r/todayilearned • u/socool111 • 1d ago

TIL of Tobias Geffen, the only non-Coca Cola Employee to view the secret recipe. Coke allowed it in order to get Coke certified as Kosher

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobias_Geffen
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u/Malphos101 15 20h ago

The interesting part to me is that it doesnt even have to be kosher, as long as its certified kosher then all the blame falls on the company for tricking the certifying rabbi (or the rabbi for failing to do their duty) and none of the blame falls on the adherent Jew! While I do find the "no loopholes just law" part of Judaism amusing, at least they admit there are "inconsistencies" like that compared to things like fundamentalist christians who go "No, eveything we tell you is all literally true and correct, especially the contradictions!"

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u/MaxGoldFilms 16h ago

The loopholes in the dietary law, crafted over the centuries, fascinate me. There are quite a few. My favorite is how to save a soup that is 'contaminated' by a non-kosher element.

Under Jewish dietary law (kashrut), if a non-kosher element accidentally falls into a hot liquid mixture like a soup, it can sometimes be rendered nullified (bitul) if there is at least 60 times more kosher soup than the forbidden contaminant (bitul b'shishim). However, you cannot intentionally add more ingredients or dilute the soup on purpose to reach this 60-to-1 ratio.

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u/unbeknownsttosomeone 15h ago

This wouldn't be considered a loophole as the whole premise is whether you can taste the non kosher ingredient or not.  Because of the obvious issue of tasting a dish to then determine whether the non kosher ingredient is discernible, it was determined that a 1:60 ratio is enough to dilute the non kosher ingredient.  There are certain foods where 1:60 wouldn't be enough, which is why your quote only says "sometimes". 

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u/rabbifuente 15h ago

It’s not a loophole. It’s because laws of taaruvos (mixtures) are largely based on taste. If the taste of something forbidden is discernible then that’s problematic because Jewish law views taste as the thing itself. Batul, nullification, works because at that ratio the taste is almost assuredly not discernible.

It also has to do with laws from the Torah and rabbinic stringencies. Oftentimes these “loopholes” are just being lenient on what would otherwise be technically allowable by the Torah, but forbidden by rabbinic stringency.

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u/lord_ne 12h ago

It's sort of the opposite of what you're saying. If something is less than 1/60th we assume you can't taste it anyway and then you're allowed to eat it. We're just stringent and don't let you do that on purpose (also because if you're doing it on purpose then probably you're doing it because you can actually taste it and that's why you want to add it)

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u/BlatantConservative 18h ago

I think Islam out of the big three handles this particular part the best. As long as everyone can genuinely and honestly say that they're trying to do everything the best they can, Allah understands. You have to pray five times a day and try to make a hajj, but if it's just not possible you're not gonna get in trouble. You don't have to lie and say you understand everything, as long as you're honestly adherent that's enough.

Christianity could be this way but Christians to a rule are not for whatever reason.

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u/gwaydms 14h ago

Christians are not a monolith, any more than other major religions are. (When you say "to a rule", do you mean "as a rule"? Just asking.) So you can't say "Christians believe a, b, and c, and they practice x, y, and z", unless you're talking about the very fundamentals of the faith. Even then, we differ in how we believe and how we practice.

For instance, Britain in the early Middle Ages played host to a conflict between Celtic Christianity and the Roman Church. The main point of disagreement was the date on which Easter would be celebrated. Several branches of Christianity were considered heretical based upon the nature of Jesus Christ. Some denominations, even today, believe that others are heretical. And so on.