Wine, Bread and Cooking

Wine has a special place in kashrut because in the ancient world it was used for libations to idols. Wine poured out in idol worship, יֵין נֶסֶךְ (yayin nesekh), is forbidden not only for drinking but for any benefit. The rabbis added a prohibition on the ordinary wine of non-Jews, סְתָם יֵינָם (stam yeinam), partly so that drinking together would not lead to social closeness and intermarriage.^1,2,3

Kosher wine is therefore produced under supervision from crushing to bottling, and in Orthodox practice it is handled only by Jews who observe Shabbat. The raw materials themselves (grapes, yeast) are usually unproblematic; what matters is who handles the wine, as well as fining agents and additives, which must also be kosher. The same applies to grape juice and grape products such as wine vinegar or brandy.

Wine labelled מְבֻשָּׁל (mevushal, "cooked") has been heated. According to the Shulchan Arukh, the prohibition of stam yeinam does not apply to cooked wine, so an opened bottle may then be poured even by a non-Jewish waiter; this is why mevushal wine is common in kosher restaurants and catering. Whether modern flash pasteurization counts as "cooking" in the halakhic sense is assessed differently by rabbinic authorities.⁴

Wine and grape juice are used for kiddush and other blessings, for example on שבת and festivals. Anyone buying wine for guests who keep kashrut usually chooses a bottle with a hechsher (see Certification and Hechsher).

The Mishnah lists the bread of non-Jews among foods that may not be eaten but from which benefit is permitted. Such bread is called פַּת עַכּוּ״ם (pat akum); bread baked with a Jew’s participation is פַּת יִשְׂרָאֵל (pat Yisrael). The prohibition is rabbinic, and the Talmud likewise links it to concern about social closeness, not to the ingredients being forbidden.^5,6,7

Bread becomes pat Yisrael even if a Jew takes only a symbolic part in the baking, for example by lighting the oven or adding wood to the fire. Supervised kosher bakeries handle this by having the mashgiach light the oven.⁹

Many who eat pat palter during the year restrict themselves to pat Yisrael during the Ten Days of Repentance between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. In parts of the Orthodox world, especially Haredi circles, pat Yisrael is kept all year round.¹⁰

According to halakhah, bread should be parve: dairy or meat bread should not be baked, lest it be eaten by mistake with the other kind of food, except in a small quantity or in a distinctive shape by which it can be recognized (see Parve and Fish and Meat and Milk).¹¹

Similarly, a rabbinic prohibition applies to certain dishes cooked by a non-Jew, בִּשּׁוּל עַכּוּ״ם (bishul akum), even when all the ingredients are kosher. According to the Talmud it covers only foods that are not eaten raw and that are "fit for a king’s table", that is, dishes served to guests; it does not apply, for example, to foods commonly eaten raw as well.^5,12,13

In practice this mainly concerns kosher restaurants and canteens where the cooks are not Jewish: there the mashgiach lights the stoves and ovens in the morning. Whether and how the rule applies to industrially produced foods is assessed differently by certifiers.

The Mishnah forbids milk that a non-Jew milked without a Jew present. The reason is concern that milk from a non-kosher animal might have been mixed in. Milk from milking under Jewish supervision is called חֲלַב יִשְׂרָאֵל (chalav Yisrael).^5,15

Special rules apply to cheese: hard cheese made by a non-Jew (gevinat akum) is forbidden even when the milk is in order, and according to the Shulchan Arukh even when kosher rennet is used. Orthodox certification therefore requires supervision during the cheesemaking itself.¹⁶

The Torah commands that a portion of the dough, the "first of your dough", be set aside for the priest. This commandment, הַפְרָשַׁת חַלָּה (hafrashat challah), also gave its name to the festive bread challah.¹⁷

Today, without the Temple and without ritual purity, the separated portion is not given to a priest: a small piece of dough is separated and usually burned or wrapped and discarded. The obligation applies to dough made from the five grains (wheat, barley, spelt, oats, rye) above a certain quantity of flour; above a larger quantity a blessing is recited. The exact thresholds are given differently in contemporary guides.¹⁸

Separating challah is traditionally associated with women as one of the three commandments that tradition entrusts to the woman of the household (alongside lighting the Shabbat candles and the laws of family purity). Group challah baking with the separation of challah is a popular community event today.¹⁹

Orthodox Judaism regards all the laws described here as binding, but differs on where it accepts leniencies (pat palter, government oversight of milk, the Ashkenazi lighting of the fire). Haredi communities usually choose the stricter option all year round.

The Conservative (Masorti) movement treats kashrut as binding, but has accepted leniencies for the laws introduced to keep Jews apart from non-Jews: in the USA, in one of its responsa, it permitted wine made by non-Jews, and it commonly accepts bread with kosher ingredients and milk under government oversight.

Reform Judaism understands kashrut as a personal choice; the laws on wine, bread and cooking by non-Jews usually play no role in it. Secular Jews generally do not follow them.