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Is it true that we eat kosher for health reasons?

by Rabbis Avraham Arieh Trugman, Baruch Emanuel Erdstein

  

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While much Kosher food is, indeed, healthier than non-kosher foods, physical health benefits are not the reason we keep kosher. In fact, studies show that, as far as pure nutritional content is concerned, a slice of ham may be healthier than a kosher candy bar...1

In addition, a minute amount of un-kosher foodstuffs is enough to render an entire dish completely unfit for Jewish consumption – hardly a physical phenomenon. This point is also proven by the fact that while Jews are almost physiologically identical to other peoples of the world, still, according to Torah, non-Jews are permitted to eat non-kosher.

The reason we eat kosher (or keep any of the Torah's commandments, for that matter) is because, in His infinite and unknowable wisdom, the Creator of the World decreed it. The Torah tells us that eating non-kosher foods is an "abomination",2 and we are forbidden to "defile" ourselves 3 by eating such foods. Would G-d use such abstract wordage for something as down-to-earth as health hazards?

All in all, a person should not be misled to think that keeping kosher is for health reasons. Neither does the fact that a food item is kosher mean that it is necessarily healthy. We should be encouraged to develop the most appropriate, G-dly, diet possible – both for body and soul.

Click here for more information on super-rational Mitzvahs.

Footnotes

  • 1. There are certainly many aspects of Kosher which are very logical and contribute to good health. Some examples: the prohibition against eating diseased and sickly animals, checking the inner organs to ascertain that the animal is not diseased, not eating meat from animals found dead, as well as checking all sorts of food in order not to ingest bugs and insects. Not mixing meat and milk and waiting between eating them also makes good sense from a health point of view, as each entails different types and rates of digestion. But all these are "fringe benefits."
  • 2. Deuteronomy 14:3
  • 3. Leviticus 11:43

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Torah
Torah is G–d’s teaching to man. In general terms, we refer to the Five Books of Moses as “The Torah.” But in truth, all Jewish beliefs and laws are part of the Torah.
Kosher
Literally means "fit." Commonly used to describe foods which are permitted by Jewish dietary laws, but is also used to describe religious articles (such as a Torah scroll or Sukkah) which meet the requirements of Jewish law.
G-d
It is forbidden to erase or deface the name of G-d. It is therefore customary to insert a dash in middle of G-d's name, allowing us to erase or discard the paper it is written on if necessary.