In Episode 1, Elana and Robin introduce the concept of a “blogcast” and how it’s different from the JLV Podcast, which is available to members of the JLV Shomrim. Robin asks a LOT of questions (more than 4!) and together, they explain the concept of kashrut — kosher food, keeping kosher, and even a mention about “kosher for Passover.”

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Show Notes:

  • JLV Shomrim
    • The JLV Shomrim are Jewish Learning Venture’s most generous supporters, who have committed to sustaining the Agency and its initiatives. Shomrim – guardians – are the stewards of our community who ensure that we continue to provide Jewish education and engagement across the Greater Philadelphia community.
    • Learn more about the JLV Shomrim here.
  • Vocabulary
    • Here are some words mentioned during this episode and their definitions:
      • Kashrut: the body of Jewish religious laws concerning the suitability of food. The rules cover which foods to eat, how to prepare them, and how to combine them. “Kosher” describes any food that complies with those rules.
      • Trayf (Yiddish): Food that is prohibited by kashrut. The word is derived from the Hebrew טְרֵפָה (trēfáh) meaning “torn.” Other variations: treif, treyf, or tref.
      • Hechsher: a rabbinical endorsement or certification especially of food products that conform with traditional Jewish dietary laws. 
      • Parve: made without milk, meat, or their derivatives
  • Further reading:

And if you came here looking for the answer to whether or not rabbit is kosher…it isn’t! (No cloven hooves, no cud-chewing!)

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Transcript:

Elana
Hi, I’m Elana Rivel, Jewish Learning Venture’s CEO.

Robin
And I’m Robin Matthews. I have a thousand titles. I’m the Director of jkidpride, PJ Our Way Engagement, and I’m JLV’s graphic designer.

Elana
And we want to welcome you to the first episode of our new blogcast, More Than 4.

Robin
I have questions. First, what is a blogcast?

Elana
Well, Jewish Learning Venture has had a blog for a really long time, right? And we were thinking maybe it’s time to try a new format, shake it up a little, turn our blog into a podcast. And call it a blogcast

Robin
Oh, that’s clever. But why not just call it a podcast?

Elana
Well, we already have a podcast that’s exclusive to our Shomrim, our most generous donors, and we wanted to create content that was available to everyone.

Robin
But if people wanna listen to our original podcast series, they can join our Shomrim, right? We can link the info to that in the show notes, I guess.

Elana
Perfect. Okay, so you said you had more questions?

Robin
Yeah, I have lots of questions. So, More Than 4. So that was the next question I was gonna ask what the name of the blogcast More Than 4 means.

Elana
Well, you may be familiar with the four questions we ask on Passover, and –

Robin
Don’t ask me to ask them right now. And actually, They’re four answers and only one question. Right? That’s not even four questions. It’s very misleading.

Elana
Precisely. It’s misleading. It is misleading. You’re right, it’s very confusing.And maybe that’s one of the questions we’ll answer in an upcoming episode.

Robin
Teaser.

Elana
But the idea is that there are actually so many questions and answers in Judaism. Some really simple and some much more complicated. And one of the coolest things about Judaism is how we’re encouraged to ask questions and seek answers in conversation with one another. So in this blogcast, we’re going to do just that: answer questions.

Robin
That seems ambitious! I mean, I know we’re Jewish Learning Venture, but really have we learned it all?

Elana
Well, of course not. But we do know lots of things. And more importantly, we have lots of connections and resources. We know lots of people. So we can find the answers or the people who know them.

Robin
So where are we going to get these questions? Like, who’s asking?

Elana
Really like, you weren’t kidding! You were serious that you had a lot of questions! So they’ll come from our listeners. Our listeners will comment or email with the things they’ve been wondering about about Judaism, Jewish traditions, culture, holidays, words, and we will find the answers whether because we have an expert on our staff or because we can find someone else who can join us as a guest.

Robin
That sounds fun actually. And I feel like I could submit a bunch of questions, as you know, right from the jump. There’s like a million words my grandmother used to say that I don’t know the meaning of. Maybe that would be like a whole episode.

Elana
Perfect.

Robin
All right. Well, we’ll see how it goes, but we should probably jump in ‘cuz I know we actually have questions waiting in the queue.

Elana
Yeah. More than four.

Robin
Yeah. Look at you!

Elana
Okay, so we’re going to start with a question that’s complex and that raises many additional questions.

Robin
That’s right. It seems ambitious to start with a complex question, but I feel like we are up for the challenge. It’s a venture. It’s a learning venture. What, what? All right.

Elana
So our question today is what makes food kosher?

Robin
Yeah,