Anonymous wrote:I was working for a kosher family before, not as a live-in but still preparing meals and stuff for the kids. Since the parents weren't there I didn't really pay attention or care to stick to their guidelines. They had separate things labeled for different uses but say if I washed a fork or whatever I would just put it back wherever was closest. For the future, if I ever interview with a kosher family with older kids that can talk I wouldn't take the job, it's just not worth the hassle.

That is pretty crappy.

Anonymous wrote:I was working for a kosher family before, not as a live-in but still preparing meals and stuff for the kids. Since the parents weren't there I didn't really pay attention or care to stick to their guidelines. They had separate things labeled for different uses but say if I washed a fork or whatever I would just put it back wherever was closest. For the future, if I ever interview with a kosher family with older kids that can talk I wouldn't take the job, it's just not worth the hassle.

Troll!

Anonymous wrote:I was working for a kosher family before, not as a live-in but still preparing meals and stuff for the kids. Since the parents weren't there I didn't really pay attention or care to stick to their guidelines. They had separate things labeled for different uses but say if I washed a fork or whatever I would just put it back wherever was closest. For the future, if I ever interview with a kosher family with older kids that can talk I wouldn't take the job, it's just not worth the hassle.

You sound like a peach. It's not really that complicated, and I'm sure the parents figured it out since the meat and dairy utensils/forks LOOK DIFFERENT.

I was working for a kosher family before, not as a live-in but still preparing meals and stuff for the kids. Since the parents weren't there I didn't really pay attention or care to stick to their guidelines. They had separate things labeled for different uses but say if I washed a fork or whatever I would just put it back wherever was closest. For the future, if I ever interview with a kosher family with older kids that can talk I wouldn't take the job, it's just not worth the hassle.

You should ask them to give you a primer on how they keep kosher. Everyone has different levels of observance. I know one family with different dobie pads for milk and meat. Etc.

I would assume that they want you to keep kosher in their home and they'll just need to teach you/label what dishes/cooking, etc. is for what. The big thing is not to mix dairy and meat (i.e. no cheese burger) and they don't eat pork (i.e. no pork chops or bacon). I can't imagine they care what you do outside of the house as long as you keep the kids kosher (in less they only do it in their house). I would not want to live (I am Jewish) with an extremely observant family but a mid-level should be fine. Just don't be surprised that they don't celebrate Christmas (no tree) or other holidays like Easter (no egg dying).

12:04 again. I love the above link. Especially the discussion of variations in observance. Everyone thinks their version is correct and everyone else is either a fanatic or heretic. That's DCUM in a nutshell!

If they are buying food and are willing to teach you, it should be fine.

http://www.jewfaq.org/kashrut.htm

Just google - plenty of helpful sites but it depends on how observant they are.

I just ate out except when I ate their stuff on-the-job.

I've worked for A Jewish family who kept kosher.
It was a giant headache for me and took a lot of time to plan my meals. I was constantly worried about making a mistake.

Thanks to the MB poster! That is extremely helpful!!!!


To the other poster they will be paying for my food. Just don't want to make any mistakes bringing the wrong thing into the house

Will they be purchasing your food? I wouldn't want to have to deal with the headache of worrying if my food in what would be my home will be allowed.

Jewish MB here.

There is a huge variety in how different Jews observe Kashrut. To outline the strictist, most "by the book" form, you will need to worry about avoiding nonKosher or contaminated with nonKosher foods and avoiding mixing milk and meat.

So, first, what is Kosher? - Nonprocessed fruits and vegetables are always Kosher (extremely strict households will count things such as drying raisins as processing, They will also check fruits and vegetables carefully insects - which are meat) Certain foods, such as shellfish and pork are never Kosher. Anything inbetween - all meat, dairy, and processed items must be labelled as Kosher to insure they have been made according to Kosher law and do not contain any nonKosher ingrediant.

As far as milk and meat - certain foods are dairy (usually obvious - but not always. Much margarine is dairy because it contains small amounts of milk) - certain foods are meat (again, normally obvious) and other foods are "parve" or neutral. You have to not only separate the eating of such foods, anything used to prepare or serve these foods are "contaminated" for lack of a better work, with milk or meat and must be kept separate. So, two different sets of dishes, silverware, etc.

Personally, we keep Kosher, but we are vegetarian. Which simplifies things immensely.

THere is also the issue that many Jews are not as strict as this. They may allow guests to eat non Kosher foods. They may avoid mixing milk and meat but not worry about utensils. A common thing is to not worry about the strict labels on Kosher foods but just go by the ingrediants. Also, some folks keep a Kosher home, but then eat whatever they like outside the home.

Hope this is helpful. In practice, its both much simpler (as you get used to it) and much more complex (there is a huge variety of Kosher labels, for example, and different Jews accept different one. THere are also tons of little rules, such as blood spots in eggs making them nonKosher)

I'm Jewish and it's not hard. Meat and dairy stay separate. Separate dishes, separate sinks, separate counters. No shellfish in the house ever.

Print out all the symbols for "kosher" so when you buy food you can check to see if you can bring it into their house.

That's pretty much it.

I have the potential to be a live in for a Jewish household. They keep a kosher household. Has anyone done this? Is it hard to learn the rules?