Laws of Kashrut

"Why do you keep kosher?" An innocent question, thrown out by a friendly non-Jewish coworker. I dare say, I sputtered, muttered something about the laws of an observant Jew, and then spent the rest of the day wondering. Why do I keep kosher? What is the source of the mitzvah? What's the reason behind it? Should there be a reason behind it?

With much feelings of gratitude to my coworker for setting me on this path, I set out to investigate the source of the mitzvah of Kashrut. Here I present a concise outline based on Rabbi Becher's response to the question (which can be found online at http://www.simpletoremember.com/articles/a/kosher-why)

Read and enjoy. Refer to source for detailed proofs.

• The Basic Laws
• animals
• animal: chew cud & split hooves
• no birds of prey, most others are kosher
• fish: fins & scales
• animal and bird must be slaughtered
• animal & bird must have no physical pathologies
• no eating chelev (type of fat), blood, and sciatic nerve
• no meat & milk and no poultry and milk
• agriculture
• Orlah (no fruit in first three yrs of tree life)
• tithes taken in Israel
• limited due to sociological impact:
• wine & grapejuice made by non-Jews
• unsupervised milk products
• cooked and processed foods made by non-Jews
• Reasons for the Laws
• Is understanding necessary in order to do?
• no!
• Can we understand all the reasons?
• Ramban - "the absence of reasons for the Torah (that we can understand), is a result of our own intellectual blindness"
• Rambam explains that we can understand reasons for broad categories of mitzvos, but not for the nuances of the mitzvos
• we are not really understanding the reasons. Really, we are understanding the effect that they have on a person.
• mitzvos given to refine mankind
• in other words, we can understand the side-benefits that the mitzvos bring to us
• Rav Dessler: "taamei hamitzvos" - word means taste. We eat food to survive, but nonetheless enjoy it. Likewise, do mitzvos b/c Hashem said, but there are also other side benefits that Hashem allows us to enjoy when doing the mitzvos.
• Why should we try to understand the reasons?
• Rav David Gottleib:
• will improve the quality of mitzvos
• taamei hamitzvos are explanations of how the behavioral rules of Judaism are connected with the values of Judaism. Through knowledge of the reasons we learn what the values of Judaism are.
• Helps us do the mitzvos with joy
• Reasons for Kashrus
• self-control
• prevent us from becoming callous and cruel beings
• shechita done in gentle manner that has minimal harm to animal
• meat & milk - reminds us where our food is coming from
• we don't mix meat (whose source is death) with milk (a life-giving substance)
• reminds us of the source of our food
• symbolism - the animals we eat are gentle natured animals
• social barrier against assimilation
• no eating deformed, diseased animals or carcasses - reminds us to be dignified people

I pause to thank my coworker for asking the question, and to Rabbi Becher for providing the answer.

Watch what you eat; it will make you a better Jew.