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KosherKashrut or Kashruth or "keeping kosher" is the name of the Jewish dietary laws. Food in accord with halakha (Jewish law) is termed kosher in English, from the Hebrew term kasher, meaning "fit" (in this context, fit for consumption by observant Jews). Food not in accord with Jewish law is termed treifah or treif("torn"); the term originally referred to animals (from a kosher species such as cattle or sheep) which had been either incorrectly slaughtered or mortally wounded by wild beasts and therefore were not fit for human consumption. Among Sephardim, it typically only refers to meat that is not kosher. The basic laws of kashrut are in the Torah's Book of Leviticus, with their details set down in the oral law (the Mishnah and the Talmud) and codified by the Shulkhan Arukh and later rabbinical authorities. Many varied reasons have been offered for these laws, ranging from philosophical and ritualistic, to practical and hygenic; see below for examples and explanations. Foods are kosher when they meet all criteria that Jewish law applies to food. Invalidating characteristics may range from the presence of a mixture of meat and milk, to the use of produce from Israel that has not been tithed properly, or even the use of cooking utensils which had previously been used for non-kosher food. Store-bought foods can be identified as kosher by the presence of a hechsher (plural hechsherim), a graphical symbol that indicates that the food has been certified as kosher by a rabbinical authority. (This might be an individual rabbi, but is more often a rabbinic organization.) The most common symbol in the United States is the "OU", a U inside a circle, standing for the Union of Orthodox Congregations. Many rabbis and organizations, however, have their own certification mark, and the other symbols are too numerous to list. Check out the following recipes that are tagged "Kosher":
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