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Q: Is the Tide Pod Challenge kosher? A: ... NO! There is an explicit biblical commandment against doing stupid s--t that endangers your health. Genesis 9:5 states, "But for your own life-blood I will require a reckoning: I will require it of every beast; of man, too, will I require a reckoning for human life, of every man for that of his fellow man," and the revered biblical commentator Rashi understood this verse to be a prohibition against suicide. According to the American Association of Poison Control, “The ‘laundry packet challenge’ is neither funny nor without serious health implications,” said...

A suspected arson attack that burnt down a French kosher grocery store near Paris on Tuesday has revived anti-Semitism fears in France, three years to the day since a deadly assault on a Jewish supermarket by a jihadist gunman.A suspected arson attack on a French kosher grocery store has revived anti-Semitism fears. The incident took place in Créteil to the south east of Paris in France’s Val-de-Marne department. The fire at the store Promo & Destock in Mont-Mesly in Créteil was signaled to the authorities at around 5 am on Tuesday morning. One or more of the individuals involved in...

The beady eyes in my taco glare back amid the citrus salsa and avocado, and peek out from behind a leaf of cilantro. The first bite is crunchy, and faintly nutty, like toasted corn — if toasted corn came with six legs and a pair of wings. Before long I’m popping individual fried locusts into my mouth like peanuts. But this isn’t a street stall in Oaxaca, Mexico. I’m in my Jerusalem apartment and my girlfriend is having a conniption over the pile of disembodied grasshopper legs I’ve left on the chopping board in the kitchen. Over the phone, my...

President Trump on Wednesday commuted the prison sentence of Sholom Rubashkin, whose Iowa meatpacking plant was the target of a huge immigration raid in 2008, and whose 27-year prison sentence angered many Orthodox Jews. Mr. Rubashkin made national headlines nine years ago after federal agents arrived by helicopter at the Agriprocessors plant in Postville, Iowa, and detained nearly 400 undocumented immigrants, including several children, who were working there. Mr. Rubashkin was the company’s chief executive, and the plant had been the largest kosher meatpacking operation in the country. He was later convicted of bank fraud in federal court.

It was the first time Trump has used the presidential power...Sholom Rubashkin, who ran...the country's largest kosher meat-processing company...Rubashkin's longtime attorney, Guy Cook, praised the decision, saying his client "has finally received justice." "The sentence previously imposed was unfair, unjust and essential a life sentence," he said via email. "President Trump has done what is right and just. The unrelenting efforts on Rubashkin's behalf have finally paid off."

Kosher ice cream lovers have a lot to celebrate this Pride month, specifically in the form of a pint of Big Gay Ice Cream. That’s because when the ice cream truck-turned-brick-and-mortar shop decided to package its popular soft serve to be sold nationally, it sought and received kosher certification. The pints of soft-serve deliciousness, which debuted in March and are sold in grocery stores and online, are officially under the auspices of the kashrut division of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America. Or, as it is colloquially known, the OU. While it’s understandable that an up-and-coming brand would...

On Wednesday, The New York Times ran a story in its food section about a new cookbook by New York Times writers Frank Bruni and Jennifer Steinhauer called “A Meatloaf in Every Oven: Two Chatty Cooks, One Iconic Dish and Dozens of Recipes — From Mom’s to Mario Batali’s” (Grand Central Life & Style). In it, the two discussed the book’s recipes and the people who contributed them — chefs, politicians, friends and family. On Sunday, the Algemeiner, a publication with a large Orthodox readership, published a piece criticizing the Times for its coverage of the book — in particular,...

Link: http://www.thelocal.at/20161223/calls-made-to-ban-ritual-slaughter-of-animals-in-austria

Anti-Shariah activist Pamela Geller’s campaign to get halal meat labeled on American supermarket shelves has been sent down the memory hole by the federal government. Geller started a petition drive in November 2011 with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service seeking to have halal meat – which is ritually slaughtered in the presence of an imam to make it suitable for Muslims to consume – labeled as such. It was only fair, she said. Kosher meat, which is blessed by a rabbi before slaughter, is labeled on store shelves so why not halal meat? More than...

When Yuval and Lin Djamchid decided to open a café in Eden Hotel, their intimate, 24-room hotel in Jerusalem, they knew they wanted it to be kosher, but not to have the traditional supervision from the Jerusalem rabbinate. So they chose Private Supervision, a new movement led by Rabbi Aaron Leibowitz, an Orthodox rabbi who is also a city councilor from the Yerushalmim movement, which is trying to revitalize Jerusalem. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter “It was a matter of principle,” Yuval Djamchid told The Media Line. “We don’t like the Rabbinate and what it represents. We have enough...

Halal and Kosher are terms often heard in the context of meat and dairy, and although it's common knowledge that the terms refer to guidelines on what can be consumed and what cannot, few know what either really means, let alone how they differ. "Is this kosher?" has become a common expression that has transcended the context of religion and food to the point that it simply means "Is this acceptable?" in a colloquial sense. Halal and Kosher refer to what's permitted by Islamic and Jewish religious laws respectively. Halal is an Islamic term that means lawful or permitted. Although...

Kitchens that are shared between office workers may soon be banned from storing pork products like sausage rolls over fears that they are “offensive”. New guidelines proposed by interfaith group CoExist House say that employers should consider worker’s religions before allowing ham sandwiches placed in the fridge alongside other products. The group also suggests that alcohol should not be served at corporate events in case it upsets members of certain faiths.

Do you drink "Simply Orange" orange juice? I have for a very long time, because it is really the best-tasting orange juice I have ever enjoyed with breakfast--or any time my potassium or blood sugar needs a lift. Up to a few months ago, when you went to remove the tamper-evident seal across the cap and bottle, the seal read "Kosher for Passover". Now it simply reads "Fresh Taste Guaranteed". Anti-Semitism, or is the manufacturer making darn sure they don't offend muslims?

“Animal rights come before religion” Editor’s note: This story was published in error; it incorrectly suggested that Denmark’s ban is new. See correction appended Denmark enacted a sweeping ban on the religious slaughter of animals in 2014, prompting a furious backlash from Jewish and Muslim community representatives.

A turf war is brewing between a Jewish food cart vendor and Muslim competitors vying for prime real estate in midtown Manhattan, according to the New York Post. Dubbing it an "intifooda," the Post reports that Yisroel Mordowitz, who serves kosher brisket and pastrami sandwiches, is being blocked from setting up near Rockefeller Center by by the "hallal mafia." “This guy is hungry – hungry for money,” said Mohamed Mossad, one of the Muslim food purveyors fighting to keep Mordowitz and his cart, the Holy Rollers, off the corner of 48th Street and Sixth Avenue. “Why doesn’t he go to...

Grub Street never needs a reason to celebrate our city's esteemed roster of delicatessens, but since this week marks the New York release of the new documentary Deli Man, we're going all in on the subject today.There’s an elaborate backstory behind every venerable deli in New York City, but the story behind David’s Brisket House, which has been serving brisket and pastrami sandwiches to the good people of Bedford-Stuyvesant for more than half a century now, is more elaborate and convoluted than most. The original Dave was a Russian Jew who sold the deli to a Romanian Jew, who inherited...

There is no peace in the Mideast — or Midtown. A Jewish kosher-food purveyor says he’s being prevented from settling in the heart of Manhattan by the “halal mafia.” Yisroel Mordowitz insists he just wants to peacefully peddle sandwiches piled high with brisket or pastrami from his Holy Rollers cart in the lucrative Rockefeller Center area, 48th Street off Sixth Avenue. But a group of irate Egyptian competitors block the kosher vendor from setting up on the sidewalk, literally squatting on the curb or placing umbrellas and beverage cartons to cordon off the space. Modal Trigger“This guy is hungry —...

During its coverage of the terror attack at the Paris Kosher supermarket on Friday night, CNN tried to convince its viewers that the attack was NOT anti-Semitic, and that it may have been aimed at Muslim shoppers who shop there as well. Let's go to the videotape.

Two people have been killed in a Kosher store in eastern Paris where a ‘heavily armed’ Islamic terrorist is currently holding hostages, police believe. Sources in the Paris force said the suspected murderer was Amedy Coulibay, 32, who is wearing body armour and brandishing two Kalashnikov automatic weapons. He is said to be working with a woman called Hayat Boumeddiene, 26, who is also said to be ‘armed and dangerous’. Shots rang out close to the Porte de Vincennes while the two brothers believed to be behind the murderous attack on the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine were themselves hold up...

Daily Caller France’s Multiculturalist Agenda Makes Jews Pack Their Bags 4:50 PM 01/06/2015 Ryan Girdusky Political Consultant As more French Jews face anti-Semitic attacks, many are leaving for Israel. Most of the attacks have come from Muslims, whether immigrants or French-born, many of whom have not assimilated into French society – if not rejecting French society entirely. Compounding the dangerous situation, France’s left-wing government refuses to acknowledge the scope of this crisis, apparently more afraid of losing Muslim votes they depend on than in defending France’s half-million Jews. Israel’s Ministry of Immigrant Absorption is expecting “Little Paris” neighborhoods to pop...