ב”ה

Dear אדם & העני

מזל טוב on the birth of your son, may he be זוכה to תורה, חופה, ומעשים טובים.  

I have given him as a gift a giraffe teddy bear and am aware that this may be a problem for you being a Chabad Rabbi. So I have decided to dedicate a paragraph to hopefully convince you that it is ok for the baby to keep this toy.

רב סעדיה גאון identifies the זמר דברים יד:ה as a Giraffe. Agreeing with him are רדק ורשבז. The Giraffe (it is generally believed) chews the cud and has split hooves.

One problem comes from תשובות בית יעקב מא cited by פתחי תשובה יורה דעה פ:א, who goes beyond ע”ש ad loc and adds that in addition to the animal having split hooves and chewing the cud it must have the distinctive horn characteristics of a kosher חיה.

A second more difficult problem comes from  חכמת אדם לו:א since there is no מסורה (the need for מסורה in determining kashrus comes originally from birds, but was later applied as a stringency to animals too) identifying the kashrus of the giraffe, we cannot permit its meat on basis of only simanim. חזון איש forbade the Indian ox on this basis.

However in a terse comment of שך יורה דעה פ:ב we find two different understandings.

פרי מגדים שפתי דעת פ:א understands in שך, since the requirement for split hooves and chewing the cud are explicit in the תורה as prerequisites for being kosher, there is no need for מסורה. The שך is merely discussing the acceptance of an animal as a  בהמה/חיה vis-à-vis covering of the blood and eating the חלב. In agreement with him are כף החיים פ:ה ודרכי תשובה פ:ג. 

But חכמת אדם, ערוך השולחן, ערך השולחן, וחזון איש understand the שך to mean no animals are accepted kosher without a מסורה. See חזון איש יורה דעה יא:ד,ה for an understanding of why this stringency is necessary.

I think despite the obviously divided opinion of the Sages quoted above on an actual Giraffe; it would seem to me that there would be no reason for the stringency to apply to the cute cuddly toy which I have provided you with, relying on perhaps פרי מגדים,    כף החיים ודרכי תשובה.

הצלחה וברכה לכל מעשה ידיכם

חיים ראובן בן אברהם יודל הלוי

Jonathan Levy

Ideas and sources were all found in contemporary Halachic Problems by J. David Bleich