It is a well-known fact that most religious teachings insist on observing various food restrictions, temporary or permanent. In Christianity, these are fasts, during which animal products are not allowed, in Islam - except for posts there is a ban on the use of pork , alcohol and animal meat slaughtered in an unseemly way, Hinduism recommends respecting the principles of vegetarianism. However, one of the first places in terms of food restrictions is probably Judaism: its sacred books strictly regulate not only foods that can not be eaten, but also the permitted methods for their preparation. So, for example, it is forbidden to mix meat and milk, moreover, the dishes in which meat has ever been cooked, can not be used to prepare dishes from milk .
Can Jews eat pork?
On this account in the Torah - the Pentateuch of Moses, in Christianity - parts of the Old Testament - there is an unambiguous prescription:
"... these are the animals that you can eat from all the cattle on the ground: any livestock whose hoofs are split and a deep cut on the hooves and chewing the cud, eat"
Leviticus. 11: 2-3.
So, the Jews do not eat pork, because, despite the forked hooves, the pig is not herbivorous - it does not "chew the cud", and therefore does not satisfy the 2 necessary conditions described in the Sacred Texts.
By the way, rabbits, horses, camels and bears, they also can not, but for some reason it is the fact that Jews do not eat pork, the public is most interested. Perhaps the reason lies in the prevalence of this meat in many other cultures, in particular European, but a bear or camel for a European is often exotic.
If we talk about the origins of this ban, then on this account there are different versions:
- "Hygienic" - according to it, in the hot climate of the Arabian Peninsula, namely, there supposedly to be the homeland of the Jewish people, fat and heavy meat is not recommended. In addition, pig meat can become a source of infection with trichinosis, a rather serious disease caused by parasitic worms, and the only reliable protection against it is pre-frost that can not be performed in the climatic conditions of Arabia.
- "Totemic" - according to this version the pig or wild boar was totemic, i.e. sacred animals of the Semitic peoples, and the meat of the sacred animal is somehow not accepted. Then, primitive beliefs were replaced by Judaism, but prejudices are a tenacious thing, they continue to exist where seemingly no longer exists for them.
- "Theological" - believes that
the presence of restrictions allows us to conduct more meaningful activities, and since nutrition, this is an action in which humans are most similar to animals, the presence of inhibitions in it will allow us to approach this issue more deliberately than increase the distance between animal and man and bring the latter closer to God.
Is any of these hypotheses explaining why Jews can not eat pork is a difficult question. The Jews themselves believe that this is the will of God, and as it is known it is inscrutable.