Milk Of Israel

Milk of Israel is a film project and installation situated within the dairy farming community of Kanturk, Co. Cork, Ireland, examining an unconventional convergence of rural Irish dairy labour, ancient Orthodox Jewish religious practice and global food systems. The work documents the production of Chalav Yisroel (Super Kosher milk), a process requiring continuous supervision by an observant Jew to ensure compliance with Jewish dietary laws outlined in the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy.

Between 2005 and 2010, North Cork Co-Operative Creameries produced Super Kosher rennet casein for approximately three weeks each year for Yavney Food Industries in Israel. At the time, it was the only creamery in Europe engaged in this practice, enabled by its small-scale operation and overseen by visiting Orthodox Rabbi under the authority of Beth Din Zadek in Jerusalem. This niche economic exchange produced a complex cultural encounter, where religious ritual, agricultural labour, and industrial production quietly coexisted within an Irish rural context.

The project developed through extended observation, dialogue, and contextual research, with filmmaking operating as a form of situated witnessing rather than explanation or representation. Two distinct filming approaches were employed, each shaped by attentiveness to the protocols, hierarchies, and ethical conditions of the situation. Inside the creamery, the camera remained fixed and distant, recording long sequences of production under rabbinical supervision. Presented as a triptych of wall-mounted monitors, this material echoed the logics of industrial surveillance and the layered systems of oversight governing the process.

In contrast, a second film followed Yacov Abenson, an Orthodox Jewish supervisor from Manchester, as he conducted unannounced inspections of dairy farms supplying the creamery. Filmed handheld and in close proximity, this work emphasised movement, conversation, and embodied presence. Shown as a large-scale projection, it drew viewers into the temporal experience of travel, inspection, and relational exchange.

Together, these two modes of filming articulate a concern with proximity and distance, visibility and authority, and the ethics of observation. Rather than intervening or directing participation, the work aligns itself with existing rhythms and practices, attending to how meaning is produced through everyday actions, rituals, and exchanges.

A parallel text by Maria Tanner accompanied the work, developed in dialogue with the project.

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