great question about kosher honey from my 8 year old

Peanut2

Wed, Apr 02 2014, 11:25 pm

MaBelleVie wrote:

Halacha knew all that. Do you really believe that they didn't know the bee added secretions to the nectar? Honey still isn't considered a product of the bee. Don't you think a single posek would have mentioned if there was a problem? This just smacks of bal tosif.

I agree with your conclusion. But AFAIK the halachic thought on this matter does not sit with current scientific knowledge. Two girls in my halacha class got into a very heated argument about what that incongruity means, so it stuck in my head years later. (One was the daughter of a scientist and the other is now a PhD in some scientific field.)

Peanut2

Wed, Apr 02 2014, 11:26 pm

MaBelleVie wrote:

Devash in the Torah refers to dates. In that pasuk specifically it's a shevach to the agriculture of EY, which includes dates (one of the 7 minim).

Yep.

someone

Thu, Apr 03 2014, 6:28 am

I heard something really cool this year before Rosh Hashana about how just like the honey comes from the bee but isnt a part of the bee (and therefore were allowed to eat it) so too our sins are not part of who we inherantly (I dont know how to spell that) are, they come from us but are external to us. Who we are is really our pure neshama

amother

Thu, Apr 03 2014, 7:41 am

DrMom wrote:

I'd like to point out that you can't filter out enzymes from honey using a simple mechanical filter.

Exactly. Of course by halacha remains mutar, because till the day there is a Sanhedrin the halachot remain the same, but I just thought this was an interesting thing to share. In no way no one here was contradicting or trying to dismiss existing halachot, because we follow the chachamim. However, this is a point that I will keep waiting for when there is a new Sanhedrin, because even though I personally eat honey, rationally I don't think I should, because it really isn't something that can be filtered out like that!

amother

Thu, Apr 03 2014, 7:48 am

Lady Bug wrote:

I think this reasoning is wrong. It borders on "lo sosif". If it's allowed, it's allowed, whether you agree with the reasoning or not.

DH NEVER said it wasn't allowed. Like I said above, what our chachamim said is what we should follow. But he doesn't have an obligation to eat it. Same way vegetarians don't have to eat meat, even though I believe most people serve meat on Shabbat and Yom Tov!! If he is grossed out about honey because of some stuff in it ,he has every right not to eat it.

MaBelleVie

Thu, Apr 03 2014, 7:53 am

Peanut2 wrote:

What do you mean by this?

amother

Thu, Apr 03 2014, 8:29 am

There are things written in the Gemara that are not scientifically correct. The Gemara says it is ok to kill lice on Shabbat because it spontaneously generate.
By the way, the honey mentioned in the Torah is date honey, as people here already said.

abound

Thu, Apr 03 2014, 8:30 am

amother wrote:

If he does not eat it because he thinks that it is a better thing not to do it from a halachik aspect, then it is baal tosif. He should ask a rav if this falls into that category.