EXOD741 Dietary Laws. A further illustration of the application of the sacred to Jewish life is afforded by the dietary laws. While they have exerted beneficial effects upon the health of the Jewish people, their hygienic value is but incidental. Their primary aim is to train the Jews in holiness. Derived from ancient tabus and intended at first for the priests (Ezek. 4:14; 44:31), they were subsequently extended to all Israel as the priest people of God (this verse, Deut. 14:21; 12:13-27). Their purpose is summarized in Leviticus 20:26: "And ye shall be holy unto Me; for I the Lord am holy, and have set you apart from the peoples, that ye shall be Mine." The Pharisees carried the rules of priestly purity from the Temple into the home (with ablutions before meals and with benedictions), thus turning it into a sanctuary and the table into an altar. They took over the temple mode of slaughtering and inspecting the sacrificial animals for the preparation of their meat (Shehitah and Bedikah). [K. Kohler, art. Pharisees, Jew. Enc. IX, p. 662]. The dietary laws were invested with the absoluteness of Divine commands. They were to be observed not because of personal taste, but as an expression of obedience to God. In the words of the Sifra to Lev. 20:26, "Say not, 'I do not like swine's flesh'; but rather 'I do like it, but abstain from eating it in accordance with the decree of my Father in heaven.'"