As a student rabbi I am asked several times if I keep kosher. My answer is always yes. But this doesn't mean that I comply to all rabbinic rules regarding eating habits. This means that I don’t consume the meat of any of the animals listed in the Torah, and that every time that I sit to eat, I am mindful of what I eat and why. I bring my Jewish intention to the table, and I bring Jewish intention to life.
The portion of parashat Shmini that we just read brings the beginning of the list of animals whose meet are allowed or forbidden to be eaten by the bnei Isreael. Basically, “any animal that has true hoofs, with clefts through the hoofs, and that chews the cud”; and “anything in water, whether in the seas or in the streams, that has fins and scales” are allowed to be eaten. Regarding birds and insects, there is a list of things that should not be eaten. The subject of what can or cannot be eaten comes again later in the book of Leviticus, parashat Kedoshim, and in the book of Deuteronomy, in parashat Re’eh. Then we are informed about the prohibition of eating blood, for it is the symbol of life.
The laws of kashrut, as we know nowadays, are written by talmudic rabbis based on their readings of the biblical text, and later interpretations. Torah only rules about the meat of animals considered pure or impure. Torah is concerned about life and respect for other beings, our sages are concerned with details.
“In their broader context, the dietary laws of Leviticus 11 open an extensive pericope on ritual purity and pollution, which we will be reading for several weeks. These Torah portions deal with the pollution produced by childbirth, bodily discharges, and scale disease (צרעת, often translated “leprosy”) and with the purification procedures used to cleanse people, objects, and the tabernacle from contamination. Thus, the best way to understand the meaning of the biblical dietary laws in context is to analyse them through the prism of the purity laws in general.” As explained by Dr. Eve Levavi Feinstein.
In this context, why is the meat that we eat so important that it must be described in the purity section of the Torah? Early biblical commentators understood that it was our way, to be holy and separated from other peoples. If the idea of being separated from other peoples does not stand as a theory for Progressive Jews today, the idea of being holy connects eating habits with the other ritual purity rules. By avoiding such animals, that are considered impure for offerings to God, we are treating our bodies as Temples.
Within the Reform Movement, early ideologists considered kashrut as part of the ancient Levitical religious system and was no longer binding on Reform Jews. However, the evolution of Reform theology, which reclaims tradition under new understandings has since then reinterpreted such laws based on the hashkafah (the guiding philosophy) of the kashrut.
As explained by North American Cantor David Fair, nowadays “reform kashrut might look like being mindful of your food. Where is your food coming from? How was your food treated in life? What chemicals are in your food? How were the people who made this food treated? [...] God wants you to care. Everything you put into your body should be consumed with consideration and thought. We see this throughout Leviticus 11. Food is sacred. We see that sacredness in ourselves when we are mindful about the food we eat.”[i]
The idea is to respect life as sacred. Not only our lives, but all creations’ lives. We do that by being mindful, treating our bodies as Temples, consuming what is pure, avoiding contact with what is impure.
Kashrut is not a simple group of laws of things that we can and cannot eat, but a constant reminder that we and life of all creatures are sacred. Then we understand that all that we consume, all that we internalise must be balanced and considered. We are therefore invited to go further than Parashat Shmini and its list of meats that we can and cannot eat. We are driven to think about what we read, what we watch, the material of social media that we allow ourselves to be in contact with. Are we really treating our bodies as Temples?
But also, we should be aware of what we give from ourselves to the world. We should adopt a kashrut of the mouth for us and for others. Are we treating other people as Temples themselves? We should be respectful with others; we should be aware of the words that our mouths produce and how they impact others. We should have always in mind that, although the world is full of blessings and possibilities, there are limits to be respected. Kashrut is about limits, is about holiness.
From this week on, we will read about being holy as individuals so that we can be holy as a people. The sometimes boring and sometimes difficult book of Leviticus is an invitation for us to rethink our habits and our relationship with life and others. The book of holiness invites us to think about what we do and consume, and to adopt a kashrut of life.
May we build a sacred world with our mouths and actions. May we see life as holy, building a kashrut of life. May we treat ourselves as Temples that consume pure things and produce prayers and blessings to the world.
Shabbat Shalom
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