The Civilized Diet

[Meshuga]

The Civilized Diet
A Conversation with Rabbi Simeon Maslin

Every sensitive human being should evolve a personal dietary regimen guided by ethical considerations.

Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheinu Melech haolam,
hamotzi lechem min ha-aretz.
Thank You, God, for giving us
bread from the Earth.

Baruch atah Adonai
hazan et hakol.
Thank You, God,
for providing sustenance for all.

Rabbi Simeon J. Maslin is a past president of the Central Conference of American Rabbis and the author of several books and numerous articles on Jewish practices. He was interviewed by Reform Judaism editor Aron Hirt-Manheimer.

What are the origins of kashrut practice?
The Jewish dietary laws appear in several places in the Torah, most specifically in Leviticus, chapter 11. Many of these biblical laws are straightforward, such as the prohibition against the eating of animals that do not have cloven hooves and do not chew their cud, which allows for the eating of most domestic animals—e.g., cattle, sheep, goats, and deer—with the notable exceptions of pigs, horses, camels, and donkeys. There are also prohibitions against eating fish without scales and fins as well as certain birds and species of insects. In addition, Leviticus includes dietary prohibitions that may be unfamiliar to modern Jews, among them the prohibitions against eating animal fat and blood <3:17, 7:23> and against eating any animal that has died of natural causes or that was “torn by beasts” <22:8 and Exodus 22:30>. Interestingly, the word the Torah uses for “torn by beasts,” t’reifah, is the origin of the Yiddish t’reif.

Some of the other biblical dietary injunctions, however, are much less explicit.

Such as?
What is often considered the essential pillar of kashrut, the prohibition against eating or preparing dairy products and meat together, comes from the cryptic injunction, “You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk” . Later generations of Jewish authorities interpreted this statement to mean that milk and meat must be separated. Long-standing tradition has reinforced this interpretation, but I would contend that the biblical injunction was never intended to apply to the mixing of milk and meat.

What led you to this conclusion?
The most telling proof that this law has nothing to do with the dietary prohibitions is the fact that the statement appears three times in the Torah, but not within the exhaustive list of dietary laws in Leviticus 11. In two instances, “You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk” occurs at the conclusion of passages discussing festival sacrifices . In the third instance, which does indeed address dietary laws , it is appended to the concluding admonition, “You are a people consecrated to the Lord your God,” and is clearly disconnected from the dietary laws that precede it. This context suggests that the boiling of a kid in its mother’s milk was part of pagan sacrificial rituals and, as such, forbidden to Israel.

I agree with the twelfth-century biblical commentator Rashbam (Rabbi Samuel ben Meir), who believed the injunction was intended to teach tzaar baalei chayim, sensitivity to the pain of animals. As he wrote: “It is disgraceful and voracious and gluttonous to consume the mother’s milk together with its young….The Torah gave this commandment in order to teach you how to behave in a civilized manner.”

If a Jew chooses to keep milk and meat separate, recognizing the common practices of Jewish communities for two millennia, I can understand and honor that choice. But I cannot entertain the notion that Torah commands us to do so...

http://reformjudaismmag.org/Articles/index.cfm?id=1245