LEV354 (Continued from [[LEV112]] Leviticus 11:40 carcass SACTAB 69-71). We learn in the third chapter of Leviticus about the zevach sh’lamim, the “whole offering, which, Baruch Levine notes in The JPS Torah Commentary, is described in 1 Samuel 9 as a meal shared by priests and laypeople. This is the origin of the idea that every meal is like a sacrifice to God, a korban, a word stemming from the Hebrew kareiv, that which brings us near to God. With the Temple destroyed, our table has become the altar, and the food we consume on it should assist our march to holiness. What we would not offer on the Temple altar, the Torah tells us, we should not offer on our dining room table. Confronting the mitzvot of eating, Reform Jews cannot be content to look only at the mitzvot considered part of dietary practice in the past. We need to look at all the things that Torah says about eating. Reform Judaism has long held that new times reveal new aspects of God's will--the Pittsburgh Principles defined Torah as “God's ongoing revelation to our people and the record of our people's ongoing relationship with God.” If tzaar baalei chayim--compassion toward animals, is a value--is indeed, one of the seven mitzvot commanded to all human beings (See B’reishit Rabbah 16:6)--we need to investigate the methods by which animals are slaughtered and be assured that our meat comes from the most humane possible practices of slaughter. When we know that some animals are fed and penned in destructive ways, like geese for pate de foie gras and calves for veal, we should deal with them the same way that Torah deals with pork and shellfish. When the Torah prohibits us from participating in oshek, the oppression of laborers (Leviticus 19:13), I believe it means we need to refrain from eating the foods produced by oppressive labor--like fruits or vegetables sold under labels of growers who refuse to offer their workers minimum wage and decent conditions in the fields and factories, and who insist upon spraying their products with pesticides that harm workers and consumers. The value of bal tashchit, the avoidance of practices destructive of nature (based on Deuteronomy 20:19-20), should lead us to build aspects of conservation into our observance as well. (By Richard N. Levy, “KASHRUT: A New Freedom for Reform Jews”)