LEV98 To Promote Human Hygiene. The suggestion that one rationale for kashrut is to promote human health and hygiene has caused much debate over the centuries. Rambam [Maimonides, Guide, 3:48. “Among all those forbidden to us, only pork and fat may be imagined not to be harmful. But this is not so, for pork is more humid than his proper and contains much superfluous matter. ... The fat of the intestines [cheilev], too, makes us full, spoils the digestion, and produces cold and thick blood.”], Rashbam [Commentary to Leviticus 11:3 “All the caddie, creatures, fowl and fish ... that the Holy One of Blessing has forbidden to Israel are vile. They damage and overheat the whole body. Therefore they are termed unclean. Even expert doctors will so attest.”] and Ramban [e.g., Commentary to Leviticus 11:9, The fish without fins and scales live in lower waters, breed in musty swamps, and can be injurious to health.] all hold it to be true, but others, like Abarbanel [Sh’mini; key word: Vay’debeir Adonai el Moshe] and the author of Akeidat Yitzchak [Isaac b. Moses Aama, Sh’mini, Shaar Shishim (chap. 60). He suggests instead that they have a deleterious effect on our intellectual powers and ethical sensibilities] vociferously reject the idea. Torah is more than a minor medical treatise. Why are there plenty of healthy pork eaters? Why doesn't Torah teach about poisonous plants? Why does it use the language of abomination and detestation instead of unhealthy or hard to digest? The profundity of its purpose, they argue, is greater than the promotion of human hygiene. Nevertheless, it remains one of the more commonly assumed bases for the dietary laws. A translation of these principles to modern times requires little imagination. New proclamations about the positive and negative effects of various foods are issued every day. And following the dictates of Torah, we are commanded to choose life. This is keeping kosher. While sorting out the surfeit of information may be challenging, we can assert as a movement [i.e., the Reform movement-AJL] that an element of kashrut is the command to eat healthfully. (By Rachel S. Mikva, “ADVENTURES IN EATING: An Emerging Model for Kashrut”)