21 Nov KASHRUS QUESTIONS OF THE WEEK WITH RABBI MOSHE ELEFANT

Q: Is Turkey Kosher? –
I have heard that there
are some Jews who do
not consider turkey
kosher. Can you tell me
the reason for this?
As far as I know, turkey with kosher
certification is widely available. When
the Torah speaks about what makes an
animal Kosher, it’s very specific; it chews
its cud and has split hooves. When the
Torah speaks about birds, it doesn’t give
a general description. The Torah gives
names of birds, but we don’t exactly
know what those birds are. The Gemarah
Mesechta Chulin tells us that the birds for
which we have a mesorah, a tradition, are
the birds we can eat. This is the halacha
in the Shulchan Aruch. Jews have been
eating chicken forever and, therefore, it is
considered a bird with a mesora. Turkey
is a relatively new bird, an American
bird, although some people say it come

from India. The question is, is there a
Mesorah for turkey? Most people believe
that there is a Mesorah for turkey. There
are certainly families that do not eat
turkey, which is based on a Shlah, who
said that his family and his descendants
should not eat turkey. But certainly, the
most widespread opinion is that there is a
mesorah for turkey and therefore turkey
is kosher.

Q: Can one bake an open pan of
chicken/ meat in a hot oven immediately
after fish was baked in an open pan?
What about the opposite, fish after
meat, if both are open?
A: The gemara teaches us that mixing
fish and meat is a sakana (danger). We
know of course that according to Halacha,
one may not mix meat and dairy, but
the gemara also says chamira sakanta
me’isuro. This means, that as much as
we need to be careful about Jewish law,
we need to be careful about being safe

and healthy. So, if Chazal taught us that
mixing meat and milk is dangerous, we
certainly need to be very careful about
mixing meat and fish in the same recipe
as well. We also need to be careful about
using the same utensils for meat and fish.
For example, if someone has a fryer that
they fried chicken in, they should not be
using the same oil to fry fish. For that
reason, many people have a separate pot
that they cook fish in and don’t cook any
meat in. That is also why people have the
custom to drink schnapps after eating fish
before eating meat; so that there should
be a little separation between them.
Cooking meat and fish in the same oven
is the same concern. If you are cooking
fish uncovered in the oven, you should
not be cooking meat uncovered in that
oven at the same time. If you have one
oven that you cook fish and meat in, you
should either cook one of them covered
or, if that’s not an option, between the

cooking of the fish and meat you should
clean the oven and put it on the highest
setting for an hour. If you can, you should
wait 24 hours but if you cannot, put it on
the highest temperature for an hour.
Some communities, particularly sefardic,
and some chassidish communities
won’t eat fish and dairy together. Dairy
obviously is also the product of an animal
and they are concerned that it would be
the same issue of mixing a product from
an animal with fish. This really depends
on what your custom is.