The City is known for having excellent tap water, but why does it taste so good? It might be the microscopic shrimp.
Tiny copepods were discovered after a reddit user uploaded photos of what they found through the other end of a microscope after adding H&E stain to New York tap water. According to blog Gizmodo, copepods are added to water to eat mosquito larvae, keeping water sources clear.
But besides a serious “ick” factor, the copepods are technically crustaceans, which means they aren’t kosher for the city’s large Orthodox, observant Jewish population. Reports of requests by the Jewish community to have the water “purified” surfaced in 2004, but according to the Department of Environmental Protection, extracting the creatures wasn’t possible, claiming that they deliver health benefits to water reservoirs. “When it comes to delivery, if there is a spike and you are not comfortable with what you see in your water, all we can recommend is a commercial filter, which will effectively filter them out,” DEP spokesman Charles Sturcken told Water & Waste Digest.
(Source: Time)
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18 Responses
Yum.
Another cup of water, please.
Ein ledayan ela ma she’einov ro’os.
Doesn’t say anything about a microscope.
Drink on!
So let me get this straight. Are we not ALLOWED to drink water without a filter?!?
if these bugs are microscopic (and thats how Time puts it here in this article) then they ARE YES kosher to orthodox people! so what are they talking about?!
If they are indeed “added to the water” AND are visible as many leading poskim agree they are, the heter suggested by some that they were never parush, would no longer apply.
as long as i don’t see it with my own eyes i will drink N.Y.C. tap water without a filter.
Lesson: Get a good filter. Copecod filters can be had for little cost.
But, while you’re at it, get a filter that takes out the toxic chemicals that are rampant in the City’s water supply: chlorine, fluorine, VOC’s, hormones, antibiotics, etc. These cost $300-$500 dollars for a 5-stage undersink installation. Filter cartridge refills are advisable twice a year.
It costs money to have clean water, but it’s still cheaper than Poland Spring water jugs.
The opinion of some of the greatest poskim today is that while it is true they must be visible, but not in any detail and not to any eye, but to the trained eye. So once one knows that these visible specks in the water are indeed copepods, even if you need a glass to see their body parts, they are none the less considered visible and prohibited.
To those of you who feel that halachically a filter is not required…
Even IF you are correct, let me tell you my experience.
I have a filter in which I replace the filter material about every 6 to 8 weeks. When I remove the old filter material it is FILTHY, almost BLACK. Even IF there is not a halachic issue, without the filter all that shmutz would be in my drinking water, in the water we use to make our Shabbas chicken soup (and for all our cooking). It is DISGUSTING. Be smart. Get a filter. There are very effective ones available for less than $50.
Fascinating!!
Everyone quoting Poskim pro & con but not one direct atribution.
Even more fascinating
comments such as “those of >>>you<<< (qualified מורי הוראה?) who feel that halachically"
This is a well known – and not new – issue. For those who are unaware of the “man d’amamrim” Rav Dovid Feinstein and Rav Feivel Cohen here is the US of A and HaGaon Rav Elyashiv in Eretz Yisroel all have paskined the water must be filtered. Many others have agreed with them as well. Rav A. Y. H. Bick is quoted as permitting the critters as is Rav Yisroel Belsky.
Rashi says in Psachim that a Sheretz gets it’s name by the fact that it can only be seen when it moves, since it is too small to see otherwise.
The copepods in our water are already dead, which is why they are hard to notice. I have seen live ones, and they swim like tadpoles, and are clearly visible when they dart about.
As for Parush, although they were originally put in, these are they’re Einiklach and are born in the water.
Why do you people complain about “you people”? It isn’t really a secret, everyone spoke to his Rav when the issue was brought up and heard exactly what the different Rabbonim said.
wow look at all the chosuve poskim we have here!!!
Why is this appearing here now? This issue, as your article notes, was brought to the public’s attention in 2004. Originally, most poskim held the Chazon Ish’s position that if it wasn’t easily visible without a magnifying glass, it wasn’t an issue. However, the Gadolim in EY ruled otherwise, and we’ve all lived with water filters ever since.
To HaLeiVi
????????? Why do you people complain about “you people”? ??????? What are you referring to ?
My comment was the only one mentioning “you”
And my point was that everyone was opining & quoting without eeven mentioning the name of a recognized posek
#14, the reason it’s here is that Time magazine finally caught on.
shauli: the halacha and various tshuvot (r’belsky)state that the bugs which are אסור are only those which the eye can see. so please don’t mislead people.
DEP spokesman Charles Sturcken’s statement to Water and Waste Digest as quoted at the end of the piece, “When it comes to delivery, if there is a spike and you are not comfortable with what you SEE (emphasis mine) in your water, all we can recommend is a commercial filter, which will effectively filter them out” should put an end to the nir’eh l’einayim issue.
As far as parush I would think that since these critters don’t carry thei birth certificates with them, we canno know if they were born there or put their. Besides, once the water is poured into a glass, and they possibly go from water to glass, they are parush and asur.