Chadash

Yoshon is a Hebrew word meaning old. In the context of Judaism, Yoshon refers to a concept within Kashrut (the Jewish dietary regulations), based on a requirement in the Torah of to not eating from the crops of certain grains that are too new to be harvestable before the Omer offering from the new harvest was brought to the Temple on the second day of Passover, marking the beginning of Sefirat Ha'omer. In classical rabbinical literature, this requirement was restricted, becoming applicable only to the five classical grains of Judaism - wheat, barley, oats, spelt, and rye; any of these grains that are too young to pass the requirement, and products made from them, are referred to in Judaism as Chodosh, meaning new.

Since there is no Omer offering in post-Temple times, the second day of Passover itself marks the end of the prohibition against eating from the new grains. Since the destruction of the second temple in 70AD, the Omer sacrifice has not been brought, and observance of this rule has in great measure lapsed. The manner in which various foods has historically been available has caused Jewish populations to risk starvation, if they were to pursue stringent complience with Kashrut; combined with at least one major opinion about yoshon, which further restricts it to only concern grains grown within the lands of the former Kingdoms of Israel and of Judah, this has caused the observation of the yoshon regulation to be relatively limited until very recently (at least in the Ashkenazic community).

In modern times, particularly in Developed Nations, food is much more readily available than it historically had been, and grain is in sufficient abundance that Orthodox Jews have become more interested in following yoshon requirements. Modern packaging practices, which in some nations involve the stamping of production dates on every package, often allow individuals to readily indicate whether food is definitely yoshon; packaging organisations sometimes add Kashrut information to the packaging, and sometimes include in this information whether the product is known to be yoshon.

References

• Joseph Herman, A Guide To Chodosh

Footnotes

External Links

• An article about the Orthodox Union's policy regarding Yoshon
• An article from the Star-K's about Yoshon
• Another article from the Star-K
• An article by Rabbi Howard Jachter about Yoshon
• Some info from the Chicago Rabbinical Council
• An in depth article