Kashrut for the modern believer.

Does the New Testament permit violating the kashrut laws?

(continued)




RETURN OF THE PIG

The source of the tradition is related to the etymology of the word pig -- the Hebrew is hazir -- which has the root chet-zayin-resh. The Hebrew verb "return" has the same root, suggesting that one day the pig will return.

Another interpretation: The camel is an allusion to Babylon ... The hare is an allusion to Media ... The rock-badger is an allusion to Greece ... The swine is an allusion to Edom [Rome]... And why is the last-named called hazir? Because it will yet restore (hazar) the crown to its owner. This is indicated by what is written, And saviors shall come up on Mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the Lord's. (Ovadia 21).

Babylon, Persia, and Greece all followed one after the other. Immediately following the Greek domination of Israel the Roman domination and exile followed. The Romans – who adopted Christianity and are thus equated with the Christian world - have not been replaced. The Midrash, though, stresses that the word hazir implies return. This Midrash predicts the return of the Land of Israel to its rightful owner after a long exile.

What the Midrash does not say, is that the pig, the very symbol of that exile, would itself return. Rather, Esau the ultimate wayward son, and his outwardly righteous spiritual descendants, will one day return. Perhaps this is all the Midrash wished to convey, yet the return itself is predicated on the word hazir.

The problem with the pig becoming kosher, is the basic tenet of Judaism that the Torah is unchanging, and no person, even a prophet, has the right to add or subtract from the Torah. While the Messianic age does possess some degree of mystery, it seems difficult to disregard the Torah. Many medieval sages, particularly Rav Sa'adya Gaon and Maimonides, were adamant on this issue.

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KOSHER PIG

There is another way to reconcile the two seemingly opposing positions -- of the immutability of Torah and the pig becoming kosher in the Messianic age:The pig can change. A number of authorities, including Rav Menachim Azarya DeFano, Rav Chaim Ibn Attar, and the Chatam Sofer, suggested that the pig will undergo what may be called an evolutionary process and develop a cud, rendering it kosher!

If the pig can change and become kosher, and cease to be a symbol of hypocrisy and evil, certainly the peoples who have been compared to the pig can undergo a fundamental change and return to the inherent good with which God endowed every man.

 

 

Shmini(Leviticus 9-11)

Kosher Ideas

Many people find dieting to be quite a challenge. Indeed, Jewish tradition found the entire enterprise of eating to be filled with obstacles and opportunities. Meal time is termed in Jewish literature as "the hour of war"; the Hebrew word for war - milchama - has the same root as lechem - bread. Eating is supposed to be an act of elevating oneself through the medium of thought, speech and action. In the realm of thought, we should view eating as an act of fulfilling the Almighty's will. In the realm of speech, we say a blessing over the food. And in the realm of action, we eat the food with care and appreciation of the Almighty's beneficence.

In this week's Torah portion, Shmini, the delineation is made between kosher and non-kosher animals. The Torah states that for an animal to be kosher it must chew its cud and have split hooves. Chewing the cud ("rumination") involves the regurgitation and then redigestion of food. Jewish tradition sees this as an allusion for the need to review and reexamine one's actions, a procedure that is at the very heart of righteousness. The split hoof, coming as it does at the foot, emphasizes the need for a person to be complete from head to toe.

In contradistinction to the wholeness of a kosher animal, there are four animals - the camel, pig, shafan and arnevet (the last two animals' identities are not known today) - who are singled out in this week's Parsha because they possessed only one of two kosher signs. The camel represents pride, the pig - hypocrisy, the shafan - idolatry, and the arnevet - narrowness.

On the other hand, fish are seen as the most holy of species. Unlike other species who, even in their kosher manifestations need some tikkun(rectification), the fish needs none. Fish do not need to be ritually slaughtered or have its blood removed as its land cousins did. Moreover, the fish were unaffected by Noah's flood. While the land animals had been involved in bestiality before the deluge, the fish maintained their purity and were thus saved.

This symbol of the fish as representing purity can also be found in the kabalistic literature where it is used to symbolize the tzaddik, the righteous person. Many people are guilty of misusing their gift of sight and viewing scenes they would be better off avoiding. In kabalistic understanding, the anatomical feature of the eyelid is an allusion to this need to at times shut our eyes and avoid seeing improper things. The tzaddik, however guards his behavior, intuitively avoiding such situations, and actually needs no such safeguard. He is thus symbolized by a fish, a species which has no eyelid.

The Torah also makes distinctions between kosher and non-kosher fish. To be kosher, a fish has to possess both fins and scales. The sources explain that these elements can be likened to crowns atop the fish, attesting to the kosher fish's higher spiritual status. Furthermore, such fish tend to swim in the upper expanses of the ocean where the water is more pure.

It is clear that Jewish tradition sees the act of eating as an opportunity to elevate one's behavior to a higher level. Why not make dining - and dieting - a truly holy act?!

 

Now that we have seen the Hebrew thought on it let's address  the common arguments and scriptures used to support these views as well as look at the physical aspect of the pig and unkosher animals. One of the first thoughts is " Well Elohim made everything  good in the beginning and we have been restored there by  Yeshua going to the cross".  If we are to believe this point in it's fullness it would eliminate the need for a future messianic kingdom and the book of revelation would already be fulfilled. However even if we are to just say that  this is true then we should simply revert back to vegetarians as man before the fall didn't even eat meat per the torah stating it in Genesis.  Elohim clearly gives the mandate to eat from all trees except the tree of  the knowledge of good and evil. Another  thought to this point is that although the pig and everything was created good does not mean it was intended for food. Next let's take a closer look at Paul and the scriptures so commonly used to say that we can eat what we like. What we as believers must be aware of is that there have been edits and mistranslations in the scriptures and it is imperative that if we are going to take G-d at his word that we must dig and search everything that we read to it's original text. We are also given two filters by Elohim himself to decipher that which is hidden and these are the Torah and the Ruach Ha Kodesh ( Holy Spirit).  In Mark 7 we read

"1The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus and 2saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were "unclean," that is, unwashed. 3(The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. 4When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.

 5So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, "Why don't your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with 'unclean' hands?"

 6He replied, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: 
   " 'These people honor me with their lips, 
      but their hearts are far from me. 
 7They worship me in vain; 
      their teachings are but rules taught by men.' 8You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men."

 9And he said to them: "You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe  your own traditions! 10For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and, 'Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.'11But you say that if a man says to his father or mother: 'Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is Corban' (that is, a gift devoted to God), 12then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother. 13Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that."

 14Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, "Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. 15Nothing outside a man can make him 'unclean' by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him 'unclean.' "

 17After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. 18"Are you so dull?" he asked. "Don't you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him 'unclean'? 19For it doesn't go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body." (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods "clean.").  What we have here is an edit the parenthetical statement was not in the original texts and a comparison of the same version of the story in Matthew 15 (have someone read) shows a lack of this very statement. The other issue at hand to disprove this bad doctrine is the fact that what the disciples of Yeshua were eating was never brought into question but rather a tradition of hand washing  done by the Pharisees  that they were trying to pass off as law. Next let's  move on to Paul.  In Romans 14 we read.   "1Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. 2One man's faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. 3The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. 4Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

 5One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. 6He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. 8If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.

 9For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.10You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God's judgment seat. 11It is written: 
   " 'As surely as I live,' says the Lord, 
   'every knee will bow before me; 
      every tongue will confess to God.' " 12So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.

 13Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother's way. 14As one who is in the Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced that no food is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean. 15If your brother is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother for whom Christ died.16Do not allow what you consider good to be spoken of as evil. 17For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, 18because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men.

 19Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. 20Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. 21It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall.

 22So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves. 23But the man who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin."

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