Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef.
Source: WikiCommons: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ovadya_Yosef.jpg
This week, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the long-time spiritual leader of the Sephardi movement, passed away. The reactions of the Jewish world have been far-ranging and I don’t intend to express any opinions on his legacy or his halacha.
But Rabbi Yosef’s passing reminded me that he has encouraged marriages between Rabbanites and Karaites so that Karaites would eventually accept the Oral Law.
If you opened a Karaite “kosher” restaurant, what would you call it?
Okay, so the title of this post is a bit misleading. For that matter, so is the comic. There really isn’t much of a dilemma when it comes to observant Jews looking for kosher places to eat. Your choices are “dairy,” “meat,” or “parve.”
And there certainly isn’t anything as bold as “Cheeseburgers and Paradise,” which in my ideal world would serve food according to the Karaite/biblical standards. B’ezrat Hashem, one day soon!
Filed under Kara & Robby, Karaite Rabbanite Relations, Kashrut
Shawarma? Should’ve Warned Ya.
My mouth was watering as I was getting ready to place my shawarma order. My friend, one of the founders of the Karaite Jewish University, politely said, “Shawn, there’s a problem. That fat on the top of the shawarma is chelev and it is forbidden to eat.”
I couldn’t believe that a restaurant in Israel with a kosher certification would serve something forbidden. So I placed my order and devoured some of the most delicious shawarma I’d ever had.
That was 2006 and it took me a few years to learn my friend was right; that shawarma probably wasn’t biblically permissible.
Filed under Karaite Jewish University, Kashrut
