Why jewish dont eat pork

In embracing pork, these Jews are coming closer to realizing that the admonition of Jesus was true, that it is not that that goes in that corrupts, but it is what comes out of the mouth in words that corrupts. Then the Apostle Paul, under the direction of Jesus wrote what he did in Colossians 2 about judging a person for what he eats or drinks. Jews are ever coming closer to a knowledge that Jesus was indeed the Messiah and the Savior of mankind. The Million Gardens Movement doesn't just help you grow a garden, we're also bringing gardens to kids across the country — and you can help.

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By Laura McCandlish on March 11, Laura McCandlish. Today the writer and chef takes that love even further. Sign up for your Modern Farmer Weekly Newsletter. Notify of. Most Voted Newest Oldest. Inline Feedbacks. In addition, he thought, animals that chew cud are permitted because as vegetarians they befit nonviolent "gentle mannered" souls, and their literal ruminating on their cud models the intellectual ruminating of good students who ponder the principles of knowledge taught by their teacher On the Special Laws A more common and persuasive argument was made in the Middle Ages by Moses Maimonides, who argued that the Torah prohibits swine for food because both their habits and their own food are dirty and loathsome; eating swine would lead to disgusting homes and streets, making them dirtier "than any cesspool" Guide for the Perplexed Indeed, he cites the Talmudic statement that "The mouth of a swine is as dirty as dung itself" b.

This disapproval of the pig's food and habits is the most common explanation of the prohibition. Swine do have food habits that are different from the main domesticated animals that are raised for food, in both ancient Israel and the modern world, namely cows, sheep, and goats. Pigs not only don't chew cud or graze on grass, but they will also eat waste of many kinds, such as animal and human dung and slop and other leftover garbage, and they will eat meat, including human flesh and that of their own offspring.

Moreover, Maimonides was alluding to the swine's other objectionable behavior of wallowing in urine and excrement when they do not have mud to cover their skin. A more modern explanation of how the eating habits of pigs relate to their problematic nature was somewhat famously described by Marvin Harris, who argued that pigs were shunned by ancient Israelites and other in the ancient Near East because the land does not accommodate them well.

Since forests are also scarce in the Middle East, pigs were difficult to raise there. The prohibition against them, he thought, comes from such practical difficulties. However, archaeological and written evidence shows that it was possible to raise swine in the Middle East—as in fact the Philistines did, and any difficulty raising them does not adequately explain why they are shunned and considered abhorrent.

It seems to have a more deep-seated cultural concern. Other explanations for the prohibition include that eating pork can lead to trichinosis, a parasitic infection that can develop from eating undercooked meat. Yet there is no evidence that pork is more likely to cause trichinosis than other meats, nor are there any other known health concerns that arise specifically with pork—unlike, say, shellfish, which is also forbidden and which can cause deadly allergic reactions among some people.

Why, then, is pork prohibited among the land animals? The prohibition seems to go beyond the practical into the symbolic. Indeed, in the Hebrew Bible, eating pork is not only unclean, it is treated as disgusting and horrific. The book of Isaiah associates it with death, idolatry, and sin ; Whatever the problem, it appears, in some way, to violate important cultural principles.

Though this may be related in part to what pigs eat, there may be other contributing factors that are deeply entrenched in society, and in fact related to the very construction of the social system.

One key way in which pigs are radically different from 'clean' land animals is not how they eat, but rather how they mate, and more specifically how they reproduce. In the Hebrew Bible, for example, both sex and birth are important sources of ritual impurity Lev 12 ; All the clean land animals listed in Deuteronomy have a reproductive feature that is different from pigs: they give birth singly or to twins.

Unlike cows, sheep, goats, and deer of various kinds, pigs give birth in litters. In the modern world, the average pig gives birth to 12 piglets at one time; the record is 37!

Reproductively speaking, pigs are incongruous with the Israelite community, yet uniparous bearing singly animals are considered a part of it, and even observe its Sabbath Ex ; Deut The biblical text does not directly discuss this reproductive aspect of pigs, yet the multiparity bearing in litters of pigs comes into direct conflict with other aspects of biblical ritual involving animals.

Aside from the fact that no clean land animal is multiparous, and that most unclean animals are multiparous or egg layers, pigs' manner of reproduction does not allow them to bear a single firstborn in Hebrew, the pe?

Either one would need to witness the birth to see which was born first, or possibly the entire litter would be considered the firstborn. This may seem inconsequential, but in biblical thought, the firstborn male of domesticated animals is the most sacred animal, and must be offered to God. The firstborn of cows, sheep, and goats is either slaughtered or given to the sanctuary Ex ; Deut , or given to the Levites Num According to Deuteronomy, the only animal offerings one must make, aside from offerings at pilgrimage festivals, are one's firstborn male animals Deut Thus the firstborn male of all land animals raised for food must be offered to Yahweh.

Why exactly this is the case is not clear, but it seems to express some sense that the deity owns the firstborn and that by giving the deity the firstborn there will be continued fertility. The firstborn male animal is ritually significant on its own as well as in relation to firstborn male humans, who too are devoted to the deity. For example, Exodus ritually and ideologically equates firstborn sons with firstborn animals as well as with first fruits:.

Luckily for him, other passages state that the firstborn child is to be redeemed back from the deity:. Offering to God the firstborn son, as well as the animal, indicates divine control of fertility. Yet firstborn sons have prominent social and economic roles. The firstborn son is the proper heir of his father though sometimes a non-firstborn becomes the heir, such as when selected by Yahweh, like Isaac.

Deut Therefore the sanctity of the firstborn and firstling is a means not only of showing fertility and its control, but also of creating the special status of the firstborn son, who is redeemed so that he can become the heir of the father who offers him.

By extension, the offering of the firstling male animal is intrinsically related to the process of lineage and inheritance, which is a primary means of reckoning social status and of distributing wealth. Pork, and the refusal to eat it, possesses powerful cultural baggage for Jews. Israel has legislated two related laws: the Pork Law in , that bans the rearing and slaughter of pigs across the country, and the Meat Law of , prohibiting all imports of nonkosher meats into Israel.

While not abounding, Israeli pork-eaters certainly exist, and a small number of pig-breeding farms operate in the country, mostly in Christian villages. The influx of Russian immigrants in the s helped boost sales of pork, but the force of the taboo remains so powerful that many secular Israelis still eschew pork dishes, while willing to eat less charged nonkosher items such as shellfish.