Deep thought for the week, 26 Shevat 5768

I will never be able to look at Ben and Jerry's the same way again.

In studying the parshah this week, I learned a couple things.

By way of background, this week's parshah, Mishpatim, is the first time in the Torah that the focus is not one a historical event, but rather upon Jewish Law. We know that when Hashem gave the Torah to Eretz Yisrael at Har Tzinai, the people responded "We will obey, and we will understand". This is reinforced in the parshah, as the first statutes that are presented and discussed focus on slavery, and from this we learn that we must approach observance in the same manner that a slave approaches a master (although I personally find the image of a disciple to a master as a more palatable image). It is not necessary for the slave to understand why the master says to do something, simply that the slave do so.

Regardless, Jews are prohibited from eating or even benefiting from animals that have been wounded (which is the actual meaning of the word treyf) and are expected to die of those wounds. Well, this really was not much of an issue until several years ago.

It seems that dairy farmers, in order to lower costs and increase production, started to give their herds feed that help stimulate the production of milk. The feed however had the side effect of causing a build-up of gases in the stomach and intestines of the herd, which left untreated, would prove fatal. Not good.

Fortunately, the treatment was very simple and straight-forward -- a catheter would be instered into a small incision in the stomach or intestines, and the gases would be vented out. Once the catheter is removed, the puncture would seal immediately, and the animal would be perfectly healthy. By and large, most Rabbis agreed that consequently, the animal would still be considered kosher, and fit for use. But not all.

A small number of Rabbis insisted upon a stricter adherance to the law, that while the animals would remain healthy, because they had been punctured in the abdomen, they were now and forever more treyf. Now the argument was hard to dissmiss, as it is absolutely correct. Consequently, milk that is marked Cholov Yisrael is guaranteed to have come from cows that have never been given this feed and thus never have been surgically treated as I described above.