The  Basur  IS  Asur

Is Turkey Kosher?

by Ariella Cohen and Adeena Goldstein

            Most people have taken it for granted that turkey is kosher. Few people actually the complex issues that our rabbanim dealt with while grappling with the kashrut of turkey. It is surprising to learn that there are minorities of rabbanim that declare turkey not kosher. To fully understand this issue one must comprehend the biblical source for this halacha.

            The Torah lists four categories of animals- land mammals, birds, fish, and invertebrate. The two conditions that determine if mammals are kosher are if they have both split hooves and chew their cud. The kashrut of birds however, cannot be determined by these characteristics because birds neither chew their cud nor have split hooves. The Rambam says that the Torah gives us a list of 24 birds that are not kosher thereby telling us that all other unlisted birds are kosher. Today, since we no longer know what the 24 nonkosher birds are we are not able to determine the kashrut status of most birds.  

 The Gemara gives us four conditions to help us in decide if a bird is kosher: The Gemara in Chulin 65a and the Shulchan Aruch list these conditions. Birds that are predators, otherwise known as dores, are not kosher. There are three signs, which help us determine that a bird is kosher. They are:  a zefek- an extra toe, a crop, and a peelable korkuvan- gizzard. The Rambam says that if the korkuvan requires a knife to peel it it’s not kosher but if you leave it in the sun and it softens and is then able to be peeled it is kosher. The Shulchan Aruch agrees with the Rambam. The Gemara in Chulin 65a states that a bird is kosher if it spreads two toes to one side while standing on a rope.  There is a big machlokes haposkim on which manners of eating cause a bird to be called a dores. Rashi says that if a bird holds down its food with its feet while eating it is a dores. If the bird spreads three toes to one side and one toe to the other side while standing on a rope and if the bird is able to catch food thrown to him without letting it touch the ground it is a dores. The Rambam says that all nonkosher birds listed in the Torah are dores and they each have one of the physical kosher signs except for the Azania and the Pras.

            According to the Talmud, the two birds from which we use as models to help us infer the kashrut of all other birds are the tur-turtle dove and the nesher- eagle. The tur was used for karbanot at the time of the bais hamikdash and contains all three kosher signs and is definitely kosher. The nesher has none of the kosher signs and from it we derive the characteristics a kosher bird doesn’t posses. Since it is difficult to determine if a bird is a dores, many meforshim have said that if a bird has all three kosher signs it is definitely not a dores.

Rashi says that we can never be completely sure that a bird is not a dores so we can only eat birds that are known through mesorah, an oral transition of the law, to be kosher. This is where the halachot of kosher birds start applying to New World birds like turkey. If there is a reliable mesorah, then there is no need to ascertain if a bird is kosher.

            In the Shulchan Orech Yoreh De’ah peh beis and in the Gemara in Chulin 63b Rav Issac says that we need a mesorah to be sure that a bird is kosher. He states that if a hunter was taught the laws regarding kosher and nonkosher birds by someone who is an expert in this area, we may rely on him to determine the status of a questionable bird.

 However we cannot rely upon mesorah regarding a bird that is publicly known as a dores. In this scenario we must reject the mesorah and hold the bird to be unkosher. If one does not have a mesorah that declares a certain bird to be nonkosher he may rely upon another’s tradition that declares the bird to be kosher. On the other hand if one treats a certain bird as nonkosher because of a lack of mesorah and later he goes to another town where they hold this bird to be permissible he may rely on their view. The Shulchan Orech agrees with this approach.

              This is only the law for an individual but what is the law concerning an entire community’s reliance on another community’s mesorah? The Shulchan Orech Yoreh De’ah peh beis states that if another place has a mesorah that a certain bird is permissible you may rely on their mesorah. But then he says that there are some who say that you cant rely on their mesorah. The Shulchan Orech also says that you should be suspicious about why they say its asur.  The Igros Mosheh states that if one knows a person from another town, who has expertise in these halachos, says that they actually ate these birds in past times, the community may rely on the other community’s mesorah.

            Many mefarshim say that we cannot rely on the names of birds found in the Torah because birds are not the same as they were in the day of the Talmud. For example Chazal state that an orev has no extra toe, a zefek, yet today our orev does.

            There are a few methods for determining the kashrut of an unknown bird when there is no mesorah. Some of these methods are equivalent to creating a mesorah. Firstly, if two birds are not kilayim with each other they are considered kosher. Another way is to check the characteristics of a bird’s egg. If the egg contains unkosher features then the bird is not kosher but if doesn’t have unkosher features further proof of kashrut is still needed to declare the bird to be kosher. The Gemara says that if an unknown species of bird lives with kosher birds and is similar to them, it to is kosher. This method is called shachen vnidmeh. According to the Yam Shel Shlomo the shachen vnidmeh method may not be used with turkey because turkeys are placed together with chickens on farms by the farmer and not by choice. The next test is the goose test. If a bird has a wide beak and webbed feet like a goose it cant be a dores.

            The Talmud holds that kosher and nonkosher mammals cannot cross breed. However there are differing opinions on whether this applies to birds or not. If an unknown bird mates with a kosher bird then the unknown bird is considered kosher. This is known as the hybridization test. Some Poskim do not agree with this test and they would rather use the zivug test, if an unknown bird is placed with a kosher and nonkosher bird and chooses to mate with the kosher bird then the unknown bird is said to be kosher. Both the hybridization test and the zivug test create a new mesorah. Most Poskim will not rely on any of these six tests without also having three physical kosher characteristics.

            Many people think of turkey and chicken as the same thing. Although chicken and Turkey are both from the Phasianidae family, turkey is actually more similar to pheasant. All poskim say that chicken and all breeds of chicken are definitely kosher. The way to determine if a bird is a chicken is by its appearance and its behavior. However turkey is not chicken and we are therefore unsure of its kashrut. Spanish conquers returned to Europe with Turkey and it became popular throughout the country and many Jews started eating it. This is when kashrut questions concerning turkey started arising.

            The wild turkey is clearly kosher because it contains a peel able gizzard, an extra toe, kosher eggs, and a crop. Even so not everyone holds this way. Rabbi Shlomo Klugar says that since we don’t have a mesorah stating the kashrut of American birds, we can’t assume that they are kosher. Therefore, we cannot assume that turkey form the new world is kosher. This is the most extreme view on the status of the kashrut of turkey.

            One way to prove that turkey is kosher is that chazzal have listed all 24 non-kosher birds and did not list turkey. Therefore turkey must not be kosher. However, this is a flawed argument because there are birds found in the new world that were not on the list of the 24 nonkosher birds but are clearly not kosher such as the bald eagle. The Nitziv says that when the turkey was brought from India its kashrut was questionable but even so most Jews considered it to be kosher. Once the majority declared turkey kosher it cannot be considered not kosher, unless there is certain evidence that it is a dores. Since it is not a dores and has historically been accepted, it is treated as though we have a mesorah confirming it’s kashrut.

            Some hold that turkey is permissible because we do have a mesorah. Shut Mei Be’er based on the Rivash holds that we may eat turkey because we are depending on the mesorah of the Jews of India who claim that turkey is kosher. Kaf Hachaim agrees that we may eat turkey because it was eaten in India.  

Arugot Habosem proposes a problem. Birds require a mesorah to be classified as kosher and since turkey is a new world bird it is impossible for it to have a mesorah. However most of the Jews he knows eat turkey so he concludes that we only need a mesorah when we are uncertain about whether it is a dores. He also says that since we have been eating turkey for thousands of years and it has the three kosher signs, we can consider it kosher even without a mesorah. The Ramo and Rashi agree with this approach.

            When turkey first came to Europe the Sphardim accepted it as kosher. Eventually the Ashkenazim also began eating it based on the Sphardic mesorah. This seems to pose a problem because according to the Ramo a mesorah is required and the Ashkenazim cannot assume a Sphardic mesorah. This problem is resolved based by looking at chronology. By the time the Ramo was born turkey had already been introduced to Ashkenazim and the Ashkenazim ate it based on its three physical kosher characteristics. By the time the Ramo was old enough to have written that a mesorah was required it was too late because everyone was already eating turkey.

            Turkey is clearly kosher because it has the three physical kosher characteristics and it passes the hybridization test. This test creates a mesorah and therefore even according to the Ramo who says that it needs a mesorah turkey is permissible.