Torah Portion: Shemini
“ואת אלה תשקצו מן העוף לא יאכלו…” (ויקרא יא יג)
It is a negative commandment to not eat non-kosher fowl, as it is written: These shall you abominate from among the birds… (Vayikra 11:13).
Among the roots of the mitzvah is the same idea that we wrote above, regarding to the prohibition of [non-kosher] foods.
The laws of the mitzvah include: The Torah did not specify in detail the signs of non-kosher fowl because it did record all the non-kosher species of birds in the world, which are twenty-four species, and consequently any other type of bird is kosher. Nevertheless, since not all people are experts at knowing what are those species that the Torah mentions by name, our Sages provided signs for us so that everyone can recognize them and will be able to eat kosher birds.
This mitzvah applies in all places and at all times, to both men and women. One who transgressed this and willfully ate the volume of an olive of a non-kosher bird receives lashes. If this happened inadvertently, he is exempt.
