In Science We Trust

A Guest Post By E. Fink

You gotta love this attempt to ban salmon and other fish by Rabbi Moshe Karp of Modi'in Illit in Israel.

Karp is the same Charedi rabbi who banned the internet, including charedi new sites. He is a posek in Kiryat Sefer, home to recent bans on sheitel heads and eyebrow waxing ads.

Now he has his sights set on banning fish. His rationale? The anisakis. The anisakis is a parasite that lives in fish. The Gemara says that an anisakis is permitted to be eaten because it is considered "part of the fish" as it is generated inside the fish. The Shulchan Aruch codifies this as law and for thousands of years, we have been eating fish with anisakis.

Karp spoke with the kashrus gurus in the USA who summarily dismissed Karp's ban. Salmon is kosher and will certainly remain kosher stateside. By the way, one of the American rabbis is named Fishbane. So on one side you have Karp and on the other side you have Fishbane.

Are you wondering why Karp is trying to ban fish if the Gemara and Shulchan Aruch permit it? Because SCIENCE has shown that the talmudic rabbis misunderstood the nature of the anisakis. Wait, what? Karp is relying on science? Chazal's science was imperfect? Are they going to revoke his Semicha for this?

Isn't Karp part of the whole "Chazal knew science better than we do?" Crew? Until a limitation on Chazal's ability to understand science could lead to a ban! Aha!

I am so confused right now, I think my head is going to explode.

(Don't worry, those who are permitted fish despite Karp's attempts say Karp doesn't understand the science correctly and there is no halachic reason to issue the ban.)

HT: The Jewish Star

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Search for more information about parasites in fish and in modi'in illit at 4torah.com.

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