Why is honey Kosher?
The Mishna in Tractate Bechorot states:
"That which comes from something which
is Tameh [non-Kosher] is Tameh, and that which comes of that which is
Tahor [Kosher] is Tahor." The product of a non-Kosher animal is
not Kosher.
So why is bee honey Kosher?
The Talmud in the same Tractate quotes
a Beraita (a Halachic teaching from the time of the Mishna) which says:
"Why did they say that
bee-honey is permitted? Because even though they bring it into their
bodies, it is not a *product* of their bodies [it is stored there but
not produced there]."
All the Sages of the Mishna agree with
this ruling. One of them, Rabbi Yaakov, disagrees with the *reasoning*.
He claims that bee-honey is Kosher based on his interpretation of
Vayikra 11:21. According to him, the verse prohibits one to eat a flying
insect, but *not* that which is *excreted* from it.
Maimonides codifies bee-honey as being
Kosher, as does the Shulchan Aruch.
You may wonder: How could one even
think that bee-honey is not Kosher -- the Torah refers to the Land of
Israel as "a Land flowing with milk and honey"! Certainly the Torah
would not choose a non-Kosher product as a means for describing the
beauty of the Land of Israel! This may come as a surprise, but the honey
mentioned in the verse about "milk and honey" is not bee-honey -- rather
it is fig-honey. The Talmud in Tractate Berachot tells us that another
verse "It is a Land of wheat, barley, grapes, figs and pomegranates -- a
Land of olives and *honey*" -- is referring to date-honey.
Sources:
- Tractate Bechorot, pages 5b, 7b.
- The Codes of Maimonides, Laws of
Forbidden Foods 3:3.
- Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh Deah, 81:8.
- Tractate Megillah, page 6a, Rashi.
- Chumash, Book of Devarim, 8:8.
- Tractate Berachot, page 41b, Rashi.
Also see:
Kosher Honey
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