Dietary Laws as Spirtiual Practice

Exile and return is a central theme to Judaism. This is evident in the readings for tomorrow’s class that describe how early Jewish people navigated experiences of exile. Some of the very cultural hybridity that I commented on in my last response shifts as the Jews found themselves exiled. Armstrong describes on page 82 how the Jews began to circumcise their male children, refrain from work on Shabbat (Sabbath), and to follow Kashrut (Kosher dietary laws). She attributes this to a desire to establish their difference from their “pagan neighbors.”

I would like to focus specifically on Armstrong’s discussion of Kashrut (Kosher dietary laws) as it pertains to early Jews in exile and contemporary Judaism.

When Armstrong characterizes P’s separation of creative ordering in the Torah, first chapter of Genesis, she creates a parallel to the practice of Kashrut. “When the Israelites were commanded to separate milk from meat in their diet or the Sabbath from the rest of the week, they were imitating [G-D’s] creative actions at the beginning of time. It was a new type of ritual and imitatio dei which did not require a temple or an elaborate liturgy but could be performed by men and women in the apparently humdrum ordering of their daily lives (p. 87).

I thought the parallel she creates in this section captures one reason for practicing Kashrut well, which is the idea of bringing the observance and awareness of G-D into everyday life. However, some suggest that Kashrut is followed simply because we are commanded to do so…a no questions asked kind of thing (chukim). Some believe that Kashrut stems from early hygiene practices.

Later (page 111) Armstrong brings up an apparent contradiction in that Abraham ate meat and milk together when he entertained G-D at Mamre. However at this point, I would have to raise some caution in how this point is interpreted by contemporary readers. First, while kashrut laws are written about in Leviticus and Deuteronomy, the details are in the oral law which was eventually written in the Mishnah and Talmud.

And perhaps for my purposes as a contemporary person who practices Kashrut, does it matter to me that Abraham served G-D milk and meat? Is there a contemporary purpose to the practice that honors the mitzvoth, but also speaks to my own contemporary practices. Do I simply say this is outdated or is there a contemporary reason that I practice Kashrut?

I found this reference online and thought that it summarized some of the contemporary reasons for practicing Kashrut. “In his book "To Be a Jew", Rabbi Hayim Halevy Donin suggests that the dietary laws are designed as a call to holiness. The ability to distinguish between right and wrong, good and evil, pure and defiled, the sacred and the profane, is very important in Judaism. Imposing rules on what you can and cannot eat ingrains that kind of self control, requiring us to learn to control even our most basic, primal instincts” (Judaism 101, http://www.jewfaq.org/kashrut.htm). This isn’t about separating myself from someone else and suggesting that I am right and they are wrong…that is not what I am aiming to distinguish here. Rather, it helps to guide me through the decisions I make and what I encounter on a day to day basis thoughtfully.