IS IT REALLY GLATT- OR NOT?

Frankly, we like KASHRUS CONSCIENCE, a service of the Kosher Information Bureau located in Sherman Oaks, CA. We find that it tends to stick to the halacha and not get caught up in the mindless politics of kashruth. Usually.

Recently, we re-read the Kislev, 5770 issue and took note of the following in an article called GLATT KOSHER MEAT (page 11):

“Until about 500 years ago, only meat from animals free of adhesions (“glatt”) was used. Later, however, there were halachic (legal) authorities (Rema) who permitted eating meat of animals with small adhesions on particular sections of the lung. If the adhesions are small, easily removable, and the lungs prove to be airtight (by inflation under water) the animal may be declared Kosher, but not Glatt.”

There is nothing not true in the above paragraph. Yet, were you to look it up on some of Jewish version of Snopes, the verdict would be “sort of true.”

Adhesions are called sirchot in Hebrew, and as the paragraph correctly points out that sirchot which can be removed, etc, are not a factor in rendering the animal unfit for kosher consumption, is only part of the story.

Today, meat that is sold as Glatt is routinely allowed from animals with up to five sirchot. Three, certainly.

So, let’s ask the obvious question: is our Glatt really Glatt?