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Kashrut / Proper Food
Kashrut and
kosher are forms of a Hebrew word meaning proper.
SEE
COMMENTARY
Y2-32 |
The Torah (Bible) commandments are divided into three categories:
mishpatim / judgments (often called moral laws), edot /
ordinances (sometimes called ceremonial laws), and hukim /
statutes. Yahweh’s statutes (hukim) are standards for
holiness for His people, with basis not stated. They are often
ridiculed by the world. Kashrut (which defines God-given
food) falls into the category of statutes.
The creatures that God gave to man for food, are called kosher
(or clean – meaning proper for food, not meaning washed). They include:
beasts that split the hoof and chew the cud, fish that have fins and
scales, birds that are specified, and insects that have four jointed
legs with which to jump (see list at end of article).
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"For you are a holy people to Yahweh your God, and Yahweh has chosen
you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who
are on the face of the earth. . . . 4 These are the
animals which you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat, the deer,
the gazelle, the roebuck, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope and
the mountain sheep. Any animal that divides the hoof and has the
hoof split in two and chews the cud, among the animals, that you may
eat. . . .. 9 These you may eat of all that are in water:
anything that has fins and scales you may eat, . . .. 11
You may eat any clean bird” – Deuteronomy 14:2-11. Also see
Leviticus 11.
Creatures not given to man for food, are called tamei (or
unkosher or treif or unclean – meaning improper for food, not meaning
unwashed).
2
"For you are a holy people to Yahweh your God, and Yahweh has chosen
you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who
are on the face of the earth. You shall not eat any detestable
thing. . . . 7 you are not to eat of these among those
which chew the cud, or among those that divide the hoof in two: the
camel and the rabbit and the shaphan, for though they chew the cud,
they do not divide the hoof; they are (tamei) unclean for
you. The pig, because it divides the hoof but does not chew the cud,
it is (tamei) unclean for you. You shall not eat any of their
flesh nor touch their carcasses. These you may eat of all that are
in water: anything that has fins and scales you may eat, but
anything that does not have fins and scales you shall not eat; it is
(tamei) unclean for you. . . . 12 these are the
ones (birds) which you shall not eat: . . .” – Deuteronomy 14:2-12.
Arguments against following Biblical kashrut instruction often
result from desired naturally acquired tastes and from misunderstandings
due to traditions and misinterpretations passed down from antinomian
dogma (the idea that Torah – God’s instruction – has been superseded by
teachings of Yeshua or His apostles).
Yeshua (Jesus) said:
"Do not think that I came to abolish the Torah or the Prophets; I
did not come to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I say to you,
until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke
shall pass from the Torah until all is accomplished. Whoever then
annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to
do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven;
but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the
kingdom of heaven”
– Matthew 5:17-19.
*
When Yeshua was challenged by some Pharisees about His disciples eating
without washing their hands, His response is often mistranslated to mean
He changed what is kosher.
For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they carefully
wash their hands, thus observing the traditions of the elders; and
when they come from the market place, they do not eat unless they
cleanse themselves; and there are many other things which they have
received in order to observe, such as the washing of cups and
pitchers and copper pots – Mark 7:3-4.
This is not a statement of condemnation, but one of giving social
background to non-Jews. “The traditions of the elders” are commonly
halakhic rulings as required by Torah, and the phrase does not imply
extra-Biblical man-made rules, though this is sometimes the case.
And He said to them, "Are you so lacking in understanding also? Do
you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside
cannot defile him; because it does not go into his heart, but into
his stomach, and is eliminated, thus purging all foods?" –
Mark 7:18-19.
The last clause (katharizon
panta ta bromate
/
thus purging all foods) is often mistranslated “Thus He declared
all foods clean.” That would be inconsistent with the subject of
the passage (eating with unwashed hands). It would also contradict
Yeshua’s teachings:
"Do not think that I came to abolish the Torah or the Prophets; I did
not come to abolish . . .”
– Matthew 5:17. It may be noted that “all foods” were always (kosher)
clean, that being the definition of food; things that are (tamei)
unclean were never called food.
The problem here was not that some Pharisees were insisting on
kashrut laws that Yeshua had abolished. The problem was that some
Pharisees sought to publicly find fault with Yeshua, by putting minor
stricter-than-Biblical standards ahead of major Biblical judgments.
While hand washing is good, making it a requirement above providing
necessary food was simply looking for an excuse to condemn Yeshua.
Yeshua’s response was simply explaining that any dirt passed from
unwashed hands onto food was purged by the digestive system, and that
the real problem here was the words that went forth from their hearts
through their mouths.
*
Regarding Peter’s vision in Acts 10: No food was present here, and Peter
ate nothing. Peter, having spent years with Yeshua, still knew of no
change in kashrut laws. Jews generally saw gentiles as unclean
like pigs. God presented a vision to tell Peter not to avoid gentiles
whom He had cleansed.
Peter said, "You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a man who is
a Jew to associate with a foreigner or to visit him; and yet God has
shown me that I should not call any man unholy or unclean. That is
why I came without even raising any objection when I was sent for” –
Acts 10:28-29.
*
Paul did not require gentile Corinthians to eat only rabbinic certified
kosher food: he said to eat what was sold in the markets, but he was
referring to that which God defined as food. Even having been offered to
idols does not change the permissibility of the food (food offered to
idols was commonly sold later in the markets), but we must not partake
of food in such a way that we would appear to be worshipping idols.
The Apostle Paul said, “Eat anything that is sold in the meat
market, without asking questions for conscience ' sake; for the
earth is the Lord's, and all it contains. If one of the unbelievers
invites you, and you wish to go, eat anything that is set before
you, without asking questions for conscience ' sake. But if anyone
should say to you, 'This is meat sacrificed to idols,' do not eat
it, for the sake of the one who informed you, and for conscience '
sake; I mean not your own conscience, but the other man's; for why
is my freedom judged by another's conscience? If I partake with
thankfulness, why am I slandered concerning that for which I give
thanks? Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all
to the glory of God” – 1 Corinthians 10:25-31.
The bottom line is this: do we speak and eat according to our own
feelings and traditions, or grow in learning and practicing what God
says about how we should speak and what we should eat? The physical and
spiritual are paralleled here.
God-given for Food
Forbidden to Eat
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ANIMALS [chew cud, split hoof]
Cattle Pigs
Sheep Rabbits
Goats Bear
Deer – Elk – Moose Frogs
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BIRDS [itemized in Bible]
Chickens Bats
Turkeys Owls
Ducks Vultures
Geese Pelicans
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FISH [fins and scales]
Salmon Clams – Oysters
Trout Crab –
Lobster
Snapper Shrimp
Halibut Octopii
Tuna Catfish
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INSECTS [jointed-leg jumpers]
Locusts Other insects
Crickets “Natural
colors”
Grasshoppers from insects
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MISC.
Milk from Reptiles
kosher animals
Eggs from
kosher birds
Honey is kosher . . . . . . . . . . Bees are not kosher
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