[Avodah] Chalav Yisrael: Required or recommended

[Akiva Miller]

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R' Zev Sero wrote:

> The Chasam Sofer says that on the contrary, davka in our
> circumstances Chazal decreed an issur on chaleiv nochri. The
> Radbaz/Pri Chodosh says this is a myth; there never was any
> such decree.  RMF emphatically holds like the CS.

and R' Micha Berger responded:

> Yes, but what's the nafqa mina? I STILL don't get what you're
> driving at.

Given that I have not learned any of these sources inside, perhaps I
should stay out of the discussion. But I would like to give a case
which might help illuminate the issues: eggs.

As I understand it, eggs have a great deal in common with milk: Eggs
are kosher if and only if the source animal was kosher, and this is
impossible to determine simply by looking at it. And yet, I never hear
of anyone nowadays who insists on a mashgiach to certify that his eggs
are from a kosher bird.

I'm just guessing, but perhaps the gezera on milk was never on "milk"
to begin with. Maybe it was a general law about foods where the
kashrus problems had risen to a certain level, and tamei eggs were
simply never sold on a level to warrant that gezera. If so, perhaps
there are poskim who rule that "USDA milk is in the egg category".

Akiva Miller