a similar agent for 30 minutes in the oven. This is highly beneficial for cleaning the oven. All glass, 100% glass plates or cups or anything that's glass does not need to undergo hagalah for Sephardim. If you follow Sephardic law, you do not need to perform hagalah because, technically, glass does not absorb; it does not have pores. However, Ashkenazim do need to perform hagalah for glass plates and similar items.

7:19So they need to go through a hag'ala process. This is just one of the chumrot that the Ashkenazim have, which is a stringency that the Ashkenazis adhere to, to be more careful, which I applaud them for. It's very good to be machmir on certain things, especially something as simple and as important as kashrut in a kitchen. As I said, the cups do not need to be kashered unless they're ceramic, and you've used them for non-kosher items; in that case, you cannot kasher them. So if it was used for, I don't know, some type of non-kosher soup in one of the cups, then you cannot use it. As for the fridge, the refrigerator has to be cleaned very, very well. Uh, and uh, just really, really clean and make sure all the food comes out. Obviously, make sure that all of your, uh, non-kosher food is out of the house. Everything that's in your house has to have a kosher sign on it, whether it's juice or it's meat, obviously, or it's milk.

8:24or it’s anything, everything has to have a kosher sign on it. The only things that do not need a kosher sign are those that are obvious, like fruits and vegetables, because those grow naturally and do not need a kosher stamp. But generally, everything else needs to be kosher. There’s a reason if something doesn’t have a kosher sign on it. For example, Just about six or seven years ago, a company by the name of Sunny Delight that made orange juice finally got a kosher certification. Now, for years, people would ask themselves, "How come this orange juice company doesn't have a kosher certification? Are the rabbis imposing stringencies? Are they making it difficult for them? Are they trying to exploit them for money?" No, they weren't. What people didn't know is that one of the ingredients in Sunny Delight, the orange juice... uh, was called a weird name. It was called like a code. And what that, what that actual ingredient was, was an ingredient that the Sunny Delight orange juice company realized makes the orange juice more yellow. They wanted to make it more marketable, they wanted it to look better than other orange juices. So, therefore, they used this ingredient. What is this ingredient?

9:40Crushed beetles, yes, beetles, yes, the bug, the bug that people run away from or at least shoo away. Yes, that's what they used in order to make their orange juice more yellow. So, if something in today's world, where it's relatively simple to get a kosher symbol on your products, doesn't have a kosher sign on it, there's a reason. And it's definitely not the rabbis; it's just that... Companies, especially in the Western world today, use disgusting ingredients for a lot of products that are cheap and also disgusting. If you only knew what's in some of these non-kosher foods, trust me when I tell you that even if you don't want to keep kosher, you'd still not want to eat those products. Once you know what they are, you will understand the importance of kashrut even more. Hashem, about almost a year and a half ago, published a list of all these foods and all these ingredients that you would find in every single one of these non-kosher products. Many people become much stricter about kosher laws after they read this list because, again, even if you care less about kosher, the reality is that most... Once you know what they are, we actually published a list about a year and a half ago concerning these ingredients that are found in non-kosher products. Many people become more stringent with keeping kosher after reading this list because, as I mentioned, even if one is less concerned about kosher, the reality is that most rational, civilized people would not want to consume these ingredients.

10:56Rational people, most people that are civilized, would not want to eat these ingredients that you find in non-kosher products. Moving on, when it comes to the countertop of the kitchen, many people have a marble countertop. What you do is you pour boiling water on it, a little bit at a time, and clean it. Boiling water will open up any pores that there are in a marble top. You clean it up, and that's it. It's very, very simple to clean the countertop. You see, I think we've covered everything you basically need to do for koshering a kitchen. Again, the most important part is to have kosher food, which is to ensure what we eat is kosher. Now, one of the main things we need to know about kosher is that obviously, Hashem talks about the halacha of not being allowed to eat meat and milk together. It's mentioned three times in the Torah, and... We're not allowed to eat milk and meat. So the Chazal (sages) ask why the same exact verse in the Torah appears three times. Nothing is extra in the Torah, so there are three separate violations with milk and meat. We're not allowed to eat it. We're not allowed to cook it, meaning you're not allowed to actually work at a McDonald's even if you don't eat the food. And...

12:20...a little bit of cheese, you know, cheese fell on top of it and it cooked together, you're not even allowed to give that cheeseburger now to your dog. Why? Because if you give your cheeseburger to your dog, you will technically enjoy it. This is because you would then not have to give him dog food, and therefore you would benefit from a mixture of milk and meat, which you're not allowed to do so. A little bit of cheese, you know, cheese fell on top of it and it cooked together. You're not even allowed to give that cheeseburger now to your dog. Why? Because if you give your cheeseburger to your dog, you will technically enjoy it. This is because you would then not have to give him dog food and therefore you would benefit from a mixture of milk and meat, which you're not allowed to do. this is the reason why there are three times in the Torah where the issur, the prohibition, of eating milk and meat is mentioned. But there are a few other things you should know about the halachah of milk and meat. There's also something called bitul b'shishim, the cancellation of one out of sixty. For example, if there are two distinct tastes...

13:35The milk and the meat are two distinct tastes, obviously. Let's say, for example, you have a pot of milk, a big, large pot of milk, and a 60th, one-sixtieth of the size of meat falls into the pot. Then, because of this bitul (nullification), due to this specific halachic (Jewish legal) clause, you're allowed to take that piece out of the kosher milk. and then throw it out or wash it off. Then the milk remains kosher. Why? Because there are two distinct tastes, two completely separate tastes. It's obvious that the milk, since there is 60 times more — you have 60 times more milk than the meat — then it's obvious that the overwhelming taste would be milk and not meat. But on the other hand, if there is... One drop of non-kosher milk, just one drop of non-kosher milk—let's say milk coming from a non-kosher animal—drops into a huge, giant canister of milk that could be a thousand times larger, a thousand times larger of kosher milk. But you have only one tiny little drop.

14:51...of non-kosher milk going into that large canister of kosher milk. The entire canister is now not kosher, and the reason why is because the tastes are not distinct, meaning that you will not be able to tell the difference between the two. Therefore, the whole mixture becomes non-kosher. This is a halacha we need to know for this last story that I want to tell you. Chazal tells us that in Bereishit (Genesis) 27:34-38, when Esav finds out that Yaakov, his brother, stole his blessing from their father Yitzchak, he screamed. The text says he screamed and he shed three tears: one in his right eye, one in his left eye, and one actually went back inside. Hazal says that when he cried, he actually cried genuinely because he lost his own future interest. He had a genuine cry where he realized that his future destiny had been changed because of this. He eventually became what’s called a "mekatreg," which is a prosecutor against Am Yisrael. That’s why it says, according to the Midrash, "Halacha hi beyadua she’Esav sonei et Yaakov" - it is known that Esav hates Yaakov.

16:08So, he became a prosecutor against Am Yisrael. Every time Am Yisrael made any sins, his malach, his angel, would come to Hashem and say, "Look, according to your Torah, they're sinning." And these two tears; listen to this, these two tears. first one caused the destruction of the first Beit HaMikdash and the second one was one of the things that actually led to the destruction of the second Beit HaMikdash. So Chazal then asks, they're like, wait a minute, but then there's this bitul we just learned about where if you know if we have two distinct tastes you know if we have our two or two distinct tastes where you know Esav, his whole issue is that he went against Israel because he lost his blessing. But even if it's Esav, someone who was historically significant, he cried, okay, fine. But we think that more Jews have cried throughout the years than just these two tears.

17:21And this is where Chazal says, to cry genuinely for the Beit HaMikdash, for the loss of the Beit HaMikdash, to the same level as what Esav did for losing his own interest, we haven't done enough. So this gives us a little bit of an understanding of what we need to do in order to truly engage in mourning and reflection. When we're mourning, and specifically with Tisha B'Av coming up, we must focus beyond our personal interests, thinking instead about the interests of Hashem. By doing so, we honor the significance of our sacred history and imbue our expressions of regret with the sincerity they require. When we're mourning and Tisha B'Av is coming up, when we do the viduy every day, when we say sorry to Hashem, we need to think about not just our own personal interest like Esau, but rather the interest of Hashem. Because if we think about the interest of Hashem, then it's one out of sixty. If we only think about our own interest like Esau, even a thousandfold will not be enough. Thank you for learning Torah with me and may Hashem continue to bless you. Kol Tov.