Afternoon
A person who takes a nap during the day for at least a half hour must perform the Netilat Yadayim ritual, just as he does upon arising in the morning, pouring the water over each hand three times intermittently. In this case, no blessing is recited.
- Unlike at night, it is not necessary to prepare the water at one’s bedside.
Specifically now, in the middle of the day, one must set aside time for Minchah, the afternoon prayer service. A discussion of the importance of this prayer service and the proper time for reciting it can be found in The Synagogue and Prayers.
For Your Health
Good health is a key to quality of life, and it is also a goal of central importance in Judaism.
The Torah commands us, “You shall protect your souls very much.” We must be particularly cautious in taking care of our health. This is the only way that we will be able to fulfill the task for which we were brought into the world. If we do not care for ourselves properly, the physical and emotional difficulties we experience may make it too difficult for us to fulfill the purpose of our existence in this world. How can we run to do a mitzvah if we do not exercise from time to time?
How can we study Torah diligently and with a clear mind if we haven’t eaten properly?
Moreover, our bodies actually do not belong to us at all. A Jew’s body belongs to G-d; he is merely a trustee who has been charged with caring for it for the duration of his life. A Jewish person must protect his body from harm and prevent it from being damaged in any way.
Is It Kosher?
Introduction
Adherence to the Torah’s dietary laws, which forbid us to consume any food that is not kosher, has been one of the most fundamental underpinnings of Jewish life throughout our people’s history. Every Jew is obligated to follow this entire set of laws. Kosher food affects not only the body but the soul as well. The soul of a person who eats only kosher food becomes more delicate and refined, and it develops a greater ability to understand things that are connected to sanctity and G-dliness.
Why must we keep kosher? What may we eat, and what are we prohibited to eat? What is the rationale behind the prohibition of consuming meat and dairy together? How do we make our kitchen kosher? Why must dishes be immersed in a mikveh before they can be used?
The answers to all of these questions can be found in Your Jewish Guide—The Jewish Home in the chapter on kashrut.
Buying Kosher Food
In addition to all of the details we must remember when preparing food at home, there is another important issue in the realm of kashrut that can be very relevant to our daily lives: what to do when shopping for food. In the supermarket and other stores, it is imperative to purchase those foods that bear a certification of kashrut from a reliable supervisory agency. Every kosher food item is sold with a symbol on the packaging that confirms that it has been under proper supervision from the time of its manufacture.
Sometimes, a particular food might seem to be completely kosher when it really is not. What could be wrong with a simple can of tuna? The answer is that there are many things we do not know. Any food product may be subject to problems of kashrut that would be recognized as such only by experts in the field. These problems may be related to the ingredients of the product itself or to the manufacturing process.
In previous generations, the subject of kashrut was far less complex than it is today. Years ago, people had not yet learned how to extract various substances from nature that today can be the source of kashrut issues. Did our patriarch Abraham serve gluten-free bread? Did the great sage Maimonides ever encounter foods containing food coloring? In their days, and throughout most of world history, every food was exactly what it appeared to be, without any added ingredients or substances, and it was much easier to guarantee the kashrut of every food item.
Modern technology and scientific knowledge, however, have created a situation that is far more complex than it was in those bygone eras. Sometimes, in order to certify the kashrut of an item manufactured in a particular country, it is necessary to visit a number of factories on entirely different continents in order to guarantee that the raw materials used in the manufacturing process are themselves kosher. The kashrut agency then must send a representative to inspect each of the raw materials before it can certify the product in question.
Because of the great difficulty involved in ensuring the kashrut of foods, a consumer must look for the symbol of a reliable kashrut agency before purchasing any item.
Meat and poultry sold in a butcher shop, as well as fish in a fish store, must also be certified kosher. In these cases, however, the certification will generally appear on the store itself, rather than on the individual foods. These items should not be purchased from a store that is not under the supervision of a reliable kashrut agency.
- One should not rely on the word “kosher” if it appears alone on the sign of a store, a package of food, or anywhere else without being backed by a trustworthy supervisory agency. One should confirm that a reputable kashrut agency has certified the food as kosher.
Even after you have finished shopping and have made certain that every item is properly certified as kosher, in certain situations there will be more work to do when the food is prepared in order to make sure that it retains its kashrut. For a full discussion of this subject, see The Jewish kitchen.
