“We ought to bear in mind that the dietary laws are not, as some have asserted, motivated by therapeutic considerations, God forbid! Were that so, the Torah would be reduced to the level of a minor medical treatise. This is abhorrent. Moreover the alleged ill-effects can be treated with various drugs, just as there are antidotes to the most powerful poisons. In that event the prohibition would no longer apply, and the Torah would be rendered void. … The non-Jews who eat pork and the meat of other impure animals, birds and fish, enjoy good health and are not affected adversely by these.”
Isaac ben Moses Arama, Akedat Yitzhak, 60. (1480s; published 1522)
2 comments:
I am always pleased when I read texts that decry the notion that the dietary restrictions are done for health or ethical reasons. Lest we forget, the swine, the shrimp, the camel, and the winged bird that does not fly are also God's creations. There is noting inherently dirty, evil, or wrong about these animals- something that our obsession with avoiding them often confuses. Kashrut is, for me, about being an Am Kadosh, a separate people, with our own set of rules that we follow. And it's not that other people are worse or wrong, they are just different. And if they want to eat certain things to remind themselves that they are different, more power to them!
I checked through Rambam's Mishneh Torah, specifically his rules of fitness. Nowhere does he describe keeping Kasher as based in hygenic reasons. He talks about meat (whether it's stale) and other things (quanitity, timing, etc) but nowhere in that section does he say anything like "don't eat pork because it's not as healthy for you."
Interesting, and slightly unrelated, is that he says it's a positive commandment JUST TO KNOW the distinguishing characteristics of various animals. Even before actually eating them, just knowing and learning about them is a mitzvah. I wonder how many people say it's for "hygenic reasons" without knowing the actual nutritional info about a non-kosher thing they decide to eat?
(Information regarding the Mishneh Torah was taken from: Rabbi Avraham Yaakov Finkel, Fundamentals of the Rambam:Ethical and Inspirational Laws and Writings of Maimonides Vol. 1, Eastern Book Press, NY 2005) (pp. 75-81, 392-398)
Post a Comment