Are the sparrows we see around us kosher?
A recent incident, which it is best not to elaborate on, led us to this strange question.
In the Temple, as part of the purification of a leper, it was customary to take two sparrows - one would be slaughtered and one would be sent across the field.
Allegedly, a bird slaughtered in the temple is supposed to be strictly kosher, however today we do not really see a possibility in a restaurant to purchase a sparrow on a skewer.
Therefore, this is a completely real halakhic question - is it permissible to eat the birds that nest in every city in Israel, if you want to for a rather bizarre reason, or maybe it is a different bird at all?
"One should know that there are many birds that are kosher according to their signs, but in practice we do not eat them because they have no tradition," explains Rabbi David Satyu, chairman of the Tzohar Rabbinical Association and rabbi of the city that they are. Exactly, and no one has eaten them and knows their identifying marks - meaning we have lost knowledge.
Even if today's sparrow is the same bird - a tradition of aliyah is needed. "
Rabbi Yaakov Ariel, a former rabbi of Ramat Gan, believes that it is unequivocally forbidden to eat the sparrow.
"First, there are clear signs of purity to fly, but in addition it takes tradition to eat such a bird. In the people of Israel today we do not have a tradition of sparrows, so it is impossible to eat them," he clarifies.
A sparrow and a woman share a plate (archive photo, the photo has nothing to do with the news), Photo: Gideon Markowitz
Rabbi Shlomo Aviner and Rabbi Ratzon Arusi also believe that the bird is kosher but has no tradition.
Rabbi Aviner says that "a sparrow is a kosher bird like other birds, but it takes a tradition to slaughter the sparrow and there is no such thing today," says Rabbi Arusi.
We did not provide these answers, and turned to one of the greatest ultra-Orthodox arbitrators, who runs a teaching tribunal in the field of slaughter.
"I know the claims that sparrows are kosher for food, and about 20 years ago there was a rabbi who slaughtered and ate them, and claimed to have a tradition in the field," he noted.
"In practice, I have been in the field for many years and I have never seen anyone who eats sparrows or knows how to slaughter them. That means probably if there was such a tradition it was lost over the years," the arbitrator concludes.
Along with the opinions that oppose the eating of sparrows, there are also those who believe that this is allowed.
The website of the Torah and Haaretz Institute states that "there are those who believe that all sparrows are kosher to eat. In fact, some have written that sparrows should not be eaten because there is no tradition of eating them, but many testimonies The Sparrow. "
Prof. Zohar Amar also says from Bar Ilan that the sparrow is a kosher bird and writes that "the sparrow has a continuous eating tradition that has been preserved in almost all Israeli communities until modern times: in Eastern Europe, Italy, England, Morocco and Israel. When the opportunity arose, in Arabic, as in Hebrew, the sparrow was called Atzfur (= bird).
Rabbi Yaakov Chaim Sofer (1890-1909) from Baghdad, who settled in Jerusalem, wrote:
In Yemen there were those who hunted for it in quantities.
In Frankfurt and Halberstadt in Germany, the heads of the community used to slaughter birds of prey in public every year until the rise of the Nazis in order to perpetuate the tradition that will not be forgotten. "
About a year ago, a traditional meal was held at the Binyamin local council, and Dror was eaten, among other things.
You can watch the video on YouTube under the caption "The Feast of Tradition - Dror".
It should be noted that this is only an article and not a de facto teaching of halakhah.
And anyone who is interested in eating sparrows, for some reason, will ask a halakhic judge
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