Three or four days before Jordon Rosenblum's lecture, I was sitting in my friends apartment listening to the four of them order sandwiches (all are Jewish by birth). My first three friends ordered and all their sandwiches had some type of pig in them (bacon, ham, etc.). At this time, the fourth roommate turned to me and said, “I don’t understand these kids, they just order ham with no problem, I’m Jewish, I’d never do that.”
For some reason these words echoed in my head. Of all the things to associate being Jewish with, he chose not eating pig. At this moment my own life came into reflection, I to had chosen food as my connection to Judaism. When I first came to the
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Dr. Rosenblum’s lecture was excellent. His source selection was extremely interesting. He engaged his audience and made one think about the role of food in Judaism. As a Rabbi one often hears laypeople justify the laws of Kashrut as ancient health rules. But, as Dr. Rosenblum informed us, these reasons are not found until the 19th century, and they are brought not by people who want to strengthen the dietary laws, but, by those who would like to see them ended.
From a Rabbinic point of view the focus on pork is very strange. The prohibitions of mixing meat and milk are more severe. A Jew can benefit from Pork. They can sell it to non Jews or use if for Dog food. But, meat and milk mixtures can not be used in any way. Interestingly, the prohibition on unwashed salad is also more severe than that of pork. To eat an insect which commonly adheres to lettuce can violate 5 prohibitions to porks one. If Pork inadvertently falls into a soup it can be nullified if there is less than 1 part to 60. Insects can never be nullified.
So, this begs the question, why is the prohibition against pork seen as the defining element of Kashrut? Where did this idea develop and how? Dr. Rosenblum’s lecture left me wanting more.
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