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Tuesday, March 29, 2016

The Marranos, New World Explorers and the Kashruth status of Turkey

The kosher status of the Wild Turkey has been a much discussed topic in Rabbinic Literature. Being a New World Species, there was no tradition regarding it's status as a Kosher bird. Many different solutions have been proposed as to why it is indeed Kosher, one of the most novel theories put forth is that of the author of Sichat Hullin, who had this original idea:
שיתכן והיו באמריקא בזמן שנתגלתה בני ישראל מעשרת השבטים האובדים בארץ אסו'ר (כמסופר בספר שארית ישראל פרק לה, בעדות שגבה רבי מנשה בן ישראל מפי אנוס ספרדי שחזר מאמריקא), ולהם היתה מסורת על עוף זה והעבירוה לחכמי הדור דרך מגורשי ספרד שהגיעו לשם
His theory is that it is possible, that when the New World was discovered, there were Jews there from the ten lost tribes who were exiled there ( as related in the book She'erit Yisrael with the testimony received by Menasseh Ben Israel from a marrano who returned from the New World). These Jews from the lost tribes, had a tradition regarding the Kashrut of the Turkey and they passed on the information to the Rabbis of that generation, through the marranos.



hat-tip: Menachem Silber

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