Hey all so before I get started I just wanted to let you know that I’m sorry I’ve been so inactive. I intend to start putting out more content as I am able to. On that note:

“We learned in the mishna: With regard to carrying out the locust called tzipporet keramim, whether dead or alive, the measure for liability is any amount. This is because one stores them for medicinal purposes or as a talisman, which renders even one locust significant. The Gemara asks: What is tzipporet keramim? Rav said: It is the locust called palya biari. Abaye said: And it can be found in a palm tree that has only one vine, and it is used as a talisman for wisdom. One eats its right half, and casts its left half into a copper tube, and seals it with sixty seals, and hangs it on his left arm. And the mnemonic reminding you which half to eat and which half to hang on the arm is the verse: “A wise heart to his right and a foolish heart to his left” (Ecclesiastes 10:2). And one then grows wise as much as he wants, and studies as much as he wants, and then eats the other half, as if he does not do so, his learning will be forgotten.”

So yeah, the rabbis were just out there eating locust they found in palm trees. I had to research this, but yes, apparently there are a couple species of grasshoppers which are Kosher. Apparently this one had some mystical properties