This was beautiful! As a reform Jew, I grew up on shellfish and love the stuff. But ever since my life-changing experience in Israel this summer, I *try* to not eat treyf, which connects me to my experience there. So far, I only broke it once, but it was for a James Beard Foundation dinner, oops. Nobody's perfect, as Judaism teaches.
Yeah, I still remember in Hebrew school my teacher telling us kids that Noah wasn't *perfect*, but he did his best. I appreciate Judaism's acknowledgement that everyone, even the Moses' of the world, make mistakes. Thanks for reading and appreciate the kind words!
Thanks for this. Your practices hew pretty close to my own: I focus on the explicit prohibitions, and not on the later rabbinic expansions. So, like, chickens don't have milk in which to cook their offspring, so I sometimes mix chicken and dairy. I think one of the strengths of Judaism is its pluralism of practice, so I always like hearing how others got to where they are.
We too don’t keep kosher but kosher style. No pork, I do eat shrimp once in awhile, none else in the family does. but interestingly if you look at the diets that are long term better for you they don’t really include shellfish like the gout diet.
We used to have cheeseburgers but no longer.
While I truly think in ancient times kosher was a way of maintaining food integrity and it kept the eater healthy. Today we know about germs and parasites and what caused them.
For us keeping kosher style is more about remembering who you are and where you come from on a daily basis. Your ancestors suffered to keep kosher. They were persecuted because they refused to eat pork. This way we honor their memory. To know where you are going you need to know where you came from.
I do think a kosher diet, on balance, can be pretty healthy. I do think about the food poisoning I'm not risking by never eating shellfish.
And yes, it's easy to take for granted the idea you get to choose what you eat -- but these decisions carried a much greater burden in the past, to your point.
I really appreciate your reading and taking the time to respond!
I don't keep kosher, but I think the dietary restrictions don't have much to do with pork or shellfish, per se. The prohibition could have been chicken or ice cream. The goal (I sense) is to find ways of enabling Jews to be in the world but not of the world. That is, G*d wants some separation, some ways of ensuring that Jews won't assimilate and disappear. Which means it's okay to go to Camden Yards to see the Red Sox play the Orioles, but it's not okay to eat the crabcake sandwiches. Be present, but also, in the words of Mufasa in The Lion King: "Remember who you are."
I think that's all very well put, and thank you for responding! The only point I'd make is around the idea of Jews being "not of the world." My understanding is that while the tradition emphasizes the areas of difference, it also makes clear Jews have a very important part to play *in* the world.
This was beautiful! As a reform Jew, I grew up on shellfish and love the stuff. But ever since my life-changing experience in Israel this summer, I *try* to not eat treyf, which connects me to my experience there. So far, I only broke it once, but it was for a James Beard Foundation dinner, oops. Nobody's perfect, as Judaism teaches.
Yeah, I still remember in Hebrew school my teacher telling us kids that Noah wasn't *perfect*, but he did his best. I appreciate Judaism's acknowledgement that everyone, even the Moses' of the world, make mistakes. Thanks for reading and appreciate the kind words!
Thanks for this. Your practices hew pretty close to my own: I focus on the explicit prohibitions, and not on the later rabbinic expansions. So, like, chickens don't have milk in which to cook their offspring, so I sometimes mix chicken and dairy. I think one of the strengths of Judaism is its pluralism of practice, so I always like hearing how others got to where they are.
I appreciate the comment, and I agree -- the variety in the ways of expressing Judaism is a beautiful thing.
If we can be mindful of what we eat, all the more so, we can mindful of how we act towards one another
Well said.
Beautiful. I appreciate you sharing your journey and search with such openness and depth.
Thanks for saying that, I appreciate the kind words.
We too don’t keep kosher but kosher style. No pork, I do eat shrimp once in awhile, none else in the family does. but interestingly if you look at the diets that are long term better for you they don’t really include shellfish like the gout diet.
We used to have cheeseburgers but no longer.
While I truly think in ancient times kosher was a way of maintaining food integrity and it kept the eater healthy. Today we know about germs and parasites and what caused them.
For us keeping kosher style is more about remembering who you are and where you come from on a daily basis. Your ancestors suffered to keep kosher. They were persecuted because they refused to eat pork. This way we honor their memory. To know where you are going you need to know where you came from.
I do think a kosher diet, on balance, can be pretty healthy. I do think about the food poisoning I'm not risking by never eating shellfish.
And yes, it's easy to take for granted the idea you get to choose what you eat -- but these decisions carried a much greater burden in the past, to your point.
I really appreciate your reading and taking the time to respond!
I don't keep kosher, but I think the dietary restrictions don't have much to do with pork or shellfish, per se. The prohibition could have been chicken or ice cream. The goal (I sense) is to find ways of enabling Jews to be in the world but not of the world. That is, G*d wants some separation, some ways of ensuring that Jews won't assimilate and disappear. Which means it's okay to go to Camden Yards to see the Red Sox play the Orioles, but it's not okay to eat the crabcake sandwiches. Be present, but also, in the words of Mufasa in The Lion King: "Remember who you are."
I think that's all very well put, and thank you for responding! The only point I'd make is around the idea of Jews being "not of the world." My understanding is that while the tradition emphasizes the areas of difference, it also makes clear Jews have a very important part to play *in* the world.
Yes, absolutely.