In this case, the paternity of the offspring might be unidentifiable, and by extension even irrelevant. The offspring could be recognized only by its mother, not its father. This scenario would be horrific for a society based on fatherhood and paternal identity, clashing with the fundamental biblical ritual perception of gender. Perhaps the exclusion of pigs from the Israelite diet, and systems of animal husbandry, intentionally prevents this model of gender construction and reproduction from becoming valued and upheld as part of sacred ritual.
Of course, most ancient religions were both patriarchal and patrilineal, including some that considered pigs clean and offered them as sacrificial victims. Ancient Greece, for instance, was both patriarchal and patrilineal, and yet made many swine offerings to different deities. Every culture has its unique ways of relating ritually to the natural world in accordance with its perspective and social structure, and objects can have very different significance in different cultures.
Why biblical thought constructed its ritual in this particular way is likely unknowable. It seems possible that monotheistic thought, which eliminated the worship of all other deities, was more inclined to vilify symbols related to both female deities and underworld deities, as pigs were.
If so, perhaps the prohibition of pigs became part of the process of articulating and enacting a monotheistic worldview, which in turn related monotheistic practice with proper social behavior.
However, the outcome of the pork ban, whatever its original "meaning" or purpose, is to separate those who worship the one deity from those who do not, and it ensures that the proper worshipers of that deity only eat land animals who reproduce as humans do.
So is their reproductive oddity the reason pigs were forbidden? We cannot know for sure. Most likely, multiple factors, both practical and symbolic, contributed to their status. However, their reproductive behavior only adds to their complicated and unusual nature, and it causes them to clash profoundly with biblical ritual systems and larger cultural ideology. Perhaps their reproductivity along with their eating and wallowing habits clinched their position as the ultimate impure animal.
Thus, there is no single reason to observe the Sabbath, yet the result of observing it is that there are those who do, and they are different from those who don't. Thus the act of sacrifice and redemption ritually ratifies his status as heir. It may be that some Islamic traditions claimed that Ishmael, and not Isaac, was the son who was bound because they consider him to be Abraham's religious heir.
Note as well that rabbinic law distinguishes the biological and ritual firstborn from the legal firstborn for purposes of inheritance and status ; see, e. Mirecki and M. Meyer; Leiden: Brill, , All Rights Reserved. About What's New Log in. Subscriber Services Contact Us Help. Nicole J. Ruane University of New Hampshire One of the most distinctive food practices in both Judaism and Islam is the avoidance of pork products.
For example, in Deuteronomy: These are the animals you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat, the deer, the gazelle, the roebuck, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope, and the mountain sheep. Any animal that divides the hoof and has the hoof cloven in two, and chews the cud, among the animals, you may eat.
Lev —8 Although these instructions are unequivocal in their rejection of pigs and their meat, the underlying reason for the prohibition remains unclear. For example, Exodus ritually and ideologically equates firstborn sons with firstborn animals as well as with first fruits: You will not delay to make offerings from the fullness of your harvest and from the outflow of your presses.
The firstborn of your sons you shall give to me. The road to hell is paved with the stereotypical images of the other. Covid Read the latest updates Here.
The Story of Pig As Taboo. The publication and distribution of Dr. Author Nancy Abramson David M. Boino Rachel Bovitz Yonatan Y. Diamond Ryan Dulkin Arnold M. Eisen Yedida Eisenstat Shira D. Gampel Avi Garelick Stephen P. Subscribe to Torah from JTS. Our regular commentaries and videos are a great way to stay intellectually and spiritually engaged with Jewish thought and wisdom. First Name Required. Last Name Required. Pork, and the refusal to eat it, possesses powerful cultural baggage for Jews.
Israel has legislated two related laws: the Pork Law in , that bans the rearing and slaughter of pigs across the country, and the Meat Law of , prohibiting all imports of nonkosher meats into Israel. While not abounding, Israeli pork-eaters certainly exist, and a small number of pig-breeding farms operate in the country, mostly in Christian villages.
Like the host, we may have the best of intentions, and we are eager to share our bounty. But if we objectify the poor, if we allow the differences in culture and class to obscure for us the full depth of their humanity, we run the risk of patronizing or degrading the people to whom we give. When we risk falling into this trap, our long-disparaged pig has an important lesson to teach us. It would be easy to think that a cleft hoof was kosher enough.
It would be easy to think that just giving was sufficient. To place such special emphasis on the pig as forbidden is to insist that the human dignity of all people must always be our first concern. The pig is the paradigm of triefe because it symbolizes a denial of the most important value of all—the shared humanity of the others with whom we break bread. Provided by American Jewish World Service , pursuing global justice through grassroots change.
Falls in the Hebrew month of Kislev, which usually corresponds with December. Pronounced: khah-SID-ik, Origin: Hebrew, a stream within ultra-Orthodox Judaism that grew out of an 18th-century mystical revival movement. Jewish dietary practices allow us to welcome the sacred into our daily lives and into mundane acts.
Moses instructs the Israelites regarding idolatry, false prophets, clean and unclean foods, tithes, freeing slaves, and the pilgrimage festivals. We use cookies to improve your experience on our site and bring you ads that might interest you.
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