Episode Details

🔥 Remilk and Halachic Status of Lab-Created “Milk”  

 – Remilk is an Israeli product that **copies the gene for cow milk protein (BLG)** and inserts it into yeast, which through fermentation produces **milk-identical proteins**.  

 – These proteins are then blended with **non-animal fats, sugars, vitamins, and minerals** to create dairy-like products with **no lactose, cholesterol, hormones, or antibiotics**.  

 – The company claims there is **no cow or animal source at all** in the process; it is positioned as “milk without cows.”  

 – They report **Israeli kosher pareve certification**, including from **Badatz Igud Rabbanim** and the **Chief Rabbinate of Israel**, and advertise that it is **halachically pareve**.  

 – Contrast with **lab-grown meat**:  

  – Lab meat often begins with cells taken from animals; this raises **“yotzei min ha’asur asur”** issues and questions of **shechita / issur cheilev / ever min hachai**, etc.  

  – Remilk claims to avoid these because it **does not start from animal tissue**.  

 – Assuming the factual claim is correct (no animal source), halachically it can be treated as **kosher pareve** with no issue of “yotzei min ha’asur.”  

 – However, there is a major **mar’it ayin concern** when used with meat:  

  – It **tastes, looks, and functions like real milk**, including curdling and cheese-making.  

  – Chazal imposed mar’it ayin restrictions on **human milk with meat**:  

   • Human milk is technically kosher (not “gidulei ha’aretz”) and not basar bechalav.  

   • Yet **cooking meat in human milk** is rabbinically forbidden because it looks like meat-and-milk.  

   • If only a small amount of human milk is mixed and is not visible, one may rely on bitul; e.g., rinsing a baby bottle of breast milk in a fleishig sink is permitted.  

  – Parallel cases:  

   • **Dam dagim (fish blood)** is kosher but must be served with **scales visible** to avoid mar’it ayin.  

   • **Almond milk with meat**: Gemara and Rambam say to place **almonds next to it** so observers recognize it is not dairy.  

   • Some discuss whether the same applies to human milk; Rambam is more lenient by **chicken with almond milk**, since chicken-and-milk is only derabbanan.  

  – For Remilk, which **fully mimics dairy**, mar’it ayin is potentially stronger than with almond milk, which is essentially “nut juice.”  

 – Practical implication:  

  – **Drinking Remilk alone** is halachically fine (assuming valid supervision).  

  – **Using it with meat / at a fleishig meal / in a fleishig restaurant** raises mar’it ayin concerns, at least **until the product becomes widely known** and recognized as pareve.  

  – Once a practice/product is widely recognized, mar’it ayin can fade (analogy: Rav Schachter’s comment that once it was common for visibly religious Jews to have **kosher food delivered to non-kosher venues**, observers no longer assume they are eating non-kosher food).  

📖 Women and Obligation in Kriat HaTorah (Torah Reading)  

 – Question: If a woman comes late to shul and leining has already started:  

  – Should she **delay her own Shacharit** to listen to kriat haTorah?  

  – If she’s in the middle of **Pesukei DeZimra or between Pesukei DeZimra and Shema**, should she pause to listen?  

 – Background question: **Is kriat haTorah a chovat yachid or only chovat hatzibur?**  

  – Some hold it’s mainly a **communal obligation**: if a tzibur already read, an individual who missed is **not required** to seek out another minyan.  

  – Some report that Rav Soloveitchik would sometimes organize a **special minyan for kriat haTorah** (e.g., on a plane), implying he related to it as a serious **individual need**, at least for himself.  

 – Are women obligated?  

  – **Magen Avraham** (cited in **Mishnah Berurah O.C. 282:11**) s