92 · The Laws of Kashrut of Selected Ingredients and Non-Food Products Tzurba M’Rabanan

The Kashrut of Honey and

Related Products

Honey

Another food ingredient that is the subject of some halachic discussion is honey. Honey of course comes
from bees, which are not kosher (see the shiurim on the prohibition of the consumption of insects in
Volume 4). Since there is a well-known halacha recorded in the Gemara in Bechorot that any material
that emerges from a non-kosher living being is also non-kosher, one would think that honey should not
be kosher. But the same Gemara explains that nevertheless, honey is still kosher,20 and two explanations
are given as to why that should be.

Masechet Bechorot 7b
The Gemara cites a baraita: For what reason did the Sages
say that the honey of bees is permitted? It is because they
bring the nectar from the flowers into their body, but they
do not excrete it from their body as a bodily excretion…
Rabbi Ya’akov says that it is stated: “Yet these may you eat
of all winged creatures” (Vayikra 11:21). The word “these”
indicates that you may eat these, but you may not eat a
non-kosher winged creature. The Gemara asks: Why is this
inference necessary? The prohibition against eating a non-ko-
sher winged creature is written explicitly: “All winged crea-
tures that go upon all fours are a repugnance to you” (Vayikra
11:20). Rather, the inference must be understood as follows:
You may not eat a non-kosher winged creature, but you may
eat that which a non-kosher winged creature discharges
from its body, and what is that? That is the honey of bees.
The Gemara cites the continuation of the baraita: One might have thought that even the honey of gizzin (a
kind of grasshopper)21 and wasps should be permitted. Nevertheless, you should say no. The baraita asks:
And what did you see to include the honey of bees as being permitted to eat and to exclude the honey of
gizzin and wasps as being forbidden? The baraita answers: I include the honey of bees, as its name does
not have a modifier, i.e., the word honey alone always refers to the honey of bees. And I exclude the honey
of gizzin and wasps, which have a modifier, i.e., one must always add the word gizzin or wasp to specify
these particular types of honey.

20. Rav Dovid Heber notes that one may purchase 100% pure honey without kosher certification. However, other types of honey may contain
additives with non-kosher ingredients and do require kosher certification. See “Do Bee Don’t Bee – A Halachic Guide to Honey and Bee Deriv-
ative,” available at www.star-k.org/articles/kashrus-kurrents/624/do-bee-dont-bee. [Addition of the English editors]
21. See Yoel 2:25, where the word gazam refers to a kind of grasshopper or locust.
 · 93

According to the first explanation of the Gemara, the reason that honey is permitted is because only
substances actually produced by the body of a non-kosher animal are not kosher, but honey is simply
the result of ingesting nectar and expelling it from the body. According to the second explanation, the
permission of honey is based on a derivation from a pasuk.
The Shulchan Aruch records the permission to consume honey without quoting either of the reasons, but
it does add that it is permitted even if some of the bees’ limbs are found inside the honey.

Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De’ah 81:8

The honey of bees is permitted. And even though body parts
of the bees are mixed inside,22 and when one separates the
honey from it, one heats them up together, it is permitted,
since it is a case of imparting a flavor that detracts from the
taste [notein ta’am lifgam].

The Shach explains that even though if food items are heated up together, they usually transfer taste to
one another, in this case the bees’ body limbs themselves detract from the taste of the honey, and do not
render it forbidden.

Shach, Yoreh De’ah 81:27

Since it is notein ta’am lifgam – In other words, the bodies
of the bees themselves detract from the taste of the honey,
and imparting a flavor that detracts [notein ta’am lifgam] is
permitted, as below in siman 103, see there.

Rav Eliezer Melamed writes though that the beekeeper must nevertheless strain the honey to remove
the body parts, since they are still forbidden.

Peninei Halacha, Kashrut Vol. 2,

p. 120
The beekeepers must strain the honey, since occasionally dead
bees or the legs or other body parts of bees are mixed in with
the honey. Following the straining, the honey is permitted.

We saw above in the Gemara that there were two reasons given for permitting honey. There is actually a
practical halachic difference between the two reasons: Whether the honey that comes from wasps and
gizzin is kosher. According to the first reason, it would be kosher, since the logic given applies to them too.
According to the second reason, it would not be kosher, since the pasuk is referring specifically to honey
from bees. Rav Eliezer Waldenberg elaborates on this issue in the Tzitz Eliezer.

22. This often occurs when collecting the honey from the honeycomb. In the past, they would heat up the honey and strain it with a thin cloth in
order to filter out these body parts, while today there are machines designed to produce clean honey.
94 · The Laws of Kashrut of Selected Ingredients and Non-Food Products Tzurba M’Rabanan

Responsa Tzitz Eliezer 11:59

Concerning the halacha, the Rambam (Ma’achalot Assurot
3:3) rules in favor of the tanna kamma: “The honey of bees
and wasps is permitted, since it is not produced from the
essence of their body, but rather they gather it from the grass
and in their mouths, and they expel it in the beehive, so that
they will find it and be able to eat from it in the rainy season.”
See there in the Maggid Mishneh.
And the Rosh in Bechorot… rules stringently like Rabbi Yaakov
and forbids the honey of wasps and gizin, even though they
too do not get secreted from their body.

The Shulchan Aruch presents the primary approach as that of the Rambam and then cites the Rosh as
a secondary opinion. The Rema comments though that in any event, this case of honey from wasps is
not a common one.

Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De’ah 81:9

The honey of wasps and gizzin is permitted, but some forbid it.
Rema: But we do not need to be concerned about it, since
it is not common among us at all.

Royal Jelly

Another halachic difference between the two reasons is the status of royal jelly, a substance secreted by
honeybees and sometimes marketed as a dietary supplement to humans.23 Is royal jelly kosher?
Rav Eliezer Waldenberg addresses this question at length and initially suggests that its status too should
depend upon which reason in the Gemara is accepted concerning the permissibility of honey. According
to the reason that honey is not an excretion produced by the bee but merely expelling the nectar ingested
in a different form, royal jelly should be forbidden, since it is a glandular secretion produced by a non-
kosher insect. But according to the reason that it is based on a pasuk, royal jelly should be permitted,
since it too comes from a bee. He concludes though that it should be entirely permitted since it is taken
for medicinal purposes and is also mixed together with regular honey, such that the royal jelly is only a
small amount of the entire product.

23. Royal jelly is a semi-bitter substance secreted by honeybees and used in the nutrition of bee larvae. Although it is only used for a short time
for most bee larvae, it is used for larvae destined to be queen bees for their entire period of development and allows them to lay up to 2000
eggs per day. In addition, it causes queen bees to weigh twice as much as other bees and give them a life expectancy of forty times more than
other bees. It has been thought that royal jelly likely contains significant health benefits given the changes that it causes in bees. However,
after extensive research, the European Food Safety Authority and the FDA (United States Food and Drug Administration) have concluded
that there is not sufficiently conclusive evidence to support this claim.
 · 95

Responsa Tzitz Eliezer 11:59

I was asked by a number of people whether it is permit-
ted to take the pill that is called royal jelly or royal tonic,
which is amazingly effective for the weak and those that
lack strength in replenishing one’s strength after becoming
weak. Now in order to understand the question and the
halachic challenges that arise because of it, I will quote
here what Rav Tzvi Hersh Kahn wrote in HaMaor, Tishrei
5719 about the nature of this food and the relevant issues:
“When I was visiting last summer in the Holy Land, I saw
a booklet called “Health and Nature,” and I was astonished
to read how the new drink from bees called “royal jelly” is
being used in Israel for nutrition, and no one questioned
it, even though it is clear that it comes from the body
of the bees, and its content is not kosher.”
…The author in the booklet quotes all of the academics
and scientists that believe this royal jelly can impact upon
a person through regenerating his body and return his
youthful state. This food is becoming increasingly wide-
spread in the state of Israel under government supervi-
sion, and the rabbis there may not have realized this yet,
that this food is created in the stomach of the bee and is
expelled from its body, and it has no connection to the
kosher honey that is collected and placed in a special sac
for honey in its neck.
As is well-known, bees collect the sweet nectar that falls
on the flowers, and they bring it to their hive in a small
sac underneath their throat, and they then expel it. This
means that the bees fly around the flowers, they suck the
nectar of the flowers, ingest it into their body, and do not
excrete it from their body; rather, whatever was ingested
they expel without any change.
It is clear that this royal jelly is not a type of honey at all
not a juice from fruits or flowers, but rather a natural juice
that Hashem created in the stomach of the bees, and they
use it for their reproduction.” This is the end of the quote
of that great rav…
We learned from the sugya in the Gemara that the reason
for the permissibility of honey of bees is subject to dispute
between the tanna kamma and Rabbi Yaakov. The tanna
kamma holds that the reason is because it brings the honey
into its body, but it does not produce it in the body. This is
why it is permitted, since it does not produce it in the body.
96 · The Laws of Kashrut of Selected Ingredients and Non-Food Products Tzurba M’Rabanan

According to this, with regard to the royal jelly that

the bees produce, since they say that it is produced in
the body, and they secrete it from the body, it should
be forbidden, since we should follow the reasoning.
But according to Rabbi Yaakov and Rav Sheshet, who
follows him, who hold that this is not the reason for
the permission… rather it is a scriptural decree, that
you may eat what a non-kosher bird secretes, and
what is that? It is the honey of bees. If so, according
to them, the royal jelly should be permitted for the
same reason…
This is what emerges as the halacha from all that was …
explained in this booklet, that it is permitted, since
in my humble opinion, taking this pill of royal jelly
(which is mixed with honey, of which there is more than
thirty-seven times the amount, as well as a mixture of vita-
mins and proteins, etc.) for medicinal purposes, even
for one who is not dangerously ill, and even to strengthen
the weakened spine of the body… and to refresh and
rejuvenate oneself and return the strength of one’s youth.

The Responsa Ama Dabbar (written by Rav Amram Edre’i, recording questions asked to Rav Mordechai
Eliyahu) also addresses this issue and mentions the opinion of Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach as well,
who forbids this product unless one consumes less than a kezayit of it and the person is ill. It also mentions
that Rav Mordechai Eliyahu permitted it when mixed together with regular honey.

Responsa Ama Dabbar, Siman 18

The question concerning the Kashrut of the royal jelly
is known and has been discussed by many of the recent
poskim… I now found a responsum in the name of Rav
Shlomo Zalman Auerbach who responded to a chareidi
beekeeper who asked about this… He writes as follows:
“In my humble opinion, I do not see any reason to permit,
except if we say that the royal jelly is considered repul-
sive from the outset, and since when it begins to emerge
from the bee, it is inedible for a person, there is no prohi-
bition. Therefore, if one does not eat it by itself but with
a mixture of honey and the like, it seems that it should
be permitted, since he did not consider it significant.24

24. Rav Shlomo Zalman is referring to the halachic concept of achshevei, which is explained above in footnote 10.
 · 97

But what can I do, as I cannot decide whether this is in

fact considered inedible for people. For it is a well-known
principle that a sour liquid does not render an item suscep-
tible to impurity, as is explained in the Rambam (Tumat
Ochlin 1:2 and 4:14)… but even so the Rambam rules in
chapter 10 that secretions from the ear and nose are consid-
ered liquids and render things susceptible to impurity…
it seems that all of these that we mentioned are inherently
very repulsive even for one who has no idea that they were
emitted from the ear that … Therefore, to mix it ab initio
and to nullify it within the honey, it seems to me that it
is indeed forbidden, if we take the position that royal
jelly is not considered sour from the outset…” …
After the receipt of the previous response, the beekeeper
asked further… and he answered him: “For a sick person
who is not dangerously ill, it seems to me that it is indeed
permitted… and aside from that, it seems in my humble
opinion that since one always consumes less than the requi-
site measure, and it is a mixture, it is logical that it should
be more lenient.”25
And the Rishon L’tzion, Rav Mordechai Eliyahu also agreed
to be lenient about this and to permit the royal jelly mixed
together with the regular honey, since the royal jelly is
only present in a very small amount, and is nullified in the
honey, as mentioned.

The OU rules that royal jelly should be treated entirely as non-kosher based on the fact that it does not
fulfill the criteria for the first reason in the Gemara permitting honey (as discussed above). In addition,
even if one accepts the pasuk as the source for permitting honey, royal jelly has a different appearance
and texture and would not be included.

31. OU Kosher Staff, “Halachos of the Hive” 26

…Unlike honey, royal jelly is a glandular secretion and its color is a whitish yellow. Its consistency is cream-
ier and less viscous than honey. Its taste is bitter, although not offensively so…
Some have argued that royal jelly should be permitted because it is honey-like, and presumably included in
the Scriptural exception as well. But this argument is difficult to support, based on the two reasons cited by
the Gemara above. First of all, royal jelly is a glandular secretion, and therefore subject to the general rule
of that which comes from an impure (being) is also impure. Also, since it differs in appearance, taste, and
function from honey, it should not be included in the Scriptural exception granted to bees’ honey since royal
jelly can be considered a totally different food than honey.

25. This entire quote from Rav Shlomo Zalman is an excerpt from Responsa Minchat Shlomo 2:64, where he discusses the issues in greater detail
(though the back and forth exchange with the questioner is not explicitly noted there). [Addition of the English editors]
26. The entire article is available at www.oukosher.org/blog/consumer-kosher/halachos-of-the-hive. [Addition of the English editors]
98 · The Laws of Kashrut of Selected Ingredients and Non-Food Products Tzurba M’Rabanan

Others have contended that royal jelly is not considered fit for human consumption as it is “very bitter”
and therefore not subject to any prohibition. This contention, however, is erroneous, for while royal jelly is
indeed somewhat tart and bitter, it is by no means inedible even in its pure raw state. This was confirmed by
our gentile tester. Therefore people should be aware that royal jelly is not kosher, and it cannot be regarded
in the same light as honey.27

Beeswax

Although as we have seen royal jelly that comes from bees is subject to dispute, there is another product
that comes from bees that is permitted to eat according to most poskim, namely beeswax, which is used
in products such as candles, cosmetics, and coatings for fruits.28 Despite the fact that like royal jelly,
beeswax is a glandular secretion (as opposed to honey), it seems from many halachic sources that it was
assumed to be permitted. This is evident from the Mishna in Avoda Zara.

Mishna, Avoda Zara 2:7

And these are permitted for consumption: Milk that was milked
by a gentile and a Jew watched him [doing so]; and honey; and
davdevaniyyot, [which], despite the fact that they are dripping,
are not subject to [the halachot of] susceptibility [to ritual impu-
rity caused by contact with that] liquid…

According to the Rambam, the term davdevaniyyot refers to honeycombs, which contain beeswax.

Rambam, Commentary on the Mishna,

ibid.
Davdevaniyyot – The combs in which the honey is found.
And even though they drip liquid, we do not say that perhaps
[the gentile] poured wine on it. And that moisture does not
render it susceptible to impurity, even though honey is one of
the seven liquids that does render susceptible to impurity… since
it is then considered a solid and not a liquid, until one melts it
and removes the honey.

The Gemara in Shabbat also refers to beeswax and states that the term wax [sha’ava] is generally a
reference to beeswax.

27. See also the ou Halacha Yomis on this topic at www.outorah.org/p/45788, where Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach’s teshuva is cited as being
an important consideration for the stringent ruling, which was given by Rav Hershel Schachter. The Star-K also rules that royal jelly should
be treated as non-kosher for similar reasons, as explained in articles by Rav Dovid Heber, “Do Bee Don’t Bee – A Halachic Guide to Honey
and Bee Derivative,” available at www.star-k.org/articles/kashrus-kurrents/624/do-bee-dont-bee [Addition of the English editors]
28. For a listing of some other products derived from bees and their Kashrut status, such as “propolis” and “bee bread,” see the article by
Rav Dovid Heber referenced in the previous footnote as well as “The Kashrus and Halachos of Honey,” by the Kof-K, available at
tinyurl.com/tz6kofkhoney. [Addition of the English editors]
 · 99

Masechet Shabbat 20b

Wax is the by-product of honey.

The Bedikat HaMazon K’halacha also writes that many poskim have permitted eating beeswax.

Bedikat HaMazon K’halacha Vol. 1,

7:13
Honey produced by bees is permitted for consumption.
And the custom is to be lenient to eat beeswax as well.
Footnote 27
The wax mentioned by Chazal appears to be beeswax…
despite the fact that according to scientists, wax is produced
inside the bees, it seems that the poskim agree that the
wax is permitted, and there are a number of places where
this is evident:
1. Since the Torah permitted the consumption of honey,
despite it being stored in honeycomb for an extended
period of time, the honey is considered “soaked” in the
wax, and something soaked in another is considered as if
it were cooked in it [kavush k’mevushal].29 But if the wax is
forbidden, the honey would also need to be forbidden…
and since the Torah permits the honey, it is clear that
the wax is also permitted… …
2. The Yereim and the Semag discuss boiling the honey with
the bees inside, [and conclude] that there is no concern
that it is forbidden, since we hold that notein ta’am lifgam is
permitted. And that is the ruling in the Shulchan Aruch…
and the Mishna Berura 158:14 discusses boiling the honey
to separate it from the wax and is not concerned with heat-
ing up the honey with the wax. It seems from all this that
they held that the wax was permitted… …
5. One may add one more reason to permit… since it
has no independent taste (all of its taste comes from the
honey mixed in)… and Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach
ruled practically that beeswax is entirely permitted
without any question, and that is the common practice.
And the reason is that the wax is not a type of food, and
no one eats it within food, and it is like dirt… and Rav
Yosef Shalom Eliashiv and Rav Shmuel Vozner both
agreed that it is permitted.30

29. This concept was discussed in Volume 4 in the shiur titled “Halachic Principles for Keeping a Kosher Kitchen.” [Addition of the English editors]
30. Rav Yisroel Belsky also considered beeswax to be kosher for similar reasons; see www.outorah.org/p/45789. [Addition of the English editors]