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LEVITICUS — 11:40 carcass

LEV112 I don't know whether I believe that God doesn't want us to eat animals--the Torah seems to support both sides of that argument. Before the Flood, God does not indicate any purpose for animals in the scheme of the Creation. In Genesis 1, only birds and sea creatures and human beings are blessed. In Leviticus 11:40, the Torah makes it clear that there is no intrinsic value to an animal dying a natural death. Such a creature is called n’veilah, and we are forbidden to eat it. In the description of the cap High Priest’s Yom Kippur ritual (Leviticus 16), the fortunate animal is not the goat that is kept alive, doomed to wander sin-laden through the wilds of Azazel, but the one whose death comes in a korban, as part of a ritual sacrifice. All animals, like all humans, must die. The question is, does an animal's death fulfill a purpose? The Torah seems to say--whether you agree with this reasoning or not--that the animal’s purpose is to nurture bigger animals and human beings. Human beings, after all, also nurture the earth when we die and are buried. Although God seems to see nurturing other creatures as one of the purposes for the existence of animals, God clearly wants human beings to think about the lives they are taking. Consider the long lists of creatures permitted and forbidden, the near-death struggle in Parashat Vayishlach from which Jacob emerges wounded in his loins, the source of the prohibition against sirloin and tenderloin and porterhouse. Consider the statement in Genesis 9:4 that blood represents the life that belongs to God and not to us, and the Rabbis’ tortured extensions of the simple command to avoid boiling a kid in its mother's milk. Taking your animal’s life may be permitted, but we are to empathize with the animal’s pain, with tzaar baalei chayim. If the ideal is the reinstatement of the Edenic condition, then to confront the realities of consuming animals with every meal we buy, prepare, and consume not only builds our Jewish identities, but also makes us aware many times each day of God’s mitzvot--and reminds us of our failure to create societies free from violence and lustful appetite. The encounter with the realities of taking the lives of living creatures reminds us of our own creatureliness as human beings, even as the dietary section in Deuteronomy 14:21 reminds us that our destiny is to be an am kadosh, a holy people to Adonai our God. We are creatures, whom God commanded to consume other creatures to live--but we can also be holy, striving to climb out of creatureliness into godliness. It is a struggle: Jacob’s frail body versus the spirit; k’doshim tihyu, Leviticus 19:2 tells us--we are becoming holy; we have not yet reached the goal. (By Richard N. Levy, “KASHRUT: A New Freedom for Reform Jews”) (Continued at [[LEV354]] Leviticus 19:13 defraud SACTAB 71-2).

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LEVITICUS — 11:43 abhorrent

LEV113 [This verse] We have been here admonished not to eat of those things that are repugnant to the soul. (For example,] not to eat fish or grasshoppers (I.e. that are kosher. See Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De'ah 83:1, 85:1.) unless they are dead, and not to drink from the horn that is used by blood-letters. One who restrain his bowel movements also transgresses "Do not make yourself abhorrent."

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LEVITICUS — 11:43 abominate

LEV114 (Continued from [[NUM43]] Numbers 6:11 atonement TZADIK 35). The proper course for a man to follow is to be clean in all of his affairs, for cleanliness is the road to good deeds. What shall he do? Let him wear plain clothing--neither expensive, gaudy attire that everyone stares at nor paupers' clothes that shame the wearer--but plain, pleasant, clean garments, the poor man according to his state and the rich man according to his. And it is forbidden to wear stained or soiled garments. They should not be torn, and they should not be stylized in the manner of the haughty. His food, too, should be clean. He should not eat royal fare, but plain food and plain drink, as he can afford. He should not drink or eat from ugly vessels, lest he transgress [this verse]: "Do not abominate yourselves"--but all should be done with cleanliness. His table and his bed, too, should be clean, and all of his affairs should be clean. [Continued at [[GEN704]] Genesis 9:6 image TZADIK 37]

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LEVITICUS — 11:43 defiled

LEV115 The third sin that relates to desire (in order of priority after theft and promiscuity) is that of prohibited foods. These include things that are ritually unclean or an admixture of this kind, combinations of meat and milk, prohibited animal fats, blood, food cooked by non-Jews or with utensils of non-Jews, the wine that they use for libations, and their wine in general. Cleansing oneself of all of these areas requires great meticulousness and firmness, in order to [deal with] the instinctive lust for good food and the monetary losses incurred as a result of the prohibitions of admixtures and the like. [Additionally] their web of details is complex, as reflected in their numerous laws, which are [widely] known and clearly defined in the works of the halachic authorities. Furthermore, one who is lenient where they have directed him to be stringent is only destroying his own soul. It says in the Sifra (Shemini 12:3): "'And do not make yourself impure with them [for then] you will be [further] defiled through them' [this verse] means that if you do file yourselves through them [by transgressing them] you will ultimately be defiled by them!" This is telling us that prohibited foods literally infuse the heart and soul of an individual with defilement to such an extent that the sanctity of the Shechinah departs and distances itself from him. This is also what they said in the Talmud (Yoma 39a): "'You will be [further] defiled by them' means that you should not read this as: 'You will be defiled' (v'nitmaytem) but rather as 'You will become stupefied' (v'nitamtem). The sin stupefies the heart of man, for the true wisdom and the faculty of intelligence that the Holy One Blessed be He imparts to the pious will depart from him, as it states (Mishlei 2:6): "For the Eternal imparts wisdom." Such a person remains bestial and corporeal, immersed in the coarseness of this world. In this regard prohibited foods involve a more serious consequence than all other prohibitions, since they are actually absorbed by a person's body, becoming a part of his flesh.

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LEVITICUS — 11:44 holy

LEV118 (Continued from [[GEN1543]] Genesis 43:32 abhorrent SACTAB 439-440). Biblical law identifies the purpose of kashrut with k’dushah (holiness). As we find at the end of the list of animals that are permitted and prohibited, “You shall sanctify yourself and be holy” (Leviticus 11:44). These eating practices identified those who observed them as belonging to the covenant community that had set itself apart from other communities to serve God. Kashrut’s goal, k’dushah (holiness) is to connect the Jew to God, to primary values, and to the Jewish people, but it is also to make the Jew distinct from his/her neighbors. While this is still the standard rationale for observing kashrut, it was not always a sufficient reason for all thinkers. For example, Maimonides, in Guide of the Perplexed (3:48), suggests that the main reason for kashrut is healthy eating. Modern Jews are still trying to shake the misconception that abstaining from pork is solely to avoid trichinosis. The concept of k’dushah as separation is most clear with respect to Rabbinic kashrut, with its elaborate regulations such as separate meat and dairy dishes and utensils, requiring that foods be certified as kasher by competent authorities, and even requiring the inspection of lettuce to ensure that there are no insects that might be consumed. However, the simple decision of keeping biblically kosher--that is, refraining from pork and/or shellfish, and/or not mixing meat and dairy--makes those who deserve biblical kashrut constantly aware of their identity as Jews and allows those with whom they dine to identify them as Jews. Many liberal Jews find this a satisfying approach to kashrut. Today, and ever-expanding range of culinary identities are being mixed with Jewish ritual law. For example, kashrut may be blended with a vegetarian or vegan diet. This hybrid diet is often observed for reasons of health, as well as Jewish ethics. These practices require greater explanation both for the one who observes and for the outside world. Yet, they are, in fact, fertile soil for creative interpretation of traditional texts and values. As discussed in depth in other chapters in this book, if one wants to emphasize the essential harmony of nature, as exemplified in the story of Creation, vegetarian and vegan diets can be powerful examples of Jewish dietary discipline. In addition, the argument can be made that the vegetable protein that is needed to produce animal protein could best be used to feed more of the world's hungry people. This motivation for vegetarian/vegan kashrut deepens one's identity with social justice issues. Interestingly enough, it is easier for the vegetarian and vegan to make their homes open to more halachically observant Jews. In some ways, the broader food identity can create a greater connection to traditional Jews. The kosher vegetarian or vegan is one of many blended food identities in the Jewish world. Informed by secular dietary and Jewish ethical concerns, as well as by Jewish tradition, many Jews combine kashrut with other values such as concern for the environment, workers’ rights, animal rights, or health. While these, too, requires some conscious explanation, these approaches have the potential for combining both the Jewish universalistic value of concern for all creation with the particularistic value of the special role of the Jewish people of being a “light into the nations.” (By Peter Knobel, “WHAT I EAT IS WHO I AM: Kashrut and Identity”)

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LEVITICUS — 11:44 holy

LEV119 Kashrut has been a basic part of Judaism for too long to be ignored; its role in the life of the Jew and in Jewish history ought not to be underestimated. The home in Jewish tradition is the mikdash m’at (small sanctuary) and the table is the mizbei-ach (altar); it is reasonable, therefore, to ask the Reform Jew to study and consider kashrut so as to develop a valid personal position. Judaism has always recognized a religious dimension to the consumption of food. Being a gift of God, food was never to be taken for granted. And if this was true of food generally, it was especially true of meat, fish, and fowl, which involved the taking of life. And so it is not surprising to find literally scores of passages in the Torah and the later Rabbinic literature specifying which foods are permitted, which forbidden, and how they are be prepared. Kashrut-- generally translated as “the dietary laws”-- involves a whole series of food disciplines that range from the avoidance of pork and shellfish to the eating of matzah on Pesach. (It should be noted that there is a wide gamut of Jewish dietary observance that is unrelated to kashrut, from the major prohibition against eating on Yom Kippur to such minor customs as eating blintzes on Shavuot, hamantaschen on Purim, and latkes on Channukah.) Jewish tradition considered kashrut to be an especially important part of the code that set Israel apart as a “holy people.” Maimonides viewed kashrut as a discipline. “It accustoms us to restrain both the growth of desire and the disposition to consider the pleasure of eating and drinking as the end of man's existence.” For many centuries it was kashrut which most conspicuously separated the Jew from the Diaspora society in which he/she lived.... The basic features of the traditional dietary laws are: (1) all fruits and vegetables are permitted and may be eaten with either dairy or meat dishes; (2) any type of fish that has fins and scales is permitted; (3) domestic fowl are permitted but birds of prey are prohibited; (4) all domestic animals which have both a split hoof and chew their cud are permitted; (5) meat and milk may not be eaten together, and the utensils used to prepare and serve meat or milk foods must be kept separate; and (6) fowl and animals which are permitted must be slaughtered and prepared for eating according to ritual law. In attempting to evolve a personal position on kashrut, the Reform Jew or the Reform Jewish family should understand that there are several options, e.g., abstention from pork products and/or shellfish, or perhaps adding to this abstention the separation of milk and meat; these practices might be observed in the home and not when eating out, or they might be observed all the time. Or one might opt to eat only kosher meat or even to adopt some form of vegetarianism so as to avoid the necessity of taking a life. (This would be in consonance with their principle of tzaar baalei chayim-- prevention of pain or cruelty to animals.) The range of options available to the Reform Jew is from full observance of the biblical and Rabbinic regulations to total nonobservance. Reform Judaism does not take an “all or nothing” approach. In the Torah (this verse and Deuteronomy 14:21) the Jewish people is commanded to observe the dietary laws as a means of making it kadosh-- holy. Holiness has the dual sense of inner hallowing and outer separateness. The idea of sanctifying and imposing discipline on the most basic and unavoidable act of human behavior, eating, is one of the reasons that may lead a person to adopt some form of kashrut. Among the other reasons that one may find compelling are: (1) identification and solidarity with the worldwide Jewish community, (2) the ethical discipline of avoiding certain foods or limiting one’s appetite because of the growing scarcity of food in parts of the world, (3) the avoidance of certain foods that are traditionally obnoxious to Jews, e.g., pork, which may provide a sense of identification with past generations and their struggle to remain Jews, (4) the authority of ancient biblical and Rabbinic injunctions, and (5) the desire to have a home in which any Jew might feel free to eat. One or more of these reasons as well as others might influence certain Reform Jews to adopt some of the dietary regulations as a mitzvah, while others may remain satisfied with the position articulated in the Pittsburgh Platform. However, the fact that kashrut was for so many centuries an essential part of Judaism, and that so many Jews gave their lives for it, should move Reform Jews to study it and to consider carefully whether or not it would add k’dushah (holiness) to their homes and their lives. (By Simeon J. Maslin, ED. “KASHRUT: A Reform Point of View”)

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