Captain Amazing writes:
Well, not eating chicken with dairy is a gezeirah (lit. “fence”, a prohibition added by rabbinic authority to prevent confusion between permitted and prohibited activities, or to prevent someone from seguing from permitted to prohibited activities). Since gezeirot are of rabbinic origin, Karaites would naturally not recognize them as authoritative.
Ummmmm… or reasonable.
squeels, your theory would assume that all non-kosher-keeping ancients died from this dreaded bacterial contamination. Right?
And, BTW, what’s the “same with sex”? What the heck are you talking about?
Mojo, I love answering these sorts of questions (even though I don’t get to because Zev always gets to them first), but you will find most of them answered very neatly at the JewFAQ.
When did the Prohibition about “seething a kid in its mothers milk” get expanded to, say beef dishes & goats cheese, or mutton & cowsmilk? When was it expanded to fowl?
Are there other groups of Jews, who altho they do not eat “traif”- do not “erect this fence”? Who/what are the “Karaim”?
And, since the prohibition is “rabbinical” rather than in the Torah- do some Orthodox feel differently?
There are some “purification rituals” like when a woman has sex during her period. Are there any “personal” rituals that a person must go thru with any dietary restrictions? (I Know the dishes/pots must be washed in a certain way- but these are not “personal”).
OK, what’s up with “Kosher Pickles”? I don’t think any pickles have animal products in them, so all pickles should be kosher as long as they aren’t disgusting in some way.
Or are “Kosher pickles” really just pickles made the way Jews used to eat them? Like “New York Pizza”?
Oh, oh! What about rennet for coagulating cheese? Typically this is made from animal byproducts! Do observant jews eat any old cheese, or only certain cheeses? I’ve never heard of cheese being specifically marked “kosher”, but then I’ve lead a sheltered life.
And I’ve gotta agree with everyone piling on sqweels here. Observant Jews keep kosher because they feel God wants them to. All these “justifications” for keeping kosher don’t make sense. If they were such common-sense rules for basic hygiene, why didn’t all the OTHER groups around the world develop the same things?
Not at all. Who said it was fatal? Other cultures either didn’t have milk, or coped with getting sick without understanding why, or developed rules for culinary cleanliness without putting them into their religion. Perhaps the ancient Hebrews had a spate of food poisoning attacks at one point, found out why (partially), and applied the lesson very well.
Promicuous sex causes unwanted pregnancies and spreads disease. Various ancient cultures made rules against it to prevent these preoblems and their descendants started believing they were God’s laws.
But it isn’t true for others. I’m applying Occam’s razor. I can’t remember which ancient wise man it was who said, “There aren’t any versions of the truth”;j
Well, to answer some of your questions, it’s expanded in the Talmud. The “other” group of Jews are called the Karaim, or in English, the Karaites. Karaites follow the written Torah, but they don’t accept the Oral Torah, the Talmud as valid. Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist, etc, all are “rabbinic” Jews, who accept both the written and oral Torah, and follow what’s laid down in the Talmud (or don’t follow it, but it’s accepted as valid…I can’t comment on any individual’s level of devoutness). I would have to say no to your question, of “Do any Orthodox feel differently about chicken and milk”.
Ya’ll better stop hijacking my thread before I gotta open a can o woop ass.
jk.
But, to get it someone back on track, I’d like to return to my original question.
So you’re a young 23 year old Orthodox Jewish male. And you’re married to a 22 year old Orthodox Jewish female.
Normally you comunicate and have a wonderful married life. But tonight, you had to work late and grabbed a quick meal of beef at the kosher deli. Your wife ate at home. She had a meal of cheese, though for some reason you thought she had a nice meal of meat.
You give her a nice big passionate kiss when you get home and notice a chunk of cheese logged in her teeth (she didn’t get proper dental care when she was younger). Your saliva has obviously mixed at this point. What do you both do?
Well, although I am not Jewish, nor am I a rabbi (the former, I suspect, is a prerequisite for the latter, eh?) I would guess they’d say “Oops!”, go brush their teeth, and continue osculation.
~~Baloo
Silly as it may sound, Baloo’s got the right answer (always trust a bear!!). There are very few (if any) “purification rituals” in Judaism. There is no confession before a rabbi, etc. If you knowingly sinned, you confess to God, do repentence and move on. If something is an accident, then it’s an accident – there’s no sin involved.
Therefore, if due to kissing you accidently mix milk and meat in your mouth, simply remove the offending mixture and clean out your mouth.
And, Daniel, there are no “purification rituals” when a man has sex with his wife while she is a niddah. It’s pretty much as I said above.
Zev Steinhardt
Zev Steinhardt
C K Dexter Haven
Interestingly, one classic rabbinic authority was of the opinion that this only applies to Biblical commandments. In the case of rabbinic enactments, the requirement is only that one not “rebel” against rabbinic authority. In case of accident, this has not been done.
Lemur866
Strangely, this exact question has been dealt with by none other than Cecil Adams. Quite well, too.
keeve
It doesn’t.
Danielinthewolvesden
Why do you have the impression that some Orthodox feel differently about rabbinical enactments than others?
Thanks, IzzyR!
Now I can finally sleep at night…
;j**!**
Thanks, Zev!
Contrary to certain assumptions made above, Conservative Jews also are supposed to keep the Kosher laws. It’s the Reform who have disregarded them.