Jerusalem - the Locusts Are Coming, Is It Kosher to Eat?
More: Jerusalem - the Locusts Are Coming, Is It Kosher to Eat? — VosIzNeias.com
Jerusalem - In the last few days, a devastating plague of locusts, numbering in the tens of millions, has been sweeping across Egypt. In Israel, the Ministry of Agriculture is on full alert. A special hotline has been set up, and the pesticides have been prepared.
Hopefully, modern agricultural technology will help us avoid disasters such as that of 1915, when a plague of locusts in Israel led to much tragedy.
Meanwhile, I have my own early warning system – a friend on military duty near the Egyptian border has promised to call me if swarms arrive. I’d love to see it first-hand, and to catch a couple of hundred to feed to my reptile collection – and to eat myself.It is commonly overlooked that not only does the Torah permit man to eat certain mammals, birds and fish, but it even permits him to eat certain insects – namely, several types of locusts. The identification of the kosher varieties was lost amongst European Jews, who were not exposed to locust swarms. But Jews from North Africa maintained a tradition regarding kosher locusts.