| "You are what you eat", so the old saying goes. With today's modern meat and food processing we no longer have to worry about things like tape worm and other nasty little bugs. But the law's of Kosher were not set down by G-d as a mere safety net for our physical health. What you eat not only effects your digestive health it effects your spiritual health as well. It is not by chance that the majority of forbidden mammals, birds and fish are predators or scavengers that eat the dead. These animal posses a cruel nature, and as the saying goes you are what you eat. We avoid these predators so that we do not absorb their cruel nature. Thus by staying away from Non-Kosher animals we can help to refine our own nature. The Bible does give a list of the forbidden birds, though it does not name those mammals that are kosher or forbidden. It simply gives two markers that must both be present to qualify an animal as kosher, a split hoof and the chewing of the cud. Interestingly the Torah lists only 4 mammals, these mammals all have one thing in common, they only have one of the markers. These animals are the camel, hare, swine and hyrax. In the last 33 centuries since G-d commanded these laws to Moses, entire continents, replete with many "new" and unimagined species have been discovered. Many of these species have had both Kosher markers or neither of the markers making them un-kosher, but none have had just one like the four listed in the Bible! This my friends as they say is "just the tip of the ice berg" when it comes to the laws of keeping Kosher, but it is a good place to start. Next time you sit down to eat, take a pause and think about how it will effect both your physical health and your spiritual well being. Are you what you eat? |
Love Yehuda
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