THE BAIS HAVAAD HALACHA JOURNAL: Volume 5776 Issue XXXVIII Korach KOSHER HONEY Important Kashrus details relating to honey and its production By: OU Kosher HALACHA YOMIS

OU Kosher Halacha Yomis This column is dedicated in memory of: Rav Chaim Yisroel ben Reb Dov HaLevi Belsky, zt'l Senior OU Kosher Halachic Consultant from 1987-2016 Q. The Talmud (Bechoros 5b) postulates, “What emanates from non-kosher is non-kosher.” (For example, camel milk is not kosher.) If so, why is honey kosher? After all, honey emanates from non-kosher bees. A. The Gemara (Bechoros 7b) cites two opinions as to why bee’s honey is permitted. The Chachamim explain that honey is permitted because it is not a secretion. Rather, honey is the collected nectar in a different form, which is expelled from the bee. Rebbi Yaakov says that the permissibility of bee’s honey is derived from a Talmudic exegesis of the verse in Vayikra (11:21): “However, this you may eat from among all the flying insects…”