How Keeping Kosher Can Add to Your Life....

When I mention keeping kosher to non-Jewish groups visiting the synagogue, I often phrase it in the following manner:  Kashruth means fit and proper.  It is the Jewish way of eating, but not all Jews choose to follow the laws of Kashruth.  In fact, the laws of kashruth, which are expounded upon in today’s parasha, belong to a class of laws called “chukim,” statutes, which are proscribed without a reason being given.  The only understanding from the parasha is that we are to observe these laws in order to strive to be holy.  

That being said, I do not think it is unusual for Jews who keep kosher to try to explain what keeping kosher does for them.  The responses given are varied and might include:

I keep kosher for one reason.  It is commanded in the Torah.

 

1.       Keeping kosher actually reminds me every time food is ingested, who I am and what my  place is in the universe.  It is a constant reminder of my Jewish identity and religious communal alliances.  It creates a sense of difference and separateness. 

         Keeping kosher trains me to master my appetites.  Even though eating non-kosher food might be pleasurable, by keeping kosher eating takes on a dimension that transcends pleasure to a dimension of trying to do what is commanded.

 

3    Kashruth is a constant reminder that the old adage, “we are what we eat,” is true.  The land animals that we are to eat have split hooves and chew their cud.  Animals with split hooves cannot be hunters that run quickly after their prey.  Animals that chew their cuds are herbivores.  Some might see this limitation as a reminder that any predatory inclinations within us must be discouraged. 

4  Kashruth reminds me that if great care must be taken to guard against what goes into my  mouth, then great care must be taken to guard against what comes out of my mouth.  In other words, in a round-about way it is a reminder of the principle of not using lashon ha-rah…the evil tongue!

    Keeping kosher forces me to think about the treatment of animals that are being consumed.  The suffering of slaughtered animals is to be reduced by killing the animals as quickly and painlessly as possible.  The knife used has to be sharp and without any knicks.  The slaughter, the shochet, cannot be just any Jew (Prager and Tellushkin), but a pious and educated Jew, who is trained to minimize the animal’s pain.

 

For anyone who has never kept kosher to all of a sudden change their entire way of eating in one fell swoop, the process might seem overwhelming.  To do it gradually might seem more doable.  For example, in one conversion class curriculum I looked at, it suggested a first step of giving up pork and shellfish products as a first step.  Then it suggested a second step of not eating meat and dairy products at the same meal. Then it suggested not eating meat in a non-kosher restaurant.  Each step in taking on kashrut as a lifestyle change could be viewed as if one were climbing a ladder, one rung at a time.  Personally, I think the process adds meaning to one’s life as a Jew.  That said, if there are individuals at TI who are interested in pursuing climbing the kashrut ladder, I believe we have enough individuals who already keep kosher who can help others with this process.  Just mention it to me and I’m sure either I or other volunteers will help with the process.  It is an integral part of Judaism which on first glance seems to be irrational, but which can indeed add meaning to one’s life.

Shabbat Shalom.