Hilchot Kashrut II Intro to Halachah/RAB 507 - Class VI CHEESE! (supplement to the Klein Teshuvah)

MISHNAH. THE FOLLOWING ARTICLES OF HEATHENS ARE PROHIBITED BUT THE PROHIBITION DOES NOT EXTEND TO ALL USE OF THEM:¹³ MILK WHICH A HEATHEN MILKED WITHOUT AN ISRAELITE WATCHING HIM, THEIR BREAD AND OIL — RABBI AND HIS COURT PERMITTED THE OIL — STEWED AND PRESERVED FOODSTUFFS INTO WHICH THEY ARE ACCUSTOMED TO PUT WINE OR VINEGAR, PICKLED HERRING WHICH HAD BEEN MINCED, BRINE IN WHICH THERE IS NO KALBITH-FISH FLOATING, HELEK, DROPS OF ASAFOETIDA AND SAL-CONDITUM. BEHOLD THESE ARE PROHIBITED BUT THE PROHIBITION DOES NOT EXTEND TO ALL USE OF THEM.

GEMARA. Why should we feel concern about milk [that it is prohibited]? If on account of the possibility that there may have been a substitution [of animals], [the milk of] a clean animal is white and of an unclean animal greenish in colour! If, on the other hand, it is on account of the possibility of a mixture [of a clean animal's milk with that of an unclean animal], let him curdle it, because a Master has declared: The milk of a clean animal curdles but that of an unclean animal does not! — [This test is all right] if he required [the milk for the purpose of making] cheese; but with what circumstance are we dealing here? When he requires it as a diet!

(1) Milk that was milked by non-Jews and no Jew saw them do so, it is forbidden as perhaps non-kosher milk was mixed in. If it was milked in his house and a Jew was sitting outside, if it is known that there is no non-kosher animal in his herd, it is permitted, even if no Jew is able to see him at the time that he milks the animal. If he has a non-kosher animal in his heard, and the Jew sits outside, and the non-Jew is milking only for the sake of the Jew, even if the Jew is unable to see him when he is sitting, if he is able to see him when he stands, this is permitted, because the non-Jew fears that perhaps he will stand and be seen, and he knows that non-kosher milk is forbidden the to Jew. Rema: Initially, it is necessary for the Jew to be there are the beginning of the milking and check to make sure that the bucket is empty and does not contain non-kosher milk. And it is our custom to be stringent and not milk with vessels which are usually used for milking by non-Jews, lest some of their [non-Kosher] milk remain in the vessel. In any case, after the fact there is no need to be concerned for this. And regarding maidservants that milk domestic animals in the Jew's house or in his [animal] pen, any instance in which it is not a house of a non-Jew, that is enough and there is no need to be concerned about a non-kosher matter, and it is permitted even initially to leave them to milk even there is not a Jew around, because the non-Jewish milker is in his house or neighborhood, they are not suspected of milking non-kosher animals. But if a non-Jew takes a break, the Jew needs to be there, because it is like the case of the non-Jew's house. And even a Jewish child will suffice, because the non-Jew appears before him. In any case, if a Jew is not present until after he has finished milking, this milk is considered the milk of non-Jews that is forbidden, even thought no non-kosher animal exists in his herd. Milk of a non-Jew makes vessels non-kosher when they are cooked in them, just as any prohibited food, even though this is only an uncertainty whether he has mixed in something non-kosher. And so too with non-Jewish cheese, but not non-Jewish butter, even in a place where it is considered prohibited it does not prohibit vessels when cooked, and it is not a problem if it becomes mixed; if it is mixed in that which is permitted, everything is permitted, like above regarding the bread of non-Jews. See above in chapter 112. Milk of non-Jews that is forbidden, it will not work to make it into cheese or butter afterwards, rather it remains forbidden, and everything that is made from it is forbidden.

(5) [Milk in] the stomach of [an animal slaughtered] by a non-Jew and of a nevelah is forbidden. One who curdles [milk] in the skin of the stomach of a valid animal, if it [the stomach] has [a sufficient amount] to give flavor, it [the milk] is forbidden. A valid animal which nursed from a terefah [an animal with a mortal condition such that it would die within one year], [the milk in] its stomach is forbidden. A terefah which nursed from a valid animal, [the milk in] its stomach is permitted since it is collected in its insides.

The law is: One may not curdle [milk] with the skin of the stomach of a

nebelah, but one may with the [milk in the] stomach of a nebelah, and also with the [milk in the]

stomach of an animal slaughtered unto idolatry. ([One may also curdle milk] with the [milk found in

the] stomach of a validly slaughtered animal which had sucked from a trefah animal, and certainly

with the [milk found in the] stomach of a trefah animal which had sucked from a valid animal,

because the milk that is collected within is considered as dung.)