Forward.com


Giraffe Milk Is Kosher
Siegelmania

Article tools

NEWS ITEM: An Israeli rabbi, an authority on kashrut, declared that giraffe milk is kosher. Said he: “The giraffe has all the signs of a ritually pure animal, and the milk that forms curds strengthened that.” The rabbi based his ruling on a recent finding by researchers at Bar Ilan University who had taken a milk sample while treating an ailing giraffe.


Imagine milking a giraffe!
The sight’s enough to make one laugh!
Can there be someone who delights
In striving for such absurd heights?
The milk is now proclaimed as safe,
Which means glatt kosher, pure, not treyf.
Whoever thought, or dreamt, or heard
That this secretion formed a curd?
May Providence, we humbly pray,
Illumine still another whey!
But let’s avoid unseemly haste,
First take a sip! How does it taste?

This animal, it must be said,
Is mammal — and a quadruped.
Like other creatures of its ilk,
It lactates liquid we call milk.
To stimulate the fluid-flow,
One lends a hand, on tippy-toe.
By gazing upward, might a guy
Get squirted in his open eye?
Such incidents could cause travail
That goes (who knows?) beyond the pail.
To expedite the milking deal
Perhaps the animal could kneel.
This sight would really be quite rare:
A beast that’s seemingly at pray’r!
Were sages really wise to preach
Man’s grasp should not exceed his reach?


Oysmelkn ken men a zhiraf?
Der moyekh zogt tsu unz: S’iz tough!
Di hoykhenish iz a problem,
Der nopl iz vayt avek (ahem!)

Di milkh iz yetst derklert nit treyf,
Der rebbe zogt der sheid iz safe.
A curd farmogt es — gantz O.K.!
Shray nit “gevald,” shray nit “oy whey”!

Nor hot di milkh a Yidishn tam?
Tsi hot es a geshmak vi sam?
Di gantse zakh iz a pshetl,
Do meynt a tempest in a kettle!

Di khaye mit dem langn fis
Gantz ruik iz, un oykhet zis.
Zi zeltn makht a tsore, fuss,
Un oykhet iz herbivorous!

A man muz oyf di tsipkes shteyn
Tsu kvetshn milkh (vanilla, plain).
Di flisikeit kumt vi a blits:
Zayn oyg ken krign aza shprits!

Nor shtel ir oyfn kni aher,
Der emer’z demolt hart by ir.
Far tsutrit tsu der muter’s brust,
Tsu makhn zikh vi a kalb du muzst!


Mon. Jul 28, 2008



Comments

Joel Kauffman said:

That's swell news. I'll pick up a giraffe to provide fresh milk for my kids. She'll be easy to feed because we live on the third f;oor.

Fri. Aug 01, 2008

Leon Freilich said:

Giraffe half & half Is something I'm going to try In my coffee cup-- It may just make me high!

Sun. Aug 10, 2008

RUTH SHLACHTER said:

I should have fed B arry Shlachter Giraffe milk; he would have grown to be 6 feet. He refused mother's milk;Oh the milk from those :darn: COWS!

Sun. Aug 17, 2008

Joan Lynn said:

If the milk is kosher, is the meat?

Fri. Oct 03, 2008

Yehuda said:

Yiddish is written in Hebrew script. Why doesn't the Forward print this poem in the ordinary Yiddish way? Is it assuming that its readers are Hebrew-illiterate?

Wed. Oct 15, 2008

Aaron Kuperman said:

Many animals are "kosher" but are worthless commercially. In practice, one prefers to eat (and milk) dumb animals that are content to be raised in farms. "Wild" animals make too much fuss. So be happy with contented cows (and leave the giraffes, and yaks, and musk-oxen, and moose ALONE).

Thu. Oct 30, 2008

Joseph said:

Glatt kosher means an animal is free of certain organ defects. It only applies to meat, because you check those organs during the butchering.

Sat. Nov 01, 2008

shalom said:

please print shalom

Thu. Nov 06, 2008