You may eat any clean
bird.
If his offering to the Lord is a burnt offering of birds, he shall choose his offering from turtledoves or pigeons.
When speaking about permitted and prohibitted food, the Torah specifies only the birds that cannot be eaten, such as the owl and the hawk. This could mean that every bird not prohibited is fair game. However, the Torah mentions very few birds, so the Rabbis had a legitimate problem. What about the chicken? the osprey?
According to Steven Weintraub on his JEWISH INFORMATION WEB PAGES (http://www.pswtech.com/~stevenw/jewish/kosher/all.html), The Rabbis deduced four rules on what makes up a kosher bird:
- It is not a bird of prey.
- It does not have front toes (or tearing talon)
- It must have a craw and a double lined stomach that is easily separated.
- It can catch food thrown in the air, but it must lay it down and tear it with its beak before eating.
Most Orthodox subscribe to these rules. There are some groups who will only eat those birds listed in the Torah as acceptable for sacrifice. As a result while most Orthodox will eat turkey, these Orthodox will not.
Do you eat chicken? Turkey?
2/16/98
Bluethread ©1998 Rosemarie E. Falanga, Cy H. Silver