DON’T
BE IGNORANT OF YOUR BUTTS,
OR,
KASHRUT AND HINDQUARTERS
Often enough, we here in the USA see that this is what is
kosher on a kosher, four legged animal.
“No Butts about it” was a slogan
from kosher meat producer Hebrew National: the hind quarters are not listed as kosher.
However, when you go to Israel, the
situation is totally different.
Meet the Shoshani Brothers. They run Jerusalem’s best known
butcher shop, Shoshani and Sons, Inc.,
which is under top-level Kosher supervision.
The shop was started by their father before the state of Israel was
established! Jerusalem’s top restaurants buy their meat here, and lovers of
good food order from them. And their
store has a meat map like this:
Kosher butchers like the Shoshani’s, as well meat stands at
the supermarkets throughout Israel show the
whole cow! All those cuts that are
normally not available as Kosher in the USA are sold there: Sirloin, Tenderloin, Flank, Top Round.
Here is the display case at
Shoshani and Sons. The cut in the middle is #13, “Sheytel”, which is prized for
Szechuan Beef and other stir-fried dishes. It’s a cut from the back of the cow, and you normally can’t get this cut of beef
from a Kosher butcher in the US.
Almost
every part of the cow is kosher according to the Torah. In Israel, kosher hind cuts are common and
affordable. In the USA, we rarely see them, if at all. What is going
on here? Part
of it has to do with our ancestor, Ya’akov.
BERESEET (GENESIS) 32: 22-32
24And
Ya’akov was all alone-- then a man
wrestled with him on and on until dawn. 25When the man saw that he could not
win against Ya’akov, the man struck at the socket of Ya’akov's hip so that it
was dislocated as they wrestled. 26Then the man said, "Let me go;
it's almost dawn!" But Ya’akov answered, "I won't let you go until
you bless me!" 27So
the man asked him, "What's your name?" "Ya’akov [Heel-Twister],"
he answered.
28The
man said, "Your name will no longer be Ya’akov but Yisra’el [god-fighter]
because you have struggled with God and with men-- and you have won." 29Ya’akov
said, "Please tell me your name." The man answered, “You need to ask
my for my name?” Then he fled from Ya’akov. 30So Ya’akov named that place Peni-el
[Face of God], because he said, "I have seen God face to face, but my life
was saved." 31The
sun rose as he passed Peni-el. He was limping because of his hip. 32 Therefore,
even today the people of Yisrael do not
eat the Gid Ha’nashe [Sciatic tissue
attached to the hip socket] because Ya’akov's hip was dislocated at the
thigh muscle.
Look at the reactions of sages to this last verse:
The Bechor Shor (Oleans, France, 12th cen.): It is to be a commemoration for them
that their forefather fought with the angel, and [the latter] could not
subdue him. And so [the angel] wounded him in the rear-facing section
of his thigh, in the place where there is the sciatic nerve. And it is a
commemoration of glory and greatness.
Chizkuni (France, 13th cen.):
it would be right and proper to punish the Israelites not to eat that
particular sinew as they should not have allowed their founding father to be
exposed to hostile forces at night. Yaakov’s sons were physically strong, and
they should have been at hand to assist their father if the need arose to do
so. Seeing that they failed to do this, the blame for the injury sustained by
their father was theirs. From now on they would have learned their lesson and
would practice the commandment to accompany their father, or for that matter,
any older and wiser person, especially at night.
Ibn Ezra (Spain, 12th cen.) :The meaning of the term gid
ha-nasheh (the sinew of the thigh-vein) is known from the tradition
received and transmitted to us by the Talmudic sages. The rabbis interpret gid ha-nasheh
to mean the sinew that slipped from its place. No one but those lacking in
understanding and knowledge of nature have any doubt as to its definition.
Tur HaArokh (Toledo, Spain, 14th cen.) :
The Jews not eating this sinew are comparable
to sons who make a point of fasting on the anniversary of their father’s death.
Another way of looking at this law: In the future, the Jewish people would be
commanded not to eat this sinew in order that they should remain aware of the
miracle which had occurred when a mortal man, their ancestor Yaakov, had been
able to prevail against a celestial force trying to wrestle him to the ground.
So Jews who observe Kashrut won’t eat this part of
an animal. So what do they do for meat headed to Israel that we don’t do
here?
A trained kosher butcher will cut out the forbidden tissue from the meat, a process called Nikur. There used to be many people in the United States who were Menakerim, experts in Nikur, but due to a number of reasons, there are only three left in the entire US! So aside from three stores here, you have to go to Israel to find a kosher sirloin, as in Israel there are still many Menakerim. However, as we try and eat less meat- and waste less of the meat we do eat, there may be a return of these cuts to the kosher market in America.
To top it all off, Rambam
(that’s Rabbi Dr. Moses Maimonides to you) codifies what you have to do with this
section of an animal and some other related laws:
Mishneh
Torah, Forbidden Foods 8:7
One
who removes the gid hanashe must dig out all traces of it until nothing
remains. A butcher's word is accepted with regards to the gid hanashe, just as
it is accepted with regards to chailev (fats forbidden to eat by the Torah). We
don't purchase meat from any old butcher, only from an upright guy who has an
established reputation for being observant of the Torah. If he slaughters the
meat himself and sells it, his word is accepted.
Mishneh Torah, Forbidden Foods 8:14
It is permitted to
derive benefit from the gid hanashe. Therefore, it is permitted for a
Jew to send a thigh with the gid in it to a non-Jew. The Jew may give
the non-Jew the entire intact thigh in the presence of a Jew. We don't suspect
that this other Jew will partake in the meat before the sinew is removed,
because the location of the gid is conspicuous (so they won’t eat it).
(See- it really stands out!--> ) So when we look
at this week’s Torah Portion and ask “what does this have to do with being
Jewish today,” the answer is clear, no
butts about it! What we eat, when we
follow the discipline of kashrut, anchors us to the lives of our ancestors and
their struggles.
