Shalom, Rabbi John from Greensburg. And I am going to talk to you today about kosher one on one exactly what it is, with the Torah of the five books of Moses command us to keep closure. We have the story in the first book in genesis about not be able to eat blood, that is in the Noah’s story but little bit later and in interesting story about a wrestling match between Jacob and some figure that is un identified it tells us what forbidden to eat of the sin of the thy. Which for Jewish from your at means the high importer of the cow. And then later in Leviticus chapter 11 and tells us about most of the other foods that we know about cashew, it tells us that mammals in order to be even have to had split horns and toddle cuds. It says that any fish that we eat that comes from the sea has have fins and scales. At least can birds that we can eaten the birds from the Cannati as also as well as some insects but Jewish from here have any tradition of eating insects. The Torah also for the times says that we are not allowed to eat a kid that is cook than into mother’s milk. Which our aged says just only identified is the general probation eating milk and eats products together. Defining Deuteronomy it tells us that we have to slower the animals in the particular way. These are the basic wills of cashew, there are some other issues too but basically this is it.
For Jews who keep closure who need to have separate pipes and pans and dishes from meaty milk. You have to buy only meat that is slaughtered in a particular way and no blood, all the blood has to be drained. We can not eat any shrimp and other see foods but only fish that for instance scales. And we certain domesticated birds, now why does God want this? While the Torah really does not say, it says in general that we should be holy and that is why. Entire to know what is exactly in Gods mind, you can never know that but I will give you an idea of what some scholar think it is, the most important thing in life to God is life itself and good news, now with those people kill themselves they kill other people in large numbers, they kill the animals, we are even destroying the earth itself. We need to learn to preserve life and so much of Judaism tries to teach to do that. And the way how much we eat and do not eat also can teach us that.
And so we are forbidden to mix the thing that represents life to us, milk with the thing that represents that to us flesh and so we cannot eat milk and meat together. We need to wait a period in between. And mostly in our tradition we will wait an hour or three hours or six hours depending where you come from. In addition with that we need to discipline of not being able to kill anything we want, anytime we want but only certain things at a certain times we are allowed to eat. Maybe God prefers we be vegetarians in fact Adam and Eve were. Eating meat was only a concession giving to Noah later in the bible. But if we will going to eat meat we have to maintain this disciplines that cause that we remind ourselves to treasure life and value life above all else.
And so by the Jewish people for thousand of years and adhering to this rules of Kosher, we have inculcator and still that our hearts and souls a desire to preserve life. We are not kill things and discriminately. It is a rare person; it was allowed to kill any animal. At all mostly people can have killing to have and eat. And that we are forced domestic killing the animal with the spot and dignity and it was only a certain race of slaughter has the pour the blood check the internal organs and say a prayer treating that more us of life tenderly. We are not allowed to hunt the animals then eat them, we are not allowed to trapped animals and eat them, and we never eat animals that we find dead. Only animals that are killed by hand to teach us about the power of the laws of life. And so, it is ashamed that more of Jews are not keeping Kosher of these days. And we do not have to be fanatics, I tell you a little joke about fanaticism I mean how that will always be some Jew telling you to unite kosher enough or do you kosher. Now the background it was joking you need to know is that meat has to be slaughtered properly and fish does not. And so the man is so bias, and God decided to be the waiter and the cook for this man. And he says, you know have you been you went so bias, you know by tradition, you are offered either fresh or meat what would you like? Cause the man ask certain of be kosher, he says the guy, well tell me who is going to make the meat is properly slaughtered and prepared properly. And God says, I will. The man said, well it is very nice but I think the fish.
So we do not have to be fanatics about it, the Orthodox has certain has certain extra laws which man may not be necessary like that clock kosher is a brand new thing from Hungarian Jewish. Just by a century ago. We believe and we that allowed conservative no one believes that is okay to eat hot food out and uncultured restaurants as long as the food itself is prepared in a way that it does not five-nine kosher ingredients. And most conservative Rabbis do that. You do not have to be fanatics about it but the more kosher you can be the best.
I have a friend that conservative colleague who wrote up paper about the 12 steps of Kosher. And so maybe it is time to start. Get rid of the pork product in your house. Get rid of the shell fish, stop eating them, there is plenty of alternatives. You can eat very healthfully. And that is another point to me; Kosher is absolutely nothing to do with health it toward does not say one word about health. There is so many Jews in just missed it by saying, “Oh, it is just a healthful it was not we have what is more of knowledge now”. Now that is a completely screw him in. there is nothing about health and Jewish tradition. It is not the eating kosher is unhealthy but it is not just about healthy, it is about holiness. It is why urged you to think about koshered to continue to absorb koshered to increase the level of koshered in your lives, it is one of the most important in a ways to identify Jewishly to aspire to the biblical levels of holiness the Torah I want us to and to understand the mystery, and perhaps that we continue to keep kosher and significant always bring this to the world. Life will be even more enhanced. If we can not even control ourselves about one and one animals to kill, how we are going to control ourselves about what human beings to kill, and all the mass murder going out in a world today. Why Islamic fanatics or others is an indication of how we have going loudly wrong. The mass murder miss entry by the nuts and use and a by the Chinese, it is so many, a multi murders. It is time that we really get back of the basic issue of preserving life.
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