Parashat Re'eh: Kashrut? A Question for the Ages

 I can't recall if the following took place on a Boeing 737 or 757, but it was your typical charter flight-type of airplane.  I don't sit next to the window as I'm not particularly fond of heights (which is strange granted that I've been blessed to fly to numerous destinations) and I hadn't managed to secure the aisle seat.  I was therefore squashed in the middle of my row.  The one to the left of the single aisle that ran down the centre of the plane.

All was fine if I didn't need to stretch my legs or use the facilities.  Cruising at an altitude of 37,000 feet allows you to relax whilst praying that you don't have a child directly behind you kicking your seat for the entire journey.  If you've had that one answered, the next is the hope that it isn't a screaming baby instead.

Nestled relatively comfortably in my seat, my attention was drawn to the stewardess who asked me if I had requested a Kosher meal.  I answered in the affirmative and she then gave me the following:

·         a shrink-wrapped white plastic moulded tray which contained a foil covered cup containing 'orange juice'

·         a sealed plastic bag with cutlery, salt and ketchup along with a container that looked like a salad, but I couldn't be sure

·         something that resembled a chocolate muffin.

·         Finally, the pièce de résistance which consisted of a rectangular foil dish that was so hot, it could cause serious burns if it had to be handled for more than a few seconds. 

That was the easy part!

I was sitting there, boxed in on both sides by strangers whom I did not know.  I required the dexterity of a crew member of the International Space Station to be able to remove the plastic from the tray whilst simultaneously trying to unbuckle the cover from the steaming hot foil dish, all the while attempting to avoid nudging either neighbour in the process.  Retrieving the plastic cutlery was less challenging but when the top of the fork gave up the fight in a battle with trying to de-skin the over-cooked chicken, I knew that I was facing a losing battle.  Consuming the said fowl, utilising a miniature plastic knife and spoon, was not at all rewarding.  One really shouldn't feel a sense of relief when the meal is over but that's exactly the emotion that spread throughout my thoroughly stressed-out body.

My neighbour to my left looked at me and at the empty and scratched tray and I felt that I had to explain that I had ordered a 'Kosher' meal.

'What's that?' she enquired.  Oh boy.

Fortunately, it was a long flight but as I explained the various rules and regulations that we read in this week's Parasha, I really did wonder what she must have thought of this central tenet of Judaism.  The laws pertaining to Kashrut are classified under the heading of Chukim - Statutes.  Why can we eat a, b and c?  Because.  Why can't we eat x,y and z?  Because.  No explanation. 

It just is.

I can't provide a reason because we are not given one.  However, taking a closer look at the language the Torah uses to describe the different categories of animals, fish and birds that are either kosher or treif (the literal meaning of which is 'torn') perhaps gives a hint of Gd's rationale in proscribing our dietary laws (and by extension an explanation for my juggling act at 37,000 feet off the ground.)

Devarim: 14.19-20

All swarming, flying creatures are impure (‘Tamei’) for you: they may not be eaten.  You may however, eat any pure (‘Tahor’) flying creature.

In delineating whether an animal (or in this example, a bird) is permitted or prohibited, the Torah repeatedly uses the term Tahor or Tamei (and this is also the case in the earlier list in Parashat Shemini).  Incidentally, these are also the words used to describe the pairs of animals that entered Noah's ark.  Seven pairs of pure or in our parlance, Kosher animals, as opposed to a single pair of each set of non-kosher creatures (referred to as being Tamei).

The usage of Tahor and Tamei appears repeatedly in the Torah in another context concerning the spiritual purity of the Bnei Yisrael, particularly when it came to matters concerning the bringing of sacrifices to the Mishkan.  A person who had come into contact with a corpse or dead creature was not allowed to bring an offering until they had been purified.  They had to be Tahor, spiritually pure to partake in any religious worship.  This is why so many mikvaot have been unearthed through archaeological digs around the Har Habayit, the Temple Mount.  In fact, the entire structure of the Beit Hamikdash, both above and below ground, was predicated on it not being susceptible to becoming Tamei, an example of which was the work required by the Hasmoneans to banish the desecration caused by the Greeks.  Volumes of the Talmud are dedicated to discussing this issue, which we find very hard to fathom in the present day.

 Could this notion indicate a connection between the ancient rituals that our ancestors had to follow and our being given the laws of Kashrut? 

Numerous Rabbis known as 'The Rishonim' (living between the 11th and 15th centuries) such as the Rashbam (Rashi's Grandson, d.1158), the Rambam (d.1204) and the Abarbanel (d.1508) discuss this in great detail, looking at the idea from different angles but the crux of the matter focuses on how our inner beings are impacted by eating 'pure' or 'impure' food, both on a physical and spiritual plane (pun intended!)

Rabbi Shamshon Refael Hirsch (d.1888) describes how the human body resembles the Temples in respect of how meat from non-Kosher animals is detrimental to our bodies' ability to achieve its spiritual objectives.  Just as the Beit Hamikdash could not function as a House of Gd when it was not being operated in such a manner by the Jewish people, so our bodies become an example of the famous idiom of 'you are what you eat'.  He also notes that creatures that are pure are all herbivorous and in eating only kosher animals, fish and birds, we are able to sublimate the more animalistic or impure nature of our genetic makeup. 

It is also interesting to note that in recent times, during the various scares which involved the contamination of meat, for examples during the BSE outbreak in the 1990s, our Kosher butchers found themselves to be very popular amongst our non-Jewish neighbours who perceived Kosher meat as being 'cleaner', or as we could say 'purer' than that found in the general population.

If the idea that eating Kosher meat, fish or foul will result in our having more robust spiritual constitutions, this can only have a positive impact on us, individually and as a nation. Perhaps, that is the reason why Gd gave us those laws in the first place.

Shavuah Tov.