Is bee honey permitted by the Torah?
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Question
Hello Rabbi, I have a question: Bee honey is not mentioned in the Torah as kosher for consumption. For example, you may eat the honey but not the bee, as it is unclean for you. This is neither written nor stated in the Torah. Since when has the people of Israel debated forbidden foods to permit them? And from where and since when did the custom arise in Jewish communities to eat apple with bee honey on Rosh Hashanah? Regarding the honey, Bechorot 7 it does not exude by itself - it is not possible in reality (see enzymes that turn nectar into honey), but let's say?! Wax indeed exudes by itself, and in the industrial extraction process, wax enters the honey collection container. So how can it be koshered? And donkey urine - permitted only as a medicine! And honey - is it permitted as a medicine? Or as the national food of the Jewish people on Rosh Hashanah? There is a saying that waste from an unclean animal - is permitted. Bones, tendons, and horns?! Therefore, wax is considered waste and permitted. Is it really so?! Like saying, cholent cooked with the addition of a pig bone would be permitted for consumption?! I have yet to understand, both about the honey and the waste from the unclean animal. (In my opinion, in the current era of the food industry, a kosher Jew is only a vegan Jew - I would be happy to challenge you to prove the permission)
Answer
Hello,
Bee honey is permitted by the Torah, as explained in the Gemara [Bechorot 7:].
This is because it is not exuded from the bee's body but is collected in its body and expelled. [The enzymes involved in honey are not considered the main part of the food].
Or from the interpretation of the verse 'but this you may eat from all creeping birds' - you do not eat an unclean bird, but you eat what an unclean bird exudes, and this is bee honey.
This is also explained in the Torah, 'and he extracted honey from the rock', meaning from bees that nested in the rock [Tosefta Shabbat 9].
And so it is explained in the book of Judges 4:8-9, as a simple matter, that bee honey is permitted for consumption.
I ate my forest with my honey - Song of Songs 5:1, as explained by Radak there.
The interpretations of the Torah are not 'debates', but this is how the Torah was given at Sinai, with thirteen measures, which were given to explain it.
Most of the laws in the Torah are not given in the formulation you suggest, 'do not eat the bee', the Torah is a book of rules, not a book of details.
The custom of eating honey on Rosh Hashanah is not the reason for the permission to eat honey, but only a side and minor consequence of the permission.
Even in the current period, as in the last 3000 years, the Torah remains unchanged, and the Jew is commanded to observe it properly, as it was received at Sinai, and not to change it according to his opinion and reasoning.
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