The Mystical Kefir: A Journey into Gut Health

We’ve wrapped up dinner and stepped into the night. Nighttime is the best time for probiotics and prebiotics. In upcoming articles, with Hashem’s help, we will delve deeper into the topic.

First, let’s talk about kefir. Some of you might know it as the “yoga mushroom” or the Tibetan fungus — it goes by many names.

Its origin goes back hundreds, perhaps even a thousand years. This bacterium/fungus culture was first discovered in the gut sac of a goat, and once its medicinal qualities became known, it was propagated and passed from person to person, and from generation to generation.

I first heard about kefir from a friend’s husband.

For years, he suffered from severe migraines and recurring throat infections. The person who gave him the kefir told him it would change his life. And indeed, for four years he felt fantastic — no migraines, no throat infections. About a year ago, when the migraines began to return, he started taking kefir again, and once more, they disappeared.

Interestingly, the friend's mother remembered from her childhood in a small Georgian village that whenever someone was unwell — with no doctors or medicine nearby — an aunt would give the child kefir, and they would recover.

So how does it work?
Say hello to flora.

Our bodies house about 100 trillion friendly bacteria — roughly ten times more than the number of cells in the human body. This assembly of bacteria, weighing about a kilogram and a half, is known as our intestinal flora (though not all of them reside exclusively in the intestines).

In recent years, bacterial flora has been studied extensively by researchers and scientists — with astounding results.

It turns out that this flora affects our immune system, hormones, cravings, weight, and even our mood.

So if I really crave something sweet… it’s not necessarily me — it’s the flora.

Healthy flora, healthy body.
But when the flora isn’t healthy? We feel tired, frequently sick, possibly overweight despite a healthy diet and exercise. Some people experience mood swings, depression, or even severe autoimmune diseases like Crohn’s and colitis.

I browsed the internet and stumbled upon fascinating articles and videos. Numerous health websites wrote about it, and I even found a video about a new trend in Caesarea — kefir parties instead of Botox parties for anti-aging treatments. On Shmuel Zeidel’s site (yes, the founder of “Coordinated Reflexology”), there is a story about a Polish professor who recovered from liver cancer thanks to the Tibetan mushroom.

It all sounded too good to be true — almost surreal. And of course, you can’t believe everything online. I’ve seen far too many claims, even on the news, that simply do not match reality.

So I dusted off my English, shook off the cobwebs, and went into the academic database PUBMED. This site is considered reliable and publishes scientific studies. I searched for “Tibetan milk mushroom” and “kefir,” and then browsed university sites to learn more from the wisdom of the nations about this fungus.

I was amazed by the sheer number of articles and studies. One after another, microbiologists, pharmacologists, doctors — all researching kefir — and the findings were astonishing:

They claim that yogurt made from kefir contains numerous probiotic strains (more than any capsule you’ll take), as well as enzymes, amino acids, vitamins, and minerals — calcium, magnesium, B vitamins including B12, vitamin K, vitamin A, vitamin D, antioxidants, and more.

According to these researchers, thanks to its enormous nutritional value, kefir may help with:

• Skin issues

• Digestive problems

• Respiratory conditions

• Obesity

• Stress

• Lactose intolerance

• Autoimmune diseases

• Joint diseases

• Internal inflammations

Furthermore, kefir is believed to:

• Strengthen the immune system

• Slow aging (anti-aging)

• Act as an antibiotic against harmful bacteria

• Support friendly bacteria (probiotic)

• Act as an antifungal

• Lower cholesterol

• Balance blood sugar

• Detoxify the body

So how much does this miracle cost?

You don’t buy kefir — you receive it from someone who has it.

A small teaspoon of the culture, beige-white in color, is given, and you begin growing it like a tiny pet — feeding and rinsing it every day.

Once the culture grows to the size of a small cauliflower and becomes milk-white, you can pass it on to others who need it and promise to care for it well.

I decided I wanted some too, but I had a kashrut concern. If it originated in goat intestines, surely it was non-kosher. And after being passed from person to person until it reached the Holy Land — who knew what kind of milk it had been fed?

I consulted rabbi after rabbi until I reached Rabbi Shlomo Levy, shlita, head of the Torah core and the hesder yeshiva in Rishon LeZion. The Rabbi researched the issue thoroughly and returned with a response a few weeks later.

In our conversation, he noted that kefir functions on the same principle as sourdough — and he was absolutely right.

For those unfamiliar, sourdough is a living culture of spores, grown at home and passed down through generations. When baking bread or pastries, a small amount is added instead of yeast.

A few years ago, a widely publicized divorce case took place in Italy. The husband, a famous chef, was sued. The reason? When a fire broke out in their home, instead of running upstairs to save their two sleeping children, he rushed to the kitchen to rescue his 200-year-old sourdough.

Returning to the Rabbi’s explanation: since kefir has been fed numerous rounds of chalav Yisrael, it is considered kosher and permissible without concern — although during Passover, it is preferable to store it aside in the refrigerator and not use it. (I add that everyone should consult their own Rabbi.)

I was thrilled — and now I am the proud owner of this little pet called Kefir.

Since I still don’t have enough personal experience or knowledge about its efficacy, I would love for those who are familiar with kefir or have used it to share their experiences with me and our readers in the comments below.

If there is enough interest, then with Hashem’s help, in the next article I will compile readers’ feedback and include detailed instructions — with pictures and/or video — on how to grow kefir at home.

Until then, lots of health,
Chen Tovi