Dietary Laws
The Torah Prohibition Against Blood and Hunting

The Torah Prohibition Against Blood and Hunting

In Leviticus, God prohibits Israel from eating blood in the strictest terms. This prohibition also includes hunting and eating from the carcass of a dead animal (Leviticus 17:10-16), and the punishment for one who violates this is karet....

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How Do We Determine Which Birds Are Kosher?

How Do We Determine Which Birds Are Kosher?

Leviticus provides four categories of permitted and forbidden foods. Animals are defined by a rule; split hooves and chewing cud signify a kosher animal. Similarly, aquatic life that is permitted is signified by fins and scales. Bugs are...

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Are Locusts Really Kosher?

Are Locusts Really Kosher?

The Torah prohibits eating insects, referring to them as “an abomination”: All winged swarming things that walk on fours shall be an abomination for you. Leviticus 11:20 Given that the Torah defines insects as an abomination, it comes as...

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Being Chosen and Keeping Kosher

Being Chosen and Keeping Kosher

Jews have historically been separated from the other nations by our myriad and complex dietary requirements. This includes both how the food is prepared and the limits on which animals we can eat. God begins to specify dietary restriction...

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Milk and Meat: When Two Rights Make a Wrong

Milk and Meat: When Two Rights Make a Wrong

Exodus 23:19 contains the first of three times the Torah warns Israel, “You shall not boil a kid in its mother's milk” (also found in Exodus 34:26, Deuteronomy 14:21). This prohibition is considered a chok (a torah commandment that is...

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Weekly Torah Portion: Being Kosher, Being Chosen

This week’s portion contains one of the basic fundamentals of kosher eating – the list of animals that are permitted as well as a list of animals that are not. Chapter 11 begins: Speak to the people of Israel, saying, these are the living...

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