Vampire Weekend's Surprising Jewish Stories
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For the first time in history, lab-grown meat was recently given a kosher certification. Now you can understand why this is big news.
The Orthodox Union, a leading kosher certification agency, recently granted its first kosher certification to lab-grown meat made by Super-Meat, an Israeli startup that uses stem cells from eggs. This is a significant development for the world of Kosher supervision.
The requirements for Kosher meat are complex and traditionally only meat from a Kosher species of animal that was ritually slaughtered is permitted. However, there has been ongoing debate in rabbinic circles that lab-grown meat, even pork, is perhaps different and doesn’t have the same strict kosher requirements of regular meat.
In order to avoid this controversy, the Super-Meat company used chicken eggs, an obviously kosher item that doesn’t require ritual slaughter, to avoid this debate. While it is doubtful that any reputable Kosher certification agency will certify lab-grown pork, this article presents aspects of this fascinating discussion.
The basic concept of lab-grown meat is that living cells are taken from an animal and are grown in a laboratory under special conditions into a piece of meat. This process could alleviate the need for farming and slaughtering animals. The question has been raised: what is the status of this meat in Jewish law? If it comes from a non-kosher source, does it retain its prohibition or is it viewed as synthetic and permitted? Likewise, if lab-grown beef is not beef, would it be permitted to it eat with cheese, like in a cheeseburger?
At the heart of this debate lies an important question as to whether or not meat created through unnatural means still has the kosher status of regular meat. We begin our discussion with two conflicting sources.
The Talmud1 relates that sage, Rabbi Shimon ben Chalafta was traveling and met up with hungry lions, endangering his life. He recited a verse and two pieces of meat descended from the heavens. The lions ate one piece of meat and left the second. Rabbi Shimon ben Chalafta took the piece of meat with him to the Rabbis in the study hall and asked, “Is this heavenly meat kosher or not?”
The Rabbis answered, “An impure item does not descend from the heavens.” Another Rabbi asked, “Would the law be the same if the meat came in the form of a donkey?” which is an obviously non-kosher animal. Rabbi Abahu answered, “Didn’t I tell you that an impure item does not descend from the Heavens?!” The Yad Ramah, a medieval commentator, explains that if this would happen, the donkey would still be kosher.
Apparently, a donkey made in heaven is kosher!
Some contemporary Rabbis contend that any meat produced in a laboratory has the same status as heavenly meat and is kosher.
Some contemporary Rabbis contend that any meat produced in a laboratory has the same status as heavenly meat and is kosher. This is because they understand that the reason why the heavenly donkey is permitted is because it is unnatural. As such, lab-grown meat, although not heavenly, is produced by unnatural means and is therefore permitted.
The assertion that anything produced in an unnatural way doesn’t have regular kosher laws is far from conclusive. Many contemporary Rabbis challenge this position from a different passage in the Talmud. The Talmud asks if “wheat kernels that came from the clouds” could be used for the meal offering in the Temple?2 The Talmud answers that generally such wheat may be used. What are wheat kernels that came from the clouds? According to the explanation of Tosafos, a classic commentary, the Talmud is referring to wheat that came miraculously from the heavens.
According to this passage heavenly wheat is still wheat despite its unnatural origin. As the saying goes, “If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it is a duck!” This source could indicate that generally Jewish law views an item based on its present consistency, not their origin. Based on this source it should follow that artificially grown meat, if it has all the characteristics of regular meat, is considered meat, so lab-grown pork is still pork and prohibited. This seems to contradict the previous passage considering heavenly donkeys to be kosher, which could indicate that lab grown pork is kosher.
These conflicting sources could be reconciled based on the approach of the 19th century Hassidic scholar, the Rebbe of Radzin, to another puzzling Talmudic passage. The Talmud3 tells a story that Rava created a man through Jewish mysticism (often referred to as a “golem” -- think of the Golem of Prague or Frankenstein!) and sent it to Rabbi Zeira. Rabbi Zeira was unable to converse with it and destroyed it.
Some maintain that since the golem was not born from a human mother it does not have the status of a human and is not considered murder.
The commentaries ask how could Rabbi Zeira destroy the golem? Doesn’t this transgress the prohibition of murder? Some answer that since the golem was not born from a human mother it does not have the status of a human and is not considered murder. However, the Rebbe of Radzin4 disagreed and offered an important alternate approach.
The Radziner Rebbe observes that the golem described in this story was ‘unable to converse’. Speech is a defining human characteristic and if golems categorically cannot speak, they are lacking a basic human characteristic. Being that a golem is not completely similar to a human being, it is not included in the prohibition of murder.
This approach could answer the conflicting sources cited in this article. The ‘heavenly wheat’ was only suitable as an offering because it had all the regular characteristics of wheat. However, when it comes to the ‘heavenly donkeys’ the wording of the Talmud it that it had the ‘likeness’ of a donkey. This could mean that it had the likeness of a donkey but wasn’t exactly the same. As such, similar to the golem, almost a donkey is not a donkey! If it would be exactly the same then we would have to concede that it has the status of a regular donkey and is prohibited.
Based on the approach of the Radziner Rebbe, lab-grown meat, which is exactly the same as regular meat, doesn’t have a special kosher status. Therefore, lab-grown pork, despite its unnatural origin, is still pork and not kosher.
We have seen conflicting sources regarding the status of items created through miracles. However, there is a strong case to be made that lab-grown meat should not be viewed as miraculous altogether. Unlike a real miracle it is simply growing existing biological material under special man-made conditions.
Based on our discussion, it is understandable why the Orthodox Union only certified meat made from chicken eggs. As we have learned, lab-grown pork may still be considered pork. Furthermore, even if lab-grown meat is made from a Kosher species of animal, like a cow, there is still a requirement of ritual slaughter. As such, if lab-grown beef is made from stem cells that were harvested before ritual slaughter, it could still be an issue.
Chicken eggs, unlike beef or poultry, have a unique status in Jewish dietary law and do not require ritual slaughter. By using chicken eggs, the Orthodox Union hopes to introduce a lab-grown meat that will be universally accepted.
Anything that is lab-grown is NOT good for you! To believe otherwise is not only foolish, but a huge risk to one's health.
Gd gave us everything that we need to not only survive but thrive on our planet. We do NOT need FAKE food. Besides, the studies aren't even out yet showing how long-term consumption affects the human body's health status.
NO THANK YOU!
Yes, and I would add -- to paraphrase the the Talmudic dictum mentioned in the article, that we can certainly say that if food came from Haven, it would be healthy, and not this terrible junk food (with all due respect for a nice, academic article)!!!
Ah - another "how many angels can dance on the head of a pin" discussion. Given the synthetic (fake) foods crafted so as to maintain kashrut via sleight-of-hand, the provenance of test tube meat should be of no concern. Mock foodstuffs are a joke to begin with, and their "acceptance" (along with a whole bevy of bad-tasting "certified" concoctions) points to the absurdity of "keeping kosher at any cost."
Perhaps a review of the safety of "meat" grown from "immortalized tumor cells." Is a more appropriate starting place for kashrut evaluation?
It is the job of the Rabbi's is to make kosher whenever possible. The cost of living today causes many families to have to rely on Tzedokah. The price of kosher meat is outrageous, even chicken are tree to four times the price of non-kosher birds. This could be a way a lessening the burden
Possibly, however, those who know about the medical/pharmaceutical INDSUTRY, know that you must be take into account also the medical costs, Heaven forbid, that may certainly come with this severely deranged junk food! As others have commented, anyone who knows about health is against lab-grown food -- whether from meat/chicken or vegetable source. Thus, I hope this article is strictly academic: "Kosher junk food' is an oxymoron!!!"
(p.s. The medical industry is $3.8 trillion per year - in the US alone! It is the absolute largest industry, and does the most lobbying -- three times more than the one after it, which is gas and oil. Same investors in Big Junk Food and Big Pharma -- they each need each other to continue (as, if not for Pharma, people would actually think about health!:)
Is lab grown meat exactly the same as meat derived from a living animal? I think this is up for debate.
Good question. But I don't think there is any debate about it at all. It is not remotely close in its nutritional profile, never mind the fact that it is produced with extremely unhealthy oils, and the fact that the lab-grown meat produces waste too, but where does that waste go? It does not compare remotely to a living animal.
Now, it is true that the way they raise most animals and chickens etc. today is atrocious too, but that doesn't make lab-grown a better alternative; it is still much worse! The solution is organic!
And don't believe any nonsense about "saving the planet"; that is simply propaganda from those who own the patents (just as with junk food and pharmaceuticals); they make panics simply as a marketing strategy!!!
Thank you, (bow, bow)!
I am with the Radziner Rebbe on this one.
I also &, more basically, cannot understand why people who observe Kashrus would be the slightest bit interested in lab-grown pork. First, one would have to consider how they know it tastes like pork which, clearly if they keep Kashrus they wouldn't &, second, pork is clearly a forbidden taste to us so why would they want to.
If it is seriously intended as an environmental benefit to humankind why not just leave it as chicken in taste & appearance? Surely no-one who keeps Kosher REALLY tries to get round HaShem's laws in this horrendous way which is of no benefit to human life.
I don't think it's a question of getting around anything. It is a question of permitted pleasures. On some level, we are actually obligated to partake of all permitted pleasures. Otherwise it is a repudiation of Hashem`s gifts to us.
I have a different vies, I would place it in the same category as kitniyot. It would help me enjoy eating kitniyot on Pesach, but being Ashkenazi I don't. The same could occur with lab grown pork, you may not which is which, so you wouldn't at all. Plus a pig can never be slaughtered Kosher .
Of course someone who was Kosher their whole life would never know how close to real pork this stuff tastes like.
It's like using hydroponic grown vegetables, as they get a different blessing than ones grown in the soil
Is that the rule?
They actually have an article that mentions it: https://aish.com/5-six-types/
It concurs with you! (That it is shehakol (and not haadama.)