07 Nov KASHRUS QUESTIONS & ANSWERS WITH RABBI MOSHE ELEFANT

The Food and Drug
Administration has
cleared lab-grown
meat, created from
cultured animal
cells, for human
consumption. What is the OU’s
take on this? Is it kosher?
It’s still being reviewed and discussed; the
technology is unique. Every company has its
own technology, and the differences in how
the product is made can hugely impact the
decision regarding kashrut. Exactly how it’s
made by individual companies can change
the halacha from one company to the next.
There are some poskim who are taking
the position that it doesn’t matter how it’s
made. If it looks like meat and it tastes like
meat, then we’re going to have to treat it as
fleishigs. They feel that anything that looks
and tastes like meat should be fleishigs,
they’re taking that position because of mares
ayin. The problem would be that if this meat
would actually be considered pareve while
real meat is fleishigs, but they look and taste

the same, then how are we supposed to make
sure people don’t make a mistake if it’s really
meat? This leads several Rabbonim to say
“We cannot allow this to be called anything
but meat.” It’s a real consideration that may
make this entire conversation irrelevant. Not
everybody is ready to accept that, because
although this is a very interesting halachic
concept that I’ve discussed in several
lectures, there are things that Chazal says
you’re not allowed to do because they were
concerned. Those concerns probably don’t
exist today, but once Chazal says you’re not
allowed to do things, then you’re not allowed
to do that even if the circumstances of why
they said it changed. There are other things
that Chazal never said that were prohibited,
but if Chazal were here now, they might
be prohibited. For example, when I speak
about the subject of the LED watches that
have buttons on the sides, I’m convinced
that were Chazal here today, they wouldn’t
allow the watches on Shabbos because it’s
a real concern that one might press the
buttons. So why are we allowed to wear these
watches? These watches didn’t exist at the
time of Chazal and since there was no such

watch, then it was obviously not included in
anything they said. There’s another example:
There is a famous teshuva who quotes a very
famous story from the Klausenberger Rebbe.
Many people used cottonseed oil on Pesach,
and they didn’t consider it kitniot, but some
considered it kitniyot. The Klausenberger
Rebbe says in a teshuva that kitniyot is a
minhag and the minhag only includes what’s
in the minhag; what’s not in the minhag it’s
not included.
Since there was no cottonseed oil when the
minhag was instituted, we’re allowed to use
poppy seed oil on Pesach. Another great
example is potatoes; potatoes can be made
into potato flour and potato starch. So why
can we use potatoes on Pesach? When the
minhag was instituted to define kitniyot,
potatoes hadn’t been eaten yet. We can’t make
our own rules. That’s why they say that even
though there’s a strong reason to understand
why this meat should be considered meat,
it’s not in our power to make these kinds of
rules. There are others who disagree; they
say of course we not only have to think of the
letter of the law, but also the spirit of the law.
The spirit of the law is that one should not,

Chas v’Shalom, eat something that is meat
with something that is dairy.
There’s also another technical issue, which
is of course extremely complicated. How
exactly is this meat made, and from what
part of the animal are the cells taken from?
If it were possible to take cells from the hair
or urine of an animal, then it wouldn’t be as
much of an issue, but that’s not the type of
technology that’s being used. They’re taking
them from a piece of meat, which is why
I believe that A) This product will only be
certifiable if it comes from a piece of meat
and B) It’s labeled as meat.