The short story of how turkey became kosher

Thanksgiving usually consists of cooking on a level that Jews do every week for Shabbat — soup, salad and all those sides that accompany the main dish.

And while chicken was never a stranger to kashrut, the turkey was initially an unknown bird, as it didn’t exist in the Old World.

In the 11th-centrury, Rashi said that only birds that had been traditionally eaten by Jews could be considered permissible to eat.

The kosher status of the turkey, which appeared in Jewish legal literature in the 18th century, was decided primarily because the Mishnah Hullin dealt with new, unfamiliar birds. For kosher certification, birds must consist of specific physiological features: a crop, an extra toe and a muscular, thick-walled part of its stomach that is easy to peel.

Additionally, kosher birds may have certain predatory manners.

Today, many Jews in Israel celebrate Thanksgiving just as do their counterparts in the United States. Each year, Israelis actually consume twice as much turkey meat as Americans.

According to Israel’s Ministry of Agriculture, Israelis eat approximately 28 pounds of turkey every year — almost double the 16.4 pounds eaten annually by the average American.

More than that, nearly half of Israel’s turkey production is exported to Europe.

And as a last (and very important) note, the Hebrew word for “Jews,” yehudim, comes from the root of the Hebrew word hodu, or “to give thanks”; it’s also Hebrew for “turkey.”

To be a Jew is to be thankful to G-d for existence. To be an American in Israel at Thanksgiving time is to be doubly thankful.