Interesting encounter - The Jewish Standard

We were visited last week by a very engaged and engaging chasidic couple. They brought their own wine, glasses, and home-made ruggelach, which was to be expected. What I did not expect was that they would not eat our fruit and our OU-certified oatmeal-raisin cookies.

Can you guess why not?

The fruit – grapes, bananas, and navel oranges – did not have seeds, and they were not sure if the raisins in the cookies came from grapes that had seeds. They cited a verse from Genesis in explanation: “And God said: ‘Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed–to you it shall be for food.” Thus, since God did not mention seedless fruit, they believe it is prohibited.

I had never heard of this prohibition. Has anyone else?

RKB

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