Judaism and Modernity

No. 74: Who’s Afraid of Impossible Pork?

Yehuda Kurtzer and David Zvi Kalman explore what it means for rabbis to declare a product of 100% kosher ingredients treif based on name and taste alone?
Dr. Yehuda Kurtzer is the President of the Shalom Hartman Institute and a leading thinker and author on the major challenges facing the Jewish people. He is the author of Shuva: The Future of the Jewish Past, the co-editor of The New Jewish Canon, and the host of the Identity/Crisis podcast. Under his leadership, the Shalom Hartman Institute has grown significantly as a leading think tank and educational center for the North American Jewish community,

In mid-October, the OU officially rejected certification of Impossible Pork, causing a flurry of contention from kosher-keeping consumers. What does it mean for rabbis to declare a product of 100% kosher ingredients treif based on name and taste alone?

In this episode, Yehuda Kurtzer sits down with our very own producer, David Zvi Kalman, to explore the origins of this rationale and discuss the ethical factors that weave through Jewish dietary law as the climate crisis careens us toward an uncertain future of sustainable protein.

Read the related article by David Zvi Kalman on JTA.

Identity/Crisis: The Ideas Behind the News is a podcast of the Shalom Hartman Institute.

A transcript of this episode is available here.

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Launched in early 2020, Identity/Crisis is a weekly roundtable podcast that explores the ideas behind the news hosted by Shalom Hartman Institute of North America President Yehuda Kurtzer. Episodes cover a wide range of topics and feature experts and content related to news and current events.

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