If you ask most people where the Jewish religion comes from, they will tell you Israel. Jewish cuisine is influenced by the economics, agriculture and culinary traditions of the many countries where Jewish communities have settled and varies widely throughout the whole world. Cows have tapeworms. Here in America, just in 2017, we butchered 121 million of them. God certainly showed in the Old Testament that He didn't want His people to eat pork, which is … 3. Twice in the law of the Old Testament we read that pigs “unclean,” and eating them is forbidden. What does the Bible say about eating/drinking blood? Could the Israelites of the Bible have not eaten pork to mark a shift from the Philistines who were their hated enemies? What does the Bible say about eating food/meat that has been sacrificed to idols? But when it comes to swine, which rules do you follow? I would suggest rewording the question to say "Why did the Mosaic Law prohibit the ancient Israelites from eating pork?" The Torah is very clear: pork is not Kosher food and it is forbiddennfor Jews to eat it. Greeks forced Jews to eat pork against their will during the Jerusalem conquests in 167 B.C. . Some consider eating pork as an abomination to God. Some foods that Jews are forbidden to eat include pig products, such as pork, bacon and ham, seafood that has neither fins nor scales, such as lobster, crab or scallops, and anything that flies in swarms, such as insects. According to the Jewish law, pork is banned from consumption. Eating them, and their blood, evokes the evils of idolatry in Isaiah 65:4 & 66:3. Sampiro May 23, 2005, 4:00pm #1. The theory was popular. The answer isn’t difficult to find. provides many reasons he believes pork should be avoided. Jews don’t eat pork. What gives? Why Jews Don’t Eat Pork If you are familiar with my work, you know the Jews or Israelites were pure Lower Egyptian. Traditions and devotions . Can Christians eat pork? So why pick on them? I love her title: “Pigs, Purity, and Patrilineality: The Multiparity of Swine and Its Problems for Biblical Ritual and Gender Construction.”. James Frazer, in The Golden Bough, suggests that pigs “were originally sacred; the reason for not eating them was that many were originally divine.”. Many people ask. In the Old Testament God gave dietary laws to Israel. And hungry cows will eat human excrement.” Then pigs, if raised in human households, can be famously clean — more so than children! He pokes holes in the standard rationale. It has evolved over many centuries, shaped by Jewish dietary laws (), Jewish festival and Shabbat (Sabbath) traditions. For a Christian Bible reader, the pig thing is a chapter in Israelite history. Then in the Old Testament codes, they’re off limits. What was once an illicit meat consumed with shame is now no longer treif (Yiddish for non-kosher) for these Jews, particularly ones who congregate at farmers' markets instead of synagogues come Saturday morning. General Questions. Pork was just not part of the Israelite diet, so the thinking went. The dietary codes are not creating a nutritional regime. It does, however, make some sense. So whatever reason He had for commanding the Jews not to eat pork and not to do the other things given in the Levitical law, I can trust that He has lifted that command safely for me. Why did the Old Testament Law command against the eating of pork? There is no problem with non-Jews eating pig. 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. . But what does God have against them? Many wanted to read the Bible as a set of conditions for life lived properly. Why Don’t Jews Eat Pork? Jewish cuisine refers to the cooking traditions of the Jewish people worldwide. He asks: “Why should gods so exalted as Jahweh and Allah have bothered to condemn a harmless and even laughable beast whose flesh is relished by the greater part of mankind?”. The rights and responsibility of a firstborn is a great theme of the Bible, especially in the narratives of kings. Could the Israelites of the Bible have not eaten pork to mark a shift from the Philistines who were their hated enemies? Pigs eat garbage, dung, whatever they can get. When it comes to observing religious dietary restrictions, Jews are less fastidious than Muslims or Hindus. “The mouth of a swine is as dirty as dung itself,” the Talmud says. Maybe, he concludes, it’s because swine don’t do well in the Middle East, and compete with humans for food? You must not eat their meat or touch their carcasses; they are unclean for you. And did the Creator of Everything not understand that other meats, when undercooked, also pose dangers to humans? But the Jesus teachings would be, as in Galatians 5:1: It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. She writes: “Unlike cows, sheep, goats, and deer, the only clean land animals, pigs give birth in litters, that is, they are multiparous.”. Jews are forbidden to eat pork, because according to the Torah, pork is not kosher. In 167 B.C., Antiochus IV (Epiphanes), the king of Syria, captured Jerusalem, entered the Temple and sacrificed one on an altar to Zeus—a horrifying sacrilege. The problem with pigs might be “birthing in multiples and with a comparatively short gestation period,” as evokes “the impure and the forbidden.”. It's so specific that you can’t really deny it: Jews are not supposed to eat pork. In the Bible, G‑d lists two requirements for an animal to be kosher (fit to eat) for a Jew: Animals must chew their cud and have split hooves. There are those from liberal Jewish movements that do not follow the Torah and do not keep Jewish law and thus will eat pork even though Jewish law forbids it. 11:7: The swine, because it parts the hoof and is cloven-footed but does not chew the cud, is … Many animals can get anthrax—but pigs can’t. The gospels are a succession story. Was that why? They eat humans!—and each other. … They will eat garbage, feces, and even decaying flesh. Philo, the first century scholar who’s often a guide to biblical-era Jewish views, suggests pigs aren’t eaten because they’re the tastiest land animal. The Bible gives two qualifications for what animals can be consumed: any animal that has cloven hooves and chews its cud can be eaten. Romans used to mock Jews by suggesting that they must not eat pork because they worshipped a “pig god”; the origin story of Hanukkah relates an incident where the Greek monarch Antiochus forced a woman and her seven sons to eat pork, then murdered the sons when they refused. When archaeologists find no pig bones at a site, it is considered an indicator that it was inhabited by Israelites, who eschewed pork, among other animals considered biblically unclean (Lev. Under the Old Testament Law, not only was eating pork forbidden, but even touching the meat of swine made one ritually unclean (Deuteronomy 14:8). Saying “no” to eating pork and other practices of the pagans helped the Israelites to break free from idolatry—a sin they assuredly struggled with (see Exodus 32). Pigs are part of the “good” world. Tune in to Christian discussions and watch them try to figure out which set of pig rules to follow. If so, why hadn’t God given instructions on cooking it? Some believe that 'early Christians' refrained from eating pork, and that the trend for consuming it came later. While 90% of Muslims surveyed said they abjure pork and 67% of Hindus said they avoid beef, only 40% of Jews abstain from eating pork, while 57% affirmed they eat pork. The only issue is that a Jew cannot benefit from pigs. But then, other archaeologists realized there were clues pigs had done fine. Leviticus 11:7-8 And the pig, though it has a divided hoof, does not chew the cud; it is unclean for you. Are there foods a Christian should avoid? But for Jews, and Muslims too, pork can be a big “no.”. But it does make a bit of sense? Remember He didn’t give them to everybody He only gave them to the Israelites. Then, in Mark 7:19, Jesus declares all foods clean. Lisa Noel Babbage is #talkingtruth & #sharinglife, 100% of Republican Senators Identify As Christian — Here’s Why That’s a Problem, Children’s Books, Whiteness, and Christology, Uncivil Religion in America; notes on religion in American politics, morals. Are pigs agents of the devil? They weren’t even permitted to eat bacon. The book of 2 Maccabees narrates scenes: Eleazar, one of the foremost scribes, a man advanced in age and of noble appearance, was being forced to open his mouth to eat pork. To provide some perspective, Katz's Deli in New York even tells customers to "ask for mayo at your own peril." The theory was popular. The Jewish dietary laws are called kashrut. Why do some religious Jews eat pork and shrimp? So maybe that’s why God says not to eat them? 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