Parshat Shemini; Leviticus 9:1-11:47 By: Rabbi Denise L. Eger
Parshat Shemini introduces us to the beginnings of the dietary laws of Judaism. This week’s Torah portion describes the basic rules for keeping kosher. The portion outlines those animals that are permitted to be ritually slaughtered and eaten. Those animals are “those with true hoofs, clefts through the hoof and chews the cud” (Lev. 11:3). Fish “that have fins and scales” (Lev. 11:9) are permitted. But they must have both features. There are several listing of those animals, birds and fish that are not permitted and are seen as unclean including those animals without hoofs: camel rabbits, pigs, and sea creatures with out fins and scales and a variety of birds including the eagle, raven, ostrich, herons, owls and pelicans. Also most insects with the exception of locust, crickets and grasshoppers are forbidden by the Torah.
The laws of kashrut get further developed in the rabbinic literature and codes to the complete separation of meat and milk and having separate dishes and cookware. But the initial restrictions come from this week’s portion.
These laws of kashrut help us understand that what we put into our bodies matter and that even something as basic to life as eating can be framed through the lens of holiness. When we restrict what we eat and control our diet we have a different kind of awareness of our lives and the animals whose lives are sacrificed to provide human beings with food. This is alluded to in verse 44 of chapter 11 of the portion which calls upon Israel to sanctify itself and be holy. Midrash Rabba says about this portion, specifically, verse 2 of chapter 11,
““These are the living things which you may eat among all of the beasts that are on the earth.” This is alluded to in what is written, “Every word of God is pure (Prov. 30:5).” Rab said: This means the precepts were given for the express purpose of purifying humanity.”
The laws of kashrut are to help us reshape our approach to food create a spiritual template to elevate our baser instincts. The laws of kashrut help us spiritually center our eating to know that we are bound to God and community even through the food we eat.
Certainly as the headlines in recent months have screamed at us with alarm as the food supply has been often tainted with impurities and as there have been so many problems from e coli in our spinach to chemicals in our imported foods from China, to diseased cows and sheep being slaughtered for meat, we can’t take anything for granted. The suppliers of our food have put the public at risk. Thus awareness about our food and what we eat has become a critical part of our daily lives. While the laws of kashrut do not guarantee protection from these impurities in our food chain and food delivery systems, the laws of kashrut remind us that we have a responsibility to ourselves, the animals that we eat, and ultimately that the food we consume is a blessing from God.
There are several movements in Judaism today to update the laws of kashrut to include the notion that how the animals are handled at the slaughterhouse and the workers treated, how agribusiness operates are as much a part of the laws of kashrut as the actual lists of forbidden and permitted animals. The eco-kosher movement is growing in popularity so that efforts to use organic farming for kosher products and earth friendly policies are seen as an extension of the spiritual framework inherent in the laws of kashrut, or keeping kosher. Also part of this renewed understanding of the laws of kosher is the hekhsher tzedek approval or seal of justice approval. Started by Rabbi Morris Allen, a conservative rabbi, Rabbi Allen began teaching his congregation that the laws of kashrut could not be divorced from the many ethical concerns about production and food processing. This additional seal of approval on food products tells the consumer that company producing the food item has met certain standards of ethical behavior that meets with Jewish law in its growth, production and processing. This seal of approval is now a program of the Rabbinical Assembly, the Conservative Rabbinic organization. For more information on hekhsher tzedek check out the website, www.hekshertzedek.org.
Posted by Aaron at March 24, 2008 08:46 AM
