what is the story with the turkey. somone in our shiur this morning said that the turkey we have today is not the same as it was in europe years ago. the rabbis only gave us the ok to eat recently and that there are still some who will not eat th turkey. can yougive and explionaiton to this. thank you.
Below is what we wrote on the topic of the turkey in our Insights to the Daf. Please note the reference to Rabbi Zivotofsky's article on the same topic, which we recommend.
5) HALACHACH: THE TURKEY
OPINIONS: Rebbi Yitzchak states that a bird with all of the signs of a Kosher bird may be eaten as long as there is a Mesorah (tradition) that it is Kosher. A hunter, though, is believed to say that a bird is Kosher when he says that he has such a tradition from his teacher (the Gemara concludes that this refers to his hunting teacher, who was a Chacham, and not to his Torah teacher).
RASHI (DH Chazyuha) rules that we may eat a bird only when we have a tradition that it is Kosher. Although the SHULCHAN ARUCH (YD 82:3) rules that under certain circumstances a bird that has three signs of a Kosher bird can be permitted without a tradition (see Insights to Chulin 62:1), the REMA argues and rules that our practice is to follow the opinion that a tradition is absolutely necessary for any bird to be eaten, and one should not change this custom.
It follows that there is considerable discussion regarding whether or not we may eat certain birds that have the signs of a Kosher bird, but for which we have no Mesorah that they are Kosher. The most well-known question involves the turkey.
(a) The DARCHEI TESHUVAH (82:26) quotes the NACHAL ESHKOL who questions the widespread practice of eating turkey. After noting that these birds look very different from chickens, he says that he does not know how these birds are permitted to be eaten. Under the assumption that their country of origin was India (when the early explorers landed on the American continent, they thought they had arrived at India), he says that even if someone in India had a Mesorah, the Shulchan Aruch (YD 82:5) clearly rules like the opinion of the RASHBA that a country which does not have a Mesorah cannot rely on one that does.
The Darchei Teshuvah then quotes the SHO'EL U'MESHIV who knew that the turkey's country of origin was America and says that it is impossible to have a tradition that turkey is Kosher (since no Jews lived in America until three thousand years after the Torah was given). He concludes that, nevertheless, it seems that the custom to eat turkey became so widespread because the earlier generations did not follow the Rema's stringency. We, however, who have accepted the Rema's opinion, cannot eat turkey. This is also the opinion of the MELAMED L'HO'IL (YD 2:15).
(b) However, the NETZIV in MESHIV DAVAR (YD 22) says that eating turkey *today* does not contradict the opinion of the Rema. The Rema was discussing whether or not we should permit a bird, in the first place, to be eaten when we have no tradition that it is Kosher. Once it has already become the custom to eat turkey -- even though it is unclear how the custom developed -- we should not rule that it is forbidden and say that our ancestors were eating a forbidden food. Only when we can prove that it is *not* Kosher should we then refrain from eating turkey.
In a similar vein, the Darchei Teshuvah quotes the ARUGAS HA'BOSEM who says that the Rema himself said only that a tradition is required if it is in the realm of possibility that the bird is Dores. Since the turkey has been among us for many years and we see that it definitely is not Dores, even the Rema would agree that a tradition is not required. The Arugas ha'Bosem continues and says that we find that everyone eats turkey. This is apparent in the many letters written by the Poskim in response to specific questions that arose regarding the state of Kashrus of individual turkeys. The Arugas ha'Bosem writes that "we have heard of only one family in Russia that does not eat turkey, and if one marries into that family, then that person is not allowed to feed turkey to his or her children."
(The SICHAS CHULIN (end of note 60:27) proposes an innovative, although highly unlikely, explanation for how the custom to eat turkey developed. For a comprehensive overview in English of the Halachic literature, see Rabbi Ari Z. Zivotofsky's article, "Is Turkey Kosher?" at http://www.kashrut.com/articles/turk_part5/ .) (Y. Montrose)