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Pig to Giraffe: Hahahahaha!

By jrosenhouse on June 10, 2008.

It seems giraffes are now considered kosher:

I don't know how this escaped me, but a rabbi named Shlomo Mahfoud (which sounds like a made-up name, in the “Zohan” sense) has declared that giraffe meat is kosher. This must come as a huge relief to the vast Jewish population of the Serengeti.

So what were the issues in reaching this decision?

Heeb reports that the tall, spotted, long-tongued African ungulates have been declared kosher by Israeli Rabbi Shlomo Mahfoud. JTA affirms that since giraffes have cloven hooves and chew their cud, they are totally kosher.

JTA also explains that eating giraffe meat only went out of fashion because the task of making a biblically correct slice on those notoriously long necks gave kosher butchers some serious headaches. Their puzzlement did not, however, inhibit the consumption of giraffe milk (also kosher), which is incredibly refreshing on a hot Saharan day!

The article does not actually explain how they solved the problem of slaughtering the giraffe in a kosher way. I'm picturing John Belushi's samurai character.

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religion

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Giraffe has always been considered kosher. I think this is a butchered quote from what I've seen before, "A kashrut expert once quipped that "anyone who does not know where to shecht a giraffe either knows nothing about the laws of shechitah or could not hit the side of a barn with a baseball." http://www.kashrut.com/articles/giraffe/

The real challenge is cost and figure out how survive the process http://www.zootorah.com/VirtualTour/giraffe.html

Giraffe milk on a hot Saharan day? I didn't realize giraffe was a Saharan creature. I think someone is confusing Sahara and savanna.

Why do you think the Lemba moved to Africa in the first place? They love to kick back in the evenings with a few long necks....