August 2021
Old McDonald’s Butter
An Uncomfortable Rejection
We have all had something like this happen to us. A well meaning person going out of their way to offer us what they believe to be “kosher” food.
As kosher consumers living in a wonderful country, we are often victims of kindness.
I was recently on a plane, when the flight attendant, seeing that I was the only noticeably frum person on the flight, came over and gave me extra “kosher” snacks. She was trying to be nice and accommodating, but the snacks had a hechsher few rely upon. I thanked her and told her I would “save” them for later (by save, I meant to give to someone on the plane).
But it was a few weeks ago when I saw this on a grand and public level.
Like many families in late summer, we were looking for somewhere to go with the kids, a swan-song of summer, one last hurrah.
My wife came up with the wonderful idea of heading to Pennsylvania.
On our last day there, we decided to go to a farm that was located at least ten miles from the nearest town. While that may sound boring, this farm was the perfect place to spend a day with a family with children kn”a of all ages. With the state’s largest corn maze, hay rides and a myriad of activities for people of all ages, this farm was something to behold.
Arriving in the parking lot—which itself was in a corn field—we noticed that it was filled with one mini-van after another. Virtually every one had a license plate from either New York or New Jersey and had magnetic bumper stickers representing one of the frum camps.
Walking into the farm was like walking onto 13th avenue, if 13th avenue had a petting zoo and sling-shots. There weren’t just a lot of frum families there; there were virtually only frum families there.
After completing the corn maze, which actually has a store—a store!—in the middle of it to purchase sandwiches and drinks, we divided up among age groups. Suddenly there was an announcement on the speaker system: “For our Jewish visitors, Minchah (pronounced the way most non-Jews pronounce “ch” as in “‘charge”) will take place at 2:30 in Barn B.”
At first I thought I was hearing voices, but my wife and kids heard it too. We made up that we would meet after Minchah at the butter-making seminar to be held across from davening.
At about 3 P.M., we met up and took our seats along with all the other frum families on one of the benches. An older woman came onto the stage. She had with her a bottle of heavy cream, small plastic containers—a little larger than a schnapps glaizel—with covers for them, as well as a few packages of saltines.
Anyone familiar with butter production saw where this was headed. We were each going to be making butter—by simply rigorously shaking our small containers of cream—and then we would get to eat “our” butter with crackers.
Ever the showman, she promptly explained to the crowd that she made sure to purchase cream and crackers with a reliable kosher marking.
Oh boy, I thought to myself, she went out of her way to buy kosher, but it’s doubtful that anyone in the crowd will be taking advantage of her kindness, as close to 100% of this crowd, I presumed, ate only chalav Yisrael.
While there was little room to allow this butter to be eaten for those who do not eat chalav stam, it allowed for an enjoyable conversation—a mini shiur—that formed among the fathers.
Butter is produced by taking heavy cream and churning it (or shaking it) until it reaches the point of flocculation, when the butterfat becomes a butter-solid, leaving behind a liquid that we call buttermilk.
The word for butter is chemah, but even that’s not so simple. As noted kashrus expert Rav Zushe Blech points out, “We know that Avraham fed chemah to the visiting malachim, but was it really butter? Rashi (Bereishis 18:8) explains chemah as the fat that one collects from the surface of milk, which implies that it is cream and not butter. The Targum seems to concur by translating as ‘shman’, which would mean the fat. Rav Aryeh Kaplan,z”l, feels that the verse is referring to cottage cheese. Interestingly, some editions of Rashi translate it as buerre—the French word for butter! Rav Dovid Tzvi Hofman, z”l argues that chemah originally referred to a fermented milk product (leben?), derived from the word chemah. Clearly, things are not always as they seem.”
The siman in Shulchan Aruch dealing with dairy products, (Yoreh Deiah 115), is one of the most important for people to learn, as there are many, many misconceptions regarding its laws.
Firstly, chalav Yisrael is not a chumrah! Rather, it is a matter of clear, undisputed halachah (cf. Pri Chadash ibid.). While it is true that Rav Moshe Feinstein and others allowed milk that we have termed chalav stam, they did so because they believed that such milk is indeed chalav Yisrael, and only to avoid confusion from classic chalav Yisrael do we call it stam (but never chalav akum!).
In other words, we all only eat what we believe to be chalav Yisrael.
The misconceptions don’t stop there. Next, the Shulchan Aruch speaks about gevinas (cheese) akum. The prohibition of such cheese has nothing to do with the chalav akum halachah that precedes it, as cheese can only be made from milk that comes from kosher animals. While the reason for gevinas akum is debated, the Shulchan Aruch accepts that the concern was that when making the cheese they may use the lining of a (non-kosher) cow’s fourth stomach for use of the enzyme that separates the whey and the curds. The minhag is to follow the strict view of the Shach, who understands that this concern is only assuaged if a Jew pours in the kosher enzyme-rennet into the milk himself. Based on this, there are some people who while they never would drink chalav stam milk would in fact eat kosher cheese (i.e. a mashgiach poured in the rennet and made sure all other ingredients are kosher) made from chalav akum.
The reason why most people who only eat chalav Yisrael also only eat cheese that is chalav Yisrael is because the Rama and others mention an additional concern: although cheese can only be made from kosher milk (hence, there is no need for a chalav akum ban on cheese) there is still a small fear that a manufacturer will put in small amounts of milk from a non-kosher animal and the kosher milk will harden into a cheese around the non-kosher liquid, which would give the cheese a special flavor. (The reader is directed to Chelkas Binyamin 115:67 at length)
Finally, there is the category of butter. The Gemara never mentions butter in it discussion of these halachos, which leaves room for a great debate.
Butter, too, can’t be made from the milk of a non-kosher animal, and further, according to the Rambam and the Shulchan Aruch and some of the Geonim, butter was not under the ban of milk or even cheese and may be eaten even if made from truly chalav akum milk!
The Shulchan Aruch explains therefore that when dealing with clear, solid butter (without apparent cream residue, which could be milk from a non-kosher animal), a city with no minhag regarding butter may allow chalav akum butter.
However, he clearly states that many cities had the minhag to still avoid stam butter, and this is still the minhag among all chasidim and some of the litvishe.
We would be remiss not to point out that today the process of making butter is far more complex than it used to be and simply purchasing any butter may not be so simple as it once was.
Based on the above—especially in a place where there is no set minhag, such as, perhaps, a farm in Pennsylvania—some fathers suggested an allowance of this butter; after all, isn’t this what the Shulchan Aruch allows, and wouldn’t this save this woman from feeling bad?
Yet, on the other hand the Rama (end of se’if 1) clearly makes an important distinction:
This that cheese and butter can’t be made from milk derived from a non-kosher animal, which then opens the door to all the potential leniencies mentioned above, would only be true once made. However, should a Jew take milk that has already been deemed assur to him because it is chalav akum and then the Jew himself makes it into butter or cheese, it would retain its initial issur status.
This would mean that those who only eat chalav Yisrael would have very little to rely on and could not eat this butter.
So, back to the farm: what did we end up doing? We went over to the kind lady and, after thanking her for going out of her way to purchase kosher, explained that most of the Jewish parents will not be eating the butter they make today. She looked perplexed. “But isn’t the cream kosher?”
How did we explain to a farmer the complexities of these laws just laid out above?
With a smile and a heartfelt thank you for trying to accommodate us.
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