The Milk Contretemps

R. Simeon says: The word “camel” occurs twice, once referring to a camel born from a camel [as forbidden], and the other, to a camel born from a cow. And the Sages who disagree with R. Simeon - what do they do with the repetition “camel, camel”? - One is to forbid [the camel itself] and the other to prohibit its milk. And whence does R. Simeon derive the prohibition of a camel’s milk? - He derives it from the word “et,” [with] the camel. (BEKHOROT 6b)

In August 1994, a watchful supervisor of kosher milk production became aware of the fact that a surgical procedure had been performed upon the abdomen of a number of cows. He had valid reason to fear that the procedure might render the animal a treifah, i.e., an animal whose meat may not be eaten because it has sustained the perforation of one of the organs whose congenital absence, excision or perforation gives rise to such status.¹ Jewish law forbids not only eating the meat of such an animal but also prohibits the consumption of milk produced by the animal as well. Acting in a highly responsible manner, the Rabbinate of K’hal Adath Jeshurun of Washington Heights, New York City, acting upon the initiative of its distinguished Dayyan, Rabbi Chaim Kohn, issued a “kashrut alert” on August 16th directing establishments under its supervision to refrain from producing or selling any milk product “pending further clarification.” On August 18th it announced that all milk products under its supervision may be used. One day earlier, on August 17th, Rabbi Raphael Blum, the Kashuer Rav, of Bedford Hills, New York, issued a letter addressed to the members of his community in which he ruled that all earlier purchased milk products must be regarded as non-kosher and that all dairy utensils must be kashered. On that very day the Central Rabbinical Congress of the U.S.A. and Canada convened an extraordinary meeting of its members and following extensive deliberations issued a statement declaring all supervised milk products to be acceptable. On the basis of statements subsequently issued by a number of rabbinic supervisors, including New Square Kosher Certification, it is apparent that dairy cows upon whom this surgical procedure has been performed have been removed from herds whose milk are under such supervision.²

I. Left Displaced Abomasum and Its Treatment

Left displaced abomasum (LDA), as the condition is known, was first recognized in 1950. Since then the diagnosis has been made with increasing frequency. Professionals in the field report that it is their impression that surgical correction of LDA has become much more common in recent years.⁵ It is thus not entirely surprising that rabbinic authorities remained unaware until recently of what has now become a relatively high incidence of surgical treatment to correct this condition that causes the animal to become a treifah. The incidence of LDA is the subject of a recent study by Dr. Steven Eicker of Cornell University’s New York State College of Veterinary Medicine in Ithaca, New York. His study of some 13,000 cows on 26 farms in New York State⁶ shows a variation between farms in the occurrence of left displaced abomasum of between five and fifteen percent.⁷ The mean for the farms surveyed is between seven and eight percent. None of the farms surveyed showed a prevalence of less than five percent.⁸

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