A Popular Dictionary of Judaism
(Hebrew. ‘Fit’, ‘Fitness’) The body of laws governing food. The original lists of forbidden species in the *Bible were explained and developed in the *Oral law. Animals fit for consumption must both chew the cud and have a cloven hoof (such as sheep and cows).
Birds of prey are forbidden. Fish may only be eaten if they have both fins and scales. Animals must be slaughtered in a particular way (see *SHEHITA) and the meat washed to remove all traces of *blood. Following the Biblical verse, ‘thou shalt not seeth a kid in its mother’s milk’, meat foods and milk foods may not be eaten or even prepared together. The laws are contained in the *Talmudic tractate Hullin and the section ‘Yoreh Deah’ in the *Shulhan Arukh. They include all the regulations on permitted (‘Kosher’) and forbidden (‘terefah’) foods, methods of slaughter, meat preparation, the separation of meat and milk, vegetable foodstuffs and Passover (*Pesah) rules.
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