“The food which is forbidden by the Torah is unwholesome. There is nothing among the forbidden kinds of food whose harmful character is doubted, except pork and fat. But in these cases, too, the doubt is not justified. For pork contains more moisture than is necessary and too much of superfluous matter. The principle reason why the Torah forbids swine’s flesh is to be found in the circumstance that its habits and its food are very dirty and loathsome. It has already been pointed out how emphatically the Torah enjoys the removal of the sight of loathsome objects, even in the field and the camp, how much more objectionable is such a sight in towns! But if it were allowed to eat swine’s flesh, the streets and houses would be filthier than any cesspool as may be seen at present in the country of the Franks. A saying of our Sages declared: ‘The mouth of a swine is as filthy as dung itself.’”
Moses Maimonides, Guide for the Perplexed 3:48. (1191)
3 comments:
not sure yet how to get a copy of this little guy:
http://www.amazon.com/Rambams-Guide-Perplexed-Kosher-Chef/dp/B0037A6XL0/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top
In the version of Pulp Fiction in my head, I humbly play Vincent Vega and Maimonides plays Jules Winnfield (what a ham! [too soon?]). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0zJSgHDnpw
When I was pregnant with Noah, I craved bacon. Granted, I craved lots of strange foods but I didn’t feel particularly guilty about any of my cravings except this one. It might have been because I gave in to just about every single craving I had once I could eat solid food in the second tri-mester. I made myself nuts about the bacon craving. Day-dreaming about lunch, I could almost smell the crispy bacon as I sat in my office working to convince myself that tofu-bacon tasted just the same.
Then, a bacon miracle happened. Speaking to one of the rabbis at the synagogue where I was working,, he asked me how I was feeling. This is a question pregnant women hear about 17 times a day and to which I usually answered, “I’m great. Thanks for asking.” Instead, I confessed my illicit dreams about bacon. He laughed and then made my day by sharing the fabulous Talmudic exception for pregnant women and non-kosher food (Yoma 82a). I practically ran to my favorite diner. The BLT on white bread tasted amazing. I never had another craving for bacon. The knowledge that I could if I wanted was enough for me.
Some fun links about the lure of bacon (and other illicit white meat products): http://www.forward.com/articles/139697/ and http://porkmemoirs.com/
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