I tasted some chicken soup — do I have to wait six hours before I have my coffee with milk? I cut onions with a milky knife and fried them in a meaty pan — what do I do now? I cooked a potato in my meaty microwave — can I eat it with cheese? Numerous Kashrus questions are impossible to answer without a thorough knowledge of the laws. Questions involving Kashrus constantly arise, so if a person is not well-versed in its intricacies, then it is inevitable that either transgressions will take place or that he will be overly strict. The many books of basic laws are wonderful, but to really understand the halachos and to apply them, it is essential to learn and remember hilchos Kashrus with the background discussion.  What is the challenge we face? It takes several years for a full-time advanced Torah learner to cover the laws of Kashrus in depth. Issur V’Heter for men offered a solution. World famous Rosh Yeshiva and Rosh Kollel, HaRav Hagaon Yitzchak Berkovits shlit”a used his vast knowledge to arrange all the important sources with the commentators on each area of hilchos Kashrus, and presented it in the form of source sheets that cover material from the original sources through practical halacha. This enables one to cover the main opinions in each topic and gain a deep understanding of the halacha without being overwhelmed with a lot of information. Rabbi Dr. Yakov Pesah, a close talmid of Rav Berkovits who spent many years learning in Rav Berkovits’s famous Jerusalem Kollel, with the Rav’s endorsement, took on the monumental task of adapting the Hebrew sheets into English to make the program available for busy professionals.  After successfully running the Hilchos Shabbos program for several years, Rabbi Yehonasan Gefen, also a musmach of Rabbi Berkovits, joined forces with Rabbi Pesah, and together they cofounded the “Hilchos Issur V’Heter” program for men and launched it online. It became an instant success worldwide. During the launches of the Hilchos Kashrus course for men, it became crystal clear that a course especially tailored for Jewish women was necessary.  The program received many emails asking for a women’s cohort of this important and highly relevant series.  Women, perhaps even more than men, require practical knowledge on how to keep the myriad halachos of Kashrus.  Indeed, they may even be faced with more scenarios than men since they are more often busy in the kitchen.  Therefore, Rabbi Gefen, in consultation with Rabbi Berkovits, helped Rabbi Pesah adapt the curriculum to be uniquely tailored to Torah-observant women as an online program in Hilchos Kashrus accessible to motivated women worldwide (www.HilchosIssurvHeterforWomen.com). The program empowers women to know the laws of Kashrus that are so relevant to their lives. Participants in each online chabura receive source sheets with explanations in English. In addition to his weekly online Zoom shiur, Rabbi Gefen is available for questions by email and phone.  There are tests in each section, and the option of a signed certificate of completion from Rav Berkovits. While this is the first Hilchos Kashrus course for women, Rabbi Gefen has also launched another online program for women in Hilchos Bein Adam L’Chaveiro. This program is based on a curriculum of Kollel Linas Hatzedek/Center for Jewish Values, a premier international Bein Adam L’Chaveiro resource, whom we thank for their permission. The Bein […]