Kashrut And Its Spirit

Framing the conversation, Part 1:

The Jewish people is not just a faith community; it is not merely a collection of individuals, each longing to connect himself or herself spiritually with God. Rather, Judaism is a way of life of a people chosen by God to be a medium of His vision of holiness and justice.

R. David Hartman, from “An Open Letter to A Reform Rabbi,” in A Heart of Many Rooms p. 196 (2001)

Framing the conversation, Part 2:

Jesus of Nazareth is reported to have said, "It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth" (Matthew 15:11; Mark 7:15). In referring to "what goes into the mouth," he was speaking not of the dietary laws of the Bible but rather of the Pharisaic requirement to wash the hands before eating. There is no reason to doubt the Jesus observed the biblical food restrictions, and there is no reason to think that he called for their abrogation.

But the new church soon had more Gentile than Jewish adherents, and it rapidly adjusted to this situation. The apostle Peter was said to have been shown in a vision that the impure animals were no longer forbidden. At a historic gathering, it was decided that Gentile converts to Christianity need refrain only from the meat of idolatrous sacrifices, from blood and from animals that had been strangled (Acts 15:20).

​In later centuries, Christian critics of Judaism vehemently attacked the dietary laws, with the result that Jewish resistance stiffened. Many Christians resented the unwillingness of Jews to eat in Christian homes.

​The desire to break down such barriers was one of the considerations that led the founders of the Reform movement to rethink the question of dietary observance. The issue was raised in Reform Jewish circles in the 1840s, if not earlier, and was under discussion for some decades. In 1885, a group of distinguished Reform rabbis adopted the famous Pittsburgh Platform. It contained the statement: "We hold that all such Mosaic and rabbinical laws as regulate diet, priestly purity, and dress originated in ages and under the influence of ideas entirely foreign to our present mental and spiritual state. They fail to impress the modern Jew with a spirit of priestly holiness; their observance in our days is apt rather to obstruct rather than to further modern spiritual elevation." However, Isaac M Wise, the chief organizer of the movement in America, and publicly advocated the retention of these laws for hygienic reasons and urged that they not be made the subject of controversy and bitterness.

Today the whole question of eating should be viewed in terms of our frequent statements that Judaism deals with every aspect of human life. Judaism has also encouraged the enjoyment of simple pleasures. It is a mitzvah to have a good Sabbath dinner, just as it is a mitzvah to fast on Yom Kippur. But on the other hand, the experience of self-control is at least as educational as the experience of the latest "taste thrill." The traditional dietary laws – despite Maimonides – did not automatically generate self-control: one could gorge oneself on kosher food. Yet, in practice, adherence to kashrut meant for many people, not merely self-discipline, but real sacrifice.

This is not to argue that we should all revert to the laws of Leviticus 11; it means only that there are many religious aspects to the question of what we eat and how much, and of what there is for others to eat.

The Torah: A Modern Commentary, Revised Edition, Page 721

Nevertheless, the medieval Jewish philosophers did try to provide a rationale for the mysterious details of the dietary laws....

Maimonides (Guide of the Perplexed III:48) understands the dietary laws chiefly as a means of keeping the body healthy....

Nahmanides, in his commentary to the Pentateuch [the Torah], tends to see the dietary laws as beneficial to the soul rather than the body. Nahmanides observes that the forbidden animals and birds are predators, so that for man to eat of their flesh will have an adverse effect on his character, whereas the permitted animals and birds are calmer and far less violent. As for fishes, those that have fins and scales are able to swim nearer to the surface of the water where they can inhale the fresher air, whereas the other fish lurk in the murky waters of the deep, and their flesh is less clear and refined. (Louis Jacobs, Traditional Teachings on the Meaning of Kashrut, in: The Jewish Religion - a companion, Oxford University Press, 1995)

>>>What we have is a question of getting used to cruelty and less admirable traits. I have seen how lobsters are boiled alive, and the sheer thought of it makes me cringe. The same thing happened when I saw a pig being killed. Or rather, I heard. I could not actually see it.

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (Horeb, 317, transl. I. Grunfeld)

Just as the external temple, which represents your holy mission and to which you should sanctify yourself, becomes desecrated by impurity...so are these foods impure and unfit for your spirit, as far as they are all of them the living place of activity for your own being which is summoned unto holiness. If you have eaten them. not only touched but absorbed them into your system- you may be more nourished and better fed: but the animal instinct will be aroused more strongly within you, and your body becomes more blunted as an instrument of the spirit. Your heart, instead of being holy, instead of only striving for holiness- namely, your sublimity over everything animal-like, is drawn down to the animal- or become the more apathetic and dulled. Your spirit is now faced with a fiercer battle. and is less equipped for the fight".

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo (Times of Israel, http://tinyurl.com/z6h8va3)

There is little doubt that one of the functions of the kashrut laws is to protect the animal from pain even during the slaughtering. ... Still, we cannot deny that in our own slaughterhouses, where proper shechita is done, there have been serious violations of another law –- tza’ar baalei chayim (the Torah’s prohibition against inflicting unnecessary pain on animals). How are these animals handled just before the shechita takes place? Are they treated with mercy when they are put on their backs so as to make the shechita easier? (This can easily be accomplished with the known Weinberg Pen, or by other methods.) What if chickens or other fowl are kept under the most unacceptable conditions, such as in overcrowded containers? Are these animals and chickens still kosher, even if the shechita was 100% accurate? Since when is the actual shechita more important than the laws of tza’ar baalei chayim? ... Since the massive growth of the meat industry, in which thousands and thousands of animals are slaughtered daily, it has become more and more difficult, if not impossible, to treat animals humanely, as Jewish law requires. The laws of shechita and tzaar ba’alei chayim were meant for Jewish communities who would eat meat occasionally, not for the huge industry we have today where these laws can no longer be properly applied. That being the case, wouldn’t it be appropriate and advisable for religious Jews to become vegetarians? In all honesty, how many of our “glatt kosher” kitchens, including my own, are still truthfully kosher? A haunting question, from which we cannot hide!

Rabbi David Wolpe (Jewish Journal, 03/05/2010, tinyurl.com/yd4qok5)

I have not eaten chicken or meat for decades. I readily acknowledge that Judaism does not ask this of me. Kashrut is not vegetarianism. But kashrut is a reminder of Judaism’s concern with animal suffering.... Many biblical heroes are shepherds; animals too must rest on the Sabbath (Ex. 20:20) and the bible legislates many other protections for animals. We are the custodians of creation. Our first responsibility is to be kind.

Michael Freund (JPost, 11/04/2015 source: tinyurl.com/gv8jynr)

The aisles of Home Depot are probably the last place in the world one would expect to confront a kosher conundrum.... precisely amid the myriad merchandise on display that I caught a glimpse of what has gone wrong with the kosher certification industry, and why urgent measures are necessary to rein in its excesses.

Many consumers are familiar with the ubiquitous “OU” symbol, which signifies that a product is certified kosher by the Orthodox Union.... [But] consider for a moment this simple question: what does keeping kosher have to do with cleaning a chandelier? If you are having trouble furnishing an answer to this riddle, you are not alone.

Rabbi Edward Feld (CJ Kolot, http://tinyurl.com/zjq5or6)

But the way Conservative Jews keep kosher is not simply a matter of finding leniencies. There is no “Conservative kashrut.” Kashrut is kashrut, at least as it relates to shechita – ritual slaughter. But for Conservative Jews, it is also much more. One of the hallmarks of the Conservative approach to Jewish law is its sensitivity to ethical issues.

The true hypocrite is the one who ceases to perceive his deception, the one who lies with sincerity.

(André Gide, The Counterfeiters, transl. Dorothy Bussy, p. 427)

Eco-Kashrut

For almost twenty-five years, since his article, "Toward an Ethical Kashrut," was published with Rebecca Alpert in the journal Reconstructionist in the spring of 1987,¹ Rabbi Arthur Waskow has been talking about standards of kashrut that extend beyond the traditional ritual requirements. In his book Down-to-Earth Judaism: Food, Money, Sex, and the Rest of Life,² he asks some questions that illustrate his extended definition of what could be included in an expanded, more contemporary understanding of kashrut:

1. Are tomatoes grown by drenching the earth in pesticides "kosher" to eat, at home, or at a synagogue wedding reception?
2. Is newsprint made by chopping down ancient and irreplaceable forest "kosher" to use to make a Jewish newspaper?
3. What about windows and doors so built that the warm air flows out through them and the furnace keeps burning all night? Are such doors and windows "kosher" for a home or for a Jewish Community Center building?
4. Is a bank that deposits its depositor's money in an oil company that befouls the ocean a "kosher" place for me or for the UJA to deposit money?

When Rabbi Waskow began his campaign for a broadened definition of kashrut, his was a voice from the periphery of the Jewish community. Today, his call has been embraced by all of the major non-Haredi movements of Judaism.

The concept of ethical kashrut has become quite mainstream. In recent years we have seen it embraced by the Conservative Movement in their Magen Tzedek Campaign. According to the union organizer, Louis Nayman, Magen Tzedek is:³

. . . intended to assure purchasers that a kashrus-compliant product also conforms to Biblical and Talmudic ethical values and standards regarding the treatment of workers, animal welfare, environmental impact and fair business dealings. Criteria for product certification include: living-wage compensation and decent benefits, neutrality in labor organizing drives, documented compliance with EPA and OSHA regulations, adherence to humane animal treatment and farm standards, responsible energy and water consumption, use of sustainable materials and alternative fuels, and fair treatment of immigrant workers.

Uri LeTzedek, an Orthodox organization that led the charge against Agriprocessors, has developed its own standard, the Tav HaYosher, which requires that a kosher restaurant comply with American civil law with regard to minimum wage, overtime pay, breaks, discrimination, and a safe and sanitary work environment.

Of course in our own [Reform] movement, we have seen this extended understanding of kashrut highlighted in Rabbi Eric Yoffie's sermon at the Toronto Biennial, ⁴ November 7, 2009, and in the recent work of our movement through the Religious Action Center in the area of food justice. Rabbi Yoffie began by reminding us what was at stake morally in the boycotting of grapes in earlier decades: "We do not bless or consume food produced by acts of injustice, by mistreating animals, or by despoiling the environment."

He also urged a decrease in meat consumption, pointing out that one fifth of all human-produced greenhouse emissions come from the meat industry and that a meat meal requires five times the fossil fuel as compared to a vegan meal. The Religious Action Center has a variety of materials available for those interested in sustainability and food justice.

Actually the relationship between ritual standards and social responsibility with regard to foodstuffs is not new. In this week's Torah portion, we move directly from the laws of kashrut into the laws of tithes, concluding with the third tithe, which was to provide for the landless Levite, and the stranger, orphan, and widow. Chapter 14 begins with a reminder that the Israelites are a people consecrated to God. Therefore they should not gash themselves in mourning their dead (Deuteronomy 14:2) nor should they "eat anything abhorrent" (14:3). After listing the permitted and prohibited animals, fish, and birds (14:4-20), the chapter continues with the prohibition on eating "anything that has died a natural death" and on boiling "a kid in its mother's milk" (14:21). Without a pause, the text continues with a discussion of tithes. First we read about the rituals associated with bringing the tithe up to Jerusalem (14:22-26), but then the text continues with social concerns:

But do not neglect the [family of the] Levite in your community, for he has no hereditary portion as you have. Every third year you shall bring out the full tithe of your yield of that year, but leave it within your settlements. Then the (family of the) Levite, who has no hereditary portion as you have, and the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow in your settlements shall come and eat their fill so that the Eternal your God may bless you in all the enterprises you undertake. (14:27-29)

Traditional Jewish commentaries would not accept the juxtaposition of two topics as random but saw propinquity in the text as an indication of an inner relationship. True kashrut, one could argue, must have some relationship with our caring for the vulnerable members of our society, otherwise these two topics would not follow, one upon the other, in the Torah text.

I find support for this idea too in the Pharisees, the early rabbis of the early Christian era, known for their stringency in terms of tithes. They formed chavurot or eating circles so that they might be assured that their food was not only kosher (in the sense of coming from an appropriate animal, slaughtered and prepared properly), but also that it had been tithed, and that which should have been set aside for the Temple or shared with others had been removed. Since they ate mostly agricultural products, tithing of these products was an important issue.5

Our Torah portion this week points us in the direction of understanding that which is kasher, that is, fit to eat, as being not only ritually compliant, but also morally defensible.

¹ Arthur Waskow and Rebecca T. Alpert, "Toward an Ethical Kashrut,"Reconstructionist (March-April, 1987), pp. 9-13
² Arthur Waskow, Down-to-Earth Judaism: Food, Money, Sex, and the Rest of Life(New York: William Morrow, 1995), p. 117
³ Louis Nayman, "Kosher Gets Ethical: A New Standard Is about to Remake American Jews' Dietary Code," Monday January 10, 2010
⁴ Eric Yoffie, "Toronto Biennial Sermon," November 7, 2009
⁵ Jacob Neusner, The Rabbinic Traditions about the Pharisees Before 70: Part I, The Masters [Netherlands: E.J. Brill, 1971) p. 289

Rabbi Melanie Aron is the senior rabbi at Congregation Shir Hadash in Los Gatos, California. She has served on the URJ Board of Trustees and as chair of the URJ Committee on Adult Jewish Learning, and is involved in interfaith activities in her community.

- See more at: http://www.reformjudaism.org/eco-koshers-biblical-roots#sthash.YYETIaDb.dpuf