Author

  • Rabbi Paul S. Drazen z"l

    Rabbi Paul S. Drazen (1951-2018) spent two-thirds of his rabbinic career serving individual congregations and one-third on the staff of USCJ, all the while creating programs and educational opportunities to make Jewish observance and practice clear, accessible, and attainable for everyone.

How is Kosher Slaughtering Performed?

To take even animal life, requires that the shochet be wholly attuned to the serious nature of the slaughter and never callous or uncaring.

Soaking and Salting Kosher Meat

After an animal has been butchered, inspected, and forbidden parts removed, the meat still needs to have as much blood removed as possible.

Restrictions on Kashering Animals

Even if an animal is killed appropriately, it is still possible for it to be considered non-kosher if that the animal was ill or maimed.

Understanding Kosher Supervision

In general, one should only consume processed foods prepared under the supervision of a rabbi or an accepted kashrut supervision agency.

How Can I Create a Kosher Kitchen

While daunting and labour intensive to transform a non-kosher kitchen into a kosher one each individual step is rather straightforward.

How to Kasher Kitchen Appliances

Offering guidelines on the various requirements to Kasher different kitchen appliances, both large and small.

Why Separating Meat and Dairy is Part of Keeping Kosher

Halakhah specifically encourages us to separate meat and dairy products and prohibits us from eating them together.

Eating in Non-Kosher Homes

There are vexing questions for Kashrut observers to address, when eating in non-Kosher homes of friends and family.

What is Pareve Food?

Some foods, neither meat nor dairy in origin, are known as pareve and government standards may differ from Rabbinical definitions.

Eating in Non-Kosher Restaurants

A hallmark of Conservative Jewish practice has been the understanding that it is possible to eat in non-Kosher restaurants responsibly.