Parshat Parah and Mevarchin Chodesh Nissan - Leviticus 9-11:47 We are how we eat!
by Rabbi Jeremy Rosen
This week in the reading from the Torah, we have the first mention of those animals that we can and can't eat. Every quadruped has to have a split hoof and chew the cud. Fish must have fins and scales. There is no formula for birds, but a list is given that excludes birds of prey that eat carrion. Where does such an idea come from and what is its purpose? Human beings have been selecting what to eat and what not, what animals are worshipped or regarded as taboo for thousands of years.
Does it make any difference what kind of food we eat and whether one kind of food is more dangerous or healthier than another? Over the years many people have tried to come up with lots of different explanations. It has to do with what animals are easy to domesticate, which spread diseases, or are needed for carrying people or loads, what can be easily bred, what animals are bottom feeders, live underground, or eat decaying meat. Animals that are carnivores or attack humans. But there is no single answer that explains all the creatures mentioned. So often people prefer a non-rational, mystical explanation that some animals, birds, and fish represent negativity in a spiritual sense and can, so to speak, degrade our humanity.
I believe that having rules about eating is very functional. The rituals are designed to get us to think about our food and to think before we act in general. Food and drink are essential for our well-being. Too little food can be as dangerous as too much food. Food nourishes us, but we tend to misuse it. every day we take it for granted. I don't think it matters whether we know why or how some creatures came to be permitted and others not or how it all evolved, even if it may be arbitrary ( or Divine if you prefer).
The function of ritual is not, in my opinion, to please God but to improve ourselves. It is what we call utilitarian, to help us lead a considered and disciplined life. To achieve this, one needs to think before one acts. The rituals around the preparation of food, and the process of eating, are designed to get us to think about what it is that one is eating and what the context of eating is, to bring us together, family, friends, and colleagues to communicate with each other.
This is why in the Jewish tradition each meal is a combination of the spiritual and the physical. Thanking God before and after a meal. There's a tradition of always studying a little bit and talking about something of importance during a meal, even during the week. The great scholar Maimonides who lived 1000 years ago wrote a whole tome about the right way to eat, the amount and the way to eat, what is healthy, what is not, what is balanced and what is not and included directions on manners as well as contents in his books of law.
Nowadays we are all aware of the significance of food in terms of diet and calories. We all have our private diets and routines. You might wonder why can't create our own list of kosher foods. One could and one often does, but then it becomes so personal and individual that one loses sight of being part of a wider religious and national culture that reinforces our place in a community and a people and gives a sense of our identity. It is what differentiates the Jewish way of life from others in the hope that it will make us better people. All religions want to achieve the same long-term ethical goals, but each one has its specific way of carrying this out in practice and this is one of the ways we Jews do it.
I do not want to think in terms of not eating kosher somehow damaging our souls and bodies but rather in terms of getting us to think, consider, appreciate and be better.
This Shabbat we announce the impending arrival of the month of Nissan when we celebrate Pesach. The extra reading on Shabbat of Parah reminds us to start getting ready! Nothing like being prepared.
Shabbat shalom
Rabbi Jeremy
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Jeremy Rosen was born in Manchester, England, the eldest son of Rabbi Kopul Rosen and Bella Rosen. Rosen's thinking was strongly influenced by his father, who rejected fundamentalist and obscurantist approaches in favour of being open to the best the secular world has to offer while remaining committed to religious life. He was first educated at Carmel College, the school his father had founded based on this philosophical orientation. At his father's direction, Rosen also studied at Be'er Yaakov Yeshiva in Israel (1957–1958 and 1960). He then went on to Merkaz Harav Kook (1961), and Mir Yeshiva (1965–1968) in Jerusalem, where he received semicha from Rabbi Chaim Leib Shmuelevitz in addition to Rabbi Dovid Povarsky of Ponevezh and Rabbi Moshe Shmuel Shapiro of Yeshivat Be'er Ya'akov. In between Rosen attended Cambridge University (1962–1965), graduating with a degree in Moral Sciences.