Q&A: Eggs from “Briut HaTeva” (Nir Zvi moshav)
Eggs from "Briut HaTeva" (Nir Zvi moshav)
Question
Hello Rabbi,
I saw that your daughter eats eggs from Nir Zvi and even described them as chickens that don’t suffer at all.
Let’s say I can’t really claim anything, since I’m only in the process of becoming vegan (thanks to your column), but I have a genuine question: does your daughter know how the chickens get to Nir Zvi?
Because I called to ask, and Nir Zvi, apparently like all free-range coops, gets its eggs from the regular hatcheries. The meaning is that even though in the coop itself they don’t suffer at all, their beaks were still clipped, and they would also be killed if they were male.
So in short — is buying from Nir Zvi morally “kosher”?
Answer
Absolutely right. She stopped eating from there a long time ago, precisely for that reason. I’d be happy if you found me something that is completely “kosher,” because I haven’t managed to avoid it entirely.
Discussion on Answer
How many generations does it take before it’s glatt? Or do you need to find wild chickens and only from them can you start?
To Yishai — greetings,
In light of your fondness for all things farm-related, perhaps you’ll like the free-range eggs from Ofaim Farm, sold at the organic store ‘Perma-Cultura’ in the moshav of Bnei Zion 🙂
Best regards, S. Kulyon
Yishai, I don’t know whether you’re joking, playing innocent, or just unfamiliar with the facts.
If you regularly take chicks from a problematic place, that strengthens it and increases its activity, even if those chicks are then raised properly by the buyer. On the other hand, if you took from them only once, an initial batch, and from there raised your own chicks generation after generation, then you both saved the first generation from its grim fate and all the later generations are raised with the highest standard of kashrut.
Yoni, she doesn’t know of one. Apparently there isn’t one, but I thought maybe you knew of one anyway.
I’m pinning my hopes on your daughter; she sounds like she knows what’s going on — doesn’t she know of a place like that?