Each day we ask Hash-m to cure us or our loved ones from illness ("Refa'ainu Hash-m V'neirafeh"). We also beseech Him to protect us from the various causes of illness, such as those from bacterial infections, rough weather conditions, poverty, intemperance of food and drink, malfunctioning of a part of our body or of our mind. Yet, we ourselves are obligated to make our own efforts to avoid dangers such as food spoilage or inappropriate safety precautions during food preparation.

People are tempted at times to take dangerous shortcuts in their kitchen which may be tantamount, Heaven forbid, to serving poisonous foods to the family. The following three are but a few examples of rabbinic wisdom in dealing with food preparation.

• The Talmud (Bava Metzia 29b) teaches that one should not drink warm water without first boiling it.

• It is a mitzva to ensure that all eggs, meat and poultry are thoroughly cooked in order to kill any salmonella bacteria that may possibly be present.

• Proper food handling begins with hand washing. The Mishnah Berurah (4:14) taught that one should be careful not to touch any food without first washing his hands. If the food was touched, it should be rinsed three times.

We have to learn and remind ourselves of the basic rules of Torah hygiene and to be careful that we do not become sloppy or lazy in our kitchen habits.

The Torah instructs us to guard our health and life (Devarim 4:9, 15) and as the Talmud explains (Berachos 32b), this refers to our physical safety.

Rabbi Yisroel Salanter has said that this mitzva to protect one's health is, in a sense, the greatest mitzva of the Torah because being healthy enables one to fulfill all of the other mitzvos.

When shopping, we are advised to buy the cold or frozen items last and to get them home in time to be refrigerated promptly. Food should not be left out when brought home or cooked more than two hours before refrigeration. Leftovers from a meal should be refrigerated promptly.

The Raavad said that one should not say, "Let me eat it; I can't throw it out. It is bal tashchis." If the food is spoiled, then ingesting it would be destructive to his body ("bal tashchis d'gufo"), much worse than any waste of food might be.

Food that was inadvertently left out must be discarded even if it does not smell spoiled, for someone still might become ill. "When in doubt, throw it out."

As kosher consumers, it is our duty to realize that our kitchens are actually frontiers of mitzvah opportunities, including making sure that the food we share is both kosher and healthy.