Chaim Loike (born 1977 in New York City to Marian Stoltz-Loike and John Loike) is an American Rabbi who works for the Orthodox Union Kosher. He is an expert on kosher species of birds. [1] He is the director of the Biblical Ornithological Society. [2]
The Bible gives a list of non-kosher birds in Leviticus 11:13–19 and Deuteronomy 14:11–18. (See kosher animals for full article). However, today it is not clear which species the Bible had in mind. People who keep kosher rely on several rules listed in the Talmud and on tradition to know which birds may be consumed.
Jewish law also dictates that birds that interbreed can be considered members of the same species. This is one of the reasons why turkeys, which were unknown in the Middle East in ancient time, are considered kosher by many Jewish groups. Over the past decade, Chaim Loike has interviewed Jewish elders from far-flung communities, such as Afghanistan, to document their traditions regarding kosher bird species.
He has also extensively bred and raised many exotic birds in order to determine their kosher status. Loike worked extensively on different species of quails in order to determine if they are kosher, and his research was used by Rabbi Yisroel Belsky as the basis for his ruling on the matter. [3] He has also written on the subject of partridges, ruling that several different species should follow the precedent set by the chukar partridge and be considered kosher. [4] In another instance, he raised runner ducks. [5]
Rabbi Loike lectures extensively for the Orthodox Union on the subject, often bringing live birds for the presentations. [6] He is also a lecturer at Touro College. [7]
In 2013, Loike launched an online campaign to fund an investigation into the kosher status of Philby's partridge. He aimed to raise a captive population of this endangered species, indigenous to Northern Yemen. By proving the birds to be kosher, Loike hoped to create a market for them and thus stave off their extinction. [8] [9]
Loike has compiled a source book on the subject of kosher birds and eggs, published by the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America. [10]
Kashrut is a set of dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jewish people are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed kosher, from the Ashkenazi pronunciation of the term that in Sephardic or Modern Hebrew is pronounced kashér, meaning "fit". Food that may not be consumed, however, is deemed treif, also spelled treyf.
Kitniyot is a Hebrew word meaning legumes. During the Passover holiday, however, the word kitniyot takes on a broader meaning to include grains and seeds such as rice, corn, sunflower seeds, and sesame seeds, in addition to legumes such as beans, peas, and lentils.
In some religions, an unclean animal is an animal whose consumption or handling is taboo. According to these religions, persons who handle such animals may need to ritually purify themselves to get rid of their uncleanliness.
Kosher foods are foods that conform to the Jewish dietary regulations of kashrut. The laws of kashrut apply to food derived from living creatures and kosher foods are restricted to certain types of mammals, birds and fish meeting specific criteria; the flesh of any animals that do not meet these criteria is forbidden by the dietary laws. Furthermore, kosher mammals and birds must be slaughtered according to a process known as shechita and their blood may never be consumed and must be removed from the meat by a process of salting and soaking in water for the meat to be permissible for use. All plant-based products, including fruits, vegetables, grains, herbs and spices, are intrinsically kosher, although certain produce grown in the Land of Israel is subjected to other requirements, such as tithing, before it may be consumed.
The Orthodox Union is one of the largest Orthodox Jewish organizations in the United States. Founded in 1898, the OU supports a network of synagogues, youth programs, Jewish and Religious Zionist advocacy programs, programs for the disabled, localized religious study programs, and international units with locations in Israel and formerly in Ukraine. The OU maintains a kosher certification service, whose circled-U hechsher symbol, U+24CAⓊCIRCLED LATIN CAPITAL LETTER U, is found on the labels of many kosher commercial and consumer food products.
Shemaryahu Yosef Chaim Kanievsky was an Israeli Haredi rabbi and posek. He was a leading authority in Haredi Jewish society on legal and ethical practice. Known as Gadol HaDor and the "Prince of Torah", much of his prominence came through Torah education and advice about Jewish law.
The Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada (UOR), often called by its Hebrew name, Agudath Harabonim or (in Ashkenazi Hebrew) Agudas Harabonim ("union of rabbis"), was established in 1901 in the United States and is the oldest organization of Orthodox rabbis in the United States. It had been for many years the principal group for such rabbis, though in recent years it has lost much of its former membership and influence.
Moshe David Tendler was an American rabbi, professor of biology and expert in medical ethics. He served as chairman of the biology department at Yeshiva University.
Both Old World and New World quail include edible species. The common quail used to be much favoured in French cooking, but quail for the table are now more likely to be domesticated Japanese quail. The common quail is also part of Polish, Maltese, Italian, Mexican, Spanish, and Indian cuisine. Quail are commonly eaten complete with the bones, since these are easily chewed and the small size of the bird makes it inconvenient to remove them.
Triangle K is a kosher certification agency under the leadership of Rabbi Aryeh R. Ralbag. It was founded by his late father, Rabbi Yehosef Ralbag. The hechsher is a letter K enclosed in an equilateral triangle.
Chaim Yisroel HaLevi Belsky was an American rabbi and posek of Orthodox and Haredi Judaism. He was one of the roshei yeshiva (deans) at Yeshiva Torah Vodaas, and rabbi of the summer camp network run by Agudath Israel of America.
Herbert S. Goldstein was a prominent American rabbi and Jewish leader. He was the only person to have been elected president of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, the Rabbinical Council of America, and the Synagogue Council of America. Globally, he fought for the survival and transplantation of European Jewry as an activist in the Vaad Hatzalah and the Agudath Israel.
Menachem Genack is an Orthodox rabbi and the CEO of the Orthodox Union Kosher Division, a supervisory organization of kosher food. As such he oversees the kosher certification of over 1.3 million products and over 14,000 facilities in 104 countries.
Philby's partridge or Philby's rock partridge, is a relative of the chukar, red-legged partridge and barbary partridges and is native to southwestern Saudi Arabia and northern Yemen. Although similar in appearance to other Alectoris species, Philby's partridge can be distinguished by its black cheeks and throat. Although not currently listed as an endangered species, the Arab Spring and destruction of its fragile habitat in the tribal areas of Northern Yemen had led to concerns about the survival of this species. The name commemorates the British explorer St John Philby.
Kosher animals are animals that comply with the regulations of kashrut and are considered kosher foods. These dietary laws ultimately derive from various passages in the Torah with various modifications, additions and clarifications added to these rules by halakha. Various other animal-related rules are contained in the 613 commandments.
The mixture of meat and dairy is forbidden according to Jewish law. This dietary law, basic to kashrut, is based on two verses in the Book of Exodus, which forbid "boiling a (goat) kid in its mother's milk" and a third repetition of this prohibition in Deuteronomy.
Yaakov Yitzchak Horowitz is an American rabbi and one of North America's foremost experts on kosher food production.
Moshe D. Gutnick is an Australian Orthodox rabbi, and a member of the ultra Orthodox Chabad Hasidic movement. Rabbi Gutnick is a senior member of the Beth Din in Sydney, Australia. Gutnick is currently President of the Rabbinical Council of Australia and New Zealand. Gutnick is the head of the NSW Kashrut Authority. He formerly served as the rabbi of the Bondi Mizrachi Synagogue in Sydney.
Orthodox Union Kosher, known as OU Kosher or OUK, is a kosher certification agency based in New York City. It was founded in 1923 by Abraham Goldstein. It is the certification agency of about 70% of kosher food worldwide, and is the largest of the "Big Five" major certification agencies, which include OK, Kof-K, Star-K, and CRC.
Shlomo Zev Zweigenhaft was a rabbi who was Rosh Hashochtim of Poland before the Holocaust. After the Holocaust he was Chief Rabbi of Hanover and Lower Saxony. After emigrating to the United States he was a Rav Hamachshir and was described as the "foremost authority on shechita".