Of Circuses and Kosher Food

Just a few short decades ago, travel was difficult for the Kosher keeping Jew. It was hard to find a Kosher restaurant, even in some of the large Jewish cities.

Aside from the dearth of dining establishments, there was very little choice of Kosher packaged food, even in the supermarkets.

Yet the saving grace, before saying grace, was the abundance of life's simple staples: bread, water, milk, vegetables, fruit and fish.

Yet in one of the ironies of life, the once taken-for-granted kosher products have all been questioned in recent years. The water has crustaceans embedded within. The fruits and vegetables harbor worms and bugs. The milk isn't kosher because Traif cows are the majority in the herds. The flour with which bread is made is wormy. And finally, in the last few months we have rediscovered that fish also contain worms.

Although we have made great strides in rebuilding Yiddishkeit in America, I long for the days of yore when fewer things were Kosher, but Kashrus was more simple.


As mentioned on this blog before, and paraphrased from an essay in the Jewish Observer:

"I remember the day when the CIRCUS was Kosher, and the COTTON CANDY was Treif."

Chadesh Yameinu KiKedem!