Chapter VI: The Dietary Laws

“Thou shalt not eat any abominable thing” (Deut. xiv. 3); that is, according to our traditional explanation, everything that the Word of God declares to be abominable (Sifre, ad locum). One of the sections of the Dietary Laws concludes thus: “For I am the Lord that brought you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy” (Lev. xi. 45).

Holiness is therefore the only object of these laws that is distinctly mentioned in the Pentateuch. But what is the nature of the holiness which they are intended to produce or to promote? “The Dietary Laws,” says Maimonides, “train us in the mastery over our appetites; they accustom us to restrain the growth of desire, the indulgence in seeking that which is pleasant, and the disposition to consider the pleasure of eating and drinking the end of man’s existence” (“The Guide,” III., chap. xxv. p. 167). And, indeed, wherever the Law commands restraint of some bodily enjoyment, or restriction of any of our appetites, such commandment is followed or preceded by the exhortation to be holy, or the warning not to defile oneself.

Is there any secondary object in these laws besides the motive distinctly mentioned? It has frequently been observed that Jews have enjoyed a certain degree of immunity from epidemics that raged among their non-Jewish neighbours. It has further been noticed that they have a lower rate of mortality and a greater longevity. These facts are generally explained to be the result of a temperate life, regulated by the Divine Law. Finding that such is the consequence of obedience to the Dietary Laws, we may fairly assume that in distinguishing certain things from the rest, in prohibiting some and permitting others, the Lawgiver aimed at the health and the well-being of man’s body. Our conception of the goodness of God compels us to believe that in recommending certain things for our use He intended thereby to promote our well-being, and to show us what is good for our health, and what is injurious. But we must take care that we do not on that account consider these precepts exclusively as sanitary regulations, however important such regulations may be. We must not lose sight of the fact that Holiness is the only object of the Dietary Laws, mentioned in the Pentateuch.

But what difference can it make to the Almighty whether we eat this or that? Surely it makes no difference to the Almighty; but we have faith in His Goodness and Wisdom, and are convinced that He knows by what means we may best attain to that holiness which we are so frequently exhorted to seek, and that the Divine Laws which He revealed to us for this very purpose show the shortest and the safest road to this aim.

With the following exceptions, the Dietary Laws concern only animal food:—

(1.) ערלה “Forbidden fruit,” i.e., the fruit of a tree during the first three years after its planting (Lev. xix. 23).—The fruit of the fourth year (נטע רבעי) was formerly, in the time of the Temple, brought to Jerusalem, and consumed there amidst praises and thanksgiving to Him who is the source of all blessing (ibid. v. 24). Those who lived far from Jerusalem were allowed to redeem the fruit of the fourth year with silver, and to spend the latter in the holy city.

(2.) חדש “New corn.”—The Omer of barley offered on the second day of Passover is called “the first of your harvest” (Lev. xxiii. 10), and it was enjoined, “Ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor fresh ears, [169] until this selfsame day, until ye have brought the oblation of your God” (ibid. 14).

These two laws (ערלה and חדש) seem to have their source in the dictum, “The first of the first-fruits of thy ground thou shalt bring into the house of the Lord thy God” (Exod. xxiii. 19).

(3.) כלאים.—Mixture of different kinds. “Thou shalt not sow thy field with two kinds of seed” (Lev. xix. 19). [170] “Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with two kinds of seed” (Deut. xxii. 9). In the former case only the sowing of divers kinds is prohibited, but the produce of such sowing is not forbidden; in the latter case, if the law is transgressed, the produce of both the vine and the seed is not to be used for any purpose whatever (אסור בהנאה), for the law is followed by the words, “lest the whole fruit be forfeited, the seed which thou hast sown and the increase of the vineyard.”

Although these and similar [171] precepts are introduced by the words “Ye shall keep my statutes (חקתי),” and no reason is given for the enactment of these statutes, it seems, from the position occupied by these laws in a section of moral precepts, that they serve as reminders of the important lesson that our conduct should be regulated by the principles of contentment and simplicity of life, principles which are the best safeguard against undue desire for luxury and superfluity. The prohibition of sowing divers kinds of seed further reminds us of the importance of preserving our heart in a state of simplicity and purity; that twofold weights, twofold measures, and especially a twofold heart are an abomination to the Lord.

In reference to animal food the following principles are observed:—

1. The killing of animals and the consuming of their flesh must not tend to create savage and cruel habits. It is therefore forbidden—

(a.) To cut off a piece of flesh from a living animal for our food (אבר מן החי “a limb of a living animal”).

(b.) To kill the parent with its young on the same day (Lev. xxii. 28; comp. Deut. xxii. 6).

(c.) To give unnecessary pain to the animal in killing it. The various regulations for the lawful killing of animals, שחיטה, handed down by Tradition as Mosaic, הלכה למשה מסיני, are not only in harmony with this principle, but seem in many instances to have been dictated by it.

(d.) To eat the blood of beasts and birds (Lev. xvii. 12, 14). The blood contained in the meat is removed as far as possible by having the meat soaked in water for half-an-hour, and then kept covered with salt for an hour, the salt being again removed by rinsing. This process is called kasher; that is, preparing the meat so as to make it kasher (כשר “fit for food”).

2. The flesh of beasts and birds that have died from any other cause than having been killed in the manner prescribed is forbidden. The flesh of animals that have been killed in the prescribed manner, but are found to have been affected with some dangerous disease, is also forbidden as t’refah (טרפה). [172]

3. With regard to the distinction between animals allowed for food and those forbidden, all animals are divided into בהמה and חיה “cattle and beast,” וף “bird,” דג “fish,” and שרץ “creeping thing.”

(a.) With regard to cattle and beasts, the rule is given, “Whosoever parteth the hoof and is cloven-footed and cheweth the cud, that you may eat” (Lev. xi. 3).—The clean cattle (בהמה טהורה) and the clean beasts (חיה טהורה) are enumerated in Deut. xiv. 4 and 5 respectively.

(b.) A number of birds are enumerated (Lev. xi. 13–19) as forbidden, but no general characteristics of the clean or the unclean birds are given; and as we are uncertain as to the exact meaning of the names of many of the birds, we only use for food such birds as are traditionally known as “clean birds.”

(c.) Fish that have scales and fins are permitted; others—e.g., the eel—are “unclean” (ibid. xi. 9–12).

(d.) “All winged animals that creep (שרץ העוף), going upon all four, shall be an abomination unto you. Yet these may ye eat of, every flying creeping thing that goeth upon all four, which have legs above their feet, to leap withal upon the earth; even these of them ye may eat; the arbeh with its kind, and the soleam with its kind, the chargol with its kind, and the chagabh with its kind” (ibid. 20–22). These are certain kinds of locusts that satisfy the above condition. (Comp. Maimonides, Mishneh-torah, Hilchoth maachaloth asuroth i. 21–23.)

(e.) “And every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth shall be an abomination; it shall not be eaten” (Lev. xi. 41). In this prohibition are included all kinds of worms such as are found in fruit, and mites, snails, oysters, lobsters, crabs, &c.

4. The milk of “unclean” cattle or beasts (e.g., asses’ milk), the eggs of “unclean” birds, and the roe of “unclean” fish (e.g., caviare prepared of the roe of the sturgeon) are likewise forbidden.

5. “Ye shall eat no manner of fat, of ox, or of sheep, or of goat” (Lev. vii. 23). From the context we learn that only those portions of the fat of cattle are forbidden which in the case of sacrifices were burnt upon the altar as an offering made by fire unto the Lord, viz., “the fat that covereth the inwards, and all the fat that is upon the inwards, and the fat that is upon the kidneys which is by the flanks” (ibid. iii. 3, 4). The forbidden fat is known by the name חלב, chelebh, whilst the fat permitted as food is called שומן, shuman.

6. “Therefore the children of Israel do not eat of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day: because he touched the hollow of Jacob’s thigh in the sinew that shrank” (Gen. xxxii. 33). This law is designed to remind us of the wrestling of Jacob with the man who attacked him, which struggle forms a type of Israel’s fight against the evil threatening him from within and from without, and teaches us the lesson that, despite temporary troubles and struggles, Israel will ultimately be victorious. The hind-quarters of cattle are not eaten unless the forbidden fat and “the sinew that shrank” (גיד הנשה) have first been removed from them.

7. “Thou shalt not seethe the kid in its mother’s milk” (Exod. xxiii. 19). Tradition explains this law as forbidding all mixture of meat and milk (בשר בחלב). In its literal sense the verse in which this law is mentioned seems to point to the duty of self-restraint, as if to tell us that we should not greedily devour the first ripe fruit, or the young immediately after their birth.

The significance of the law may be learnt from the fact that it is mentioned three times in the Pentateuch. Hence the strictness with which this commandment is observed in Jewish homes. In a Jewish household, established in accordance with Jewish law and tradition, there are two separate sets of utensils, the one to be used for the preparation of meat-diet, the other for the preparation of milk and butter diet.

The flesh of fish is not considered as meat in this respect, nor are fish subject to the laws of shechitah.

NOTES.

1. On Page 459—1a.

The prohibition of eating meat taken from the body of an animal whilst alive is based on the words אך בשר בנפשו דמו לא תאכלו “But flesh, when the blood thereof is in its soul, shall ye not eat” (Gen. ix. 4). The phrase “to be in the soul” means to be surrounded and animated by the soul, to be in the midst of active, living organs of the animal. “The blood of an animal is in the soul thereof” may therefore be paraphrased thus, “The blood hath its vital powers and the animal is alive.” (Comp. Lev. xvii. 11.)

This prohibition is one of the שבע מצות בני נח “the seven Noachide commandments,” i.e., commandments which, according to Tradition, were already in force in the days of Noah, and are binding on all his children or all mankind, and not on the Israelites alone; viz., (1) the prohibition of idolatry (עבודה זרה), (2) of murder (שפיכות דם), (3) of adultery (גלוי עריות), (4) of blasphemy (ברכת השם), (5) of robbery (גזל), (6) of eating meat taken from a living animal (אבר מן החי), and (7) the institution of courts of justice (דינין). See Babyl. Talm., Sanhedrin 56a.

2. On Page 459—1c.

The existence of certain rules concerning killing animals for food included in the oral teaching of the Torah is derived from the following passage: “Thou shalt kill of thy herd and of thy flock which the Lord hath given thee as I have commanded thee” (Deut. xii. 21). In the Commentary of Rashi, ad locum, we read: “Here we see that certain commandments have been given with regard to the killing of animals, how this should be done. These commandments are comprised in Hilchoth Shechitah, which form part of the Oral Law, revealed to Moses on Sinai.” They are fully discussed and explained in the first chapter of the treatise Chullin.

Any deviation from these rules in the act of killing the animal renders the shechitah unlawful (פסולה). The killing of cattle, beasts, or fowl for food is therefore entrusted only to such persons as possess a knowledge of the rules of shechitah and are skilled and trustworthy. The beth-din or the Chief-Rabbi decides whether a person has duly qualified himself for the office of shochet (שוחט), and whether he may kill animals for kasher food.

It is the duty of the shochet to examine the animal before killing it, and to satisfy himself that it is not in a dying condition; after the shechitah of any cattle or beast (בהמה or חיה) he must examine the lungs to assure himself that they are in a normal condition. If he finds them in a diseased state he declares the flesh of the animal as t’refah (טרפה) and unfit for food. In the case of poultry the examination is not made by the shochet; but if any deviation from the normal state is discovered in the lungs or in any other part, the meat must not be used as food unless the animal has been examined by a competent person (Rabbi or dayyan), and declared by him to be kasher.

As to the beneficial influence of these examinations on the general condition of health in the Jewish community, see Dr. H. Behrend’s articles in Jewish Chronicle, November 12, 1880, and October 24, 1890, and Nineteenth Century, October 1890.

3. On Page 459—1d.

The following particular rules are to be observed in kashering meat:—

(a.) The meat is first soaked in water for half-an-hour; this must be done within three days after the killing of the animal. It is then taken out of the water, placed on a slanting board or in a wicker-basket, and after a few minutes, when the water has sufficiently run off, sprinkled on all sides with salt. After the lapse of an hour the salt is again removed by soaking and rinsing.

(b.) In case of urgency, when, e.g., the meat is wanted for a patient, or when on Friday afternoon there would not be left time enough for cooking or roasting the meat, it need only be kept in water for fifteen minutes and in salt for half-an-hour.

(c.) In kashering poultry all the inner parts of the animal must be taken out and salted separately; the rest must be sprinkled with salt both within and without.

(d.) Liver is salted a little and roasted on fire, not in the oven or in any vessel. This done, the liver may be cooked or roasted in any way.

(e.) The heart is cut open before the salting, and a piece is cut off at the apex, in order that the blood may run off more easily.—For the same purpose the horny part of the legs is cut off.—The head must be opened and sprinkled with salt on both sides, after the brain has been taken out; from the latter the skin is drawn off, and then it is salted.

(f.) Eggs found in poultry are treated as meat, but must be salted separately.

(g.) The vessels used for soaking and salting the meat should not be used for other purposes.

4. On Page 459—1c.

The law of shechitah applies only to cattle, beasts, and birds (בהמה, חיה and עוף); there is no commandment as regards the killing of fish. Tradition supports this exception by reference to the distinction made in Num. xi. 22: “Shall the flocks and the herds be slain (ישחט) for them, to suffice them? or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together (יאסף) for them, to suffice them?” Although the latter term (יאסף) is also used of quails (ibid. 32), no such inference is made with regard to birds, because in ver. 32 the term יאסף is not contrasted by ישחט; besides, the verb שחט is frequently applied in the Law to birds, but never to fish. Comp. Babyl. Talm., Chullin, p. 27b.

There is this difference to be observed between בהמה on the one hand, and חיה and עוף on the other. In the case of the latter two the shechitah must be followed by the covering of the blood (כסוי דם Lev. xvii. 13). The object of this law is, according to some, to prevent the blood being used for idolatrous and superstitious purposes, as birds and beasts were generally hunted in the fields, mountains, and woods, places frequently associated in the imagination of the ancients with evil spirits and the like. (Comp. Commentary of R. Obadiah Seforno on the Pentateuch, ad locum.) The law was perhaps intended to impress the lesson on the mind of the hunter that the blood shed of a living being presents a ghastly sight that offends the eye of man. He will accustom himself to think that taking away the life of another being, even of an animal, is an act of grave responsibility, and will not be led to misuse his weapons against any of his fellow-men.

5. On Page 460—3b.

Comp. Mishnah, Treatise Chullin, iii. 6.—The characteristics of the clean and the unclean cattle and beasts are given in the Pentateuch, but the characteristics of the clean or the unclean birds are not mentioned in the Law. Our Sages, however, declared every bird of prey—or every bird that seizes its food with its claws, and lifts it up from the ground before eating it (Rashi) to be an unclean bird; while all birds are clean that have a projecting claw (אצבע יתרה a claw longer than the rest) and a crop (זפק), and whose stomach has a membrane that can easily be peeled off (קרקבנו נקלף). Another rule is this: Birds that dwell and associate with unclean birds are unclean. “Not without reason does the starling go to the raven: they are of the same species” (Babyl. Talm., Chullin 65b). The sentence serves also as a moral lesson (ibid., Baba Kama 92a). At present, however, only those birds are killed for food which are known traditionally to have always been considered as “clean birds” (Maimonides, Mishneh-torah, Hilchoth maachaloth asuroth, i. 14–20; Tur Joredeah, chap. lxxxii.).

6. On Page 461—7.

Onkelos translates this commandment: לא תיכול בשר בחלב “Thou shalt not eat meat in milk,” in accordance with the Oral Law. The threefold repetition of the commandment forbidding the seething of a kid in its mother’s milk is explained traditionally to indicate a threefold prohibition: that of boiling meat and milk together, that of eating such mixture, and that of deriving any benefit whatever from it (ואיסור, איסור אכילה, איסור בישול הנאה). In obedience to the principle, “Make a fence round the Law,” we abstain from milk or butter for some time after having partaken of meat.

7. On Page 461—4.

The honey of bees is an apparent exception from the rule that the products of the unclean animals are forbidden. The honey mentioned in the Bible is mostly the juice of fruit, especially of dates; but the honey of bees is also mentioned (Judges xiv. 8). It is assumed that honey does not contain any part of the bee itself, but is merely the juice of the flowers sucked and again discharged by the bees. (See Babyl. Talm., Bechoroth 7b; Maim., Mishneh-torah, Hil. maachaloth asuroth iii. 3.)

Note 8.

In addition to the things enumerated in this chapter as forbidden, there is the prohibition of “wine of libation” (יין נסך). Everything used in the worship of idols was condemned, and could not serve as food, drink, or any purpose; it was אסור בהנאה. Wine was frequently used by heathens in libations to their idols. The wine of a heathen was therefore always suspected of having been employed in idolatrous libations, and was consequently forbidden as יין נסך. Since, however, such libations have ceased this prohibition has also lapsed.

It has, however, not lapsed in its entirety. It is only the אסור הנאה that is no longer in force. The prohibition of using wine prepared by non-Jews (סתם יין) as a beverage still continues. This and similar prohibitions were intended as a barrier against the increase of mixed marriages among the Jews. (Comp. Babyl. Talm., Shabbath 17b.)