# Would piglets on a get-well card be considered repulsive by a (secular Israeli) Jew? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 30, 2006, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-piglets-on-a-get-well-card-be-considered-repulsive-by-a-secular-israeli-jew/362758 "2006-06-30T15:18:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Scuba\_Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Scuba\_Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scuba_Ben)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2006, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-piglets-on-a-get-well-card-be-considered-repulsive-by-a-secular-israeli-jew/362758/21 "2006-07-02T23:33:41Z")
> [@MannyL](#): > > In an emergency situation IE eat or starve it is allowable to eat pork. And furthermore, in such a situation a Jew must be thankful for the pork, reciting “_Shehakol nihyeh bidvaro_ – Who caused all things to come into being.” (Or if bread is involved, the blessings before and after a meal.) ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2006, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-piglets-on-a-get-well-card-be-considered-repulsive-by-a-secular-israeli-jew/362758/22 "2006-07-03T02:49:41Z")
> [@tschild](#): > > (and, while I am about it, as a matter of curiosity: how do observant/Orthodox Jews feel about pigs in a non-food context?) Are they allowed to keep their money in piggy banks? To watch the Muppet Show? To read Winnie-the-Pooh? To watch Porky cartoons? To listen to the White Album (unless they skip the “Piggies” track)? To play games with their children’s toes? ;j ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2006, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-piglets-on-a-get-well-card-be-considered-repulsive-by-a-secular-israeli-jew/362758/23 "2006-07-03T11:43:30Z")
> [@Thudlow Boink](#): > > Are they allowed to keep their money in piggy banks? We should trust our money to pigs? You want your money should be safe, get a bank that looks like your uncle Saul. > [@](#): > > To watch the Muppet Show? Pig frog. feh. Intermarriage would only be a concern if they weren’t both goys. > [@](#): > > To read Winnie-the-Pooh? Bubbele, for the last time, the donkey in the story of Balaam is not Eyore. > [@](#): > > To watch Porky cartoons? Why does the coyote fail in his pursuit of a nice kosher meal? Rabbis have pondered such problems for ages. > [@](#): > > To listen to the White Album (unless they skip the “Piggies” track)? No, bubbele, the IDF does not have yellow submarines. Yes, I will love you when you’re 64. > [@](#): > > To play games with their children’s toes? Aha! I didn’t lose that toe. It was in my pocket. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2006, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-piglets-on-a-get-well-card-be-considered-repulsive-by-a-secular-israeli-jew/362758/24 "2006-07-03T12:58:13Z")
> [@MannyL](#): > > In an emergency situation IE eat or starve it is allowable to eat pork. As I understand it (and I’m not an expert, so please correct me gently if I’m wrong), in such a situation - if the options are whittled down to starvation vs bacon, it’s not only _permissible_ to eat the bacon, it’s _mandatory_. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2006, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-piglets-on-a-get-well-card-be-considered-repulsive-by-a-secular-israeli-jew/362758/25 "2006-07-03T13:42:23Z")
If any Jewish law might in any small way cause a death if observed, it is mandatory to disobey it. So an observant Jew would have to eat the bacon if the only other option was death. ---
**Author:** ![Lady\_Eboshi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/57b2e6/32.png) [@Lady\_Eboshi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lady_Eboshi)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2006, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-piglets-on-a-get-well-card-be-considered-repulsive-by-a-secular-israeli-jew/362758/26 "2006-07-03T17:01:47Z")
What I want to know is, how do Jewish vampires reconcile with the proscription against consuming blood? ---
**Author:** ![Taber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ac91a4/32.png) [@Taber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taber)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2006, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-piglets-on-a-get-well-card-be-considered-repulsive-by-a-secular-israeli-jew/362758/27 "2006-07-03T20:43:05Z")
> [@Lady Eboshi](#): > > What I want to know is, how do Jewish vampires reconcile with the proscription against consuming blood? Well, presumably a vampire that doesn’t drink blood will starve to death, and as noted by posters above, if the choice is between not starving to death and keeping kosher, the correct choice is not starving to death. ---
**Author:** ![bdgr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a87d85/32.png) [@bdgr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bdgr)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2006, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-piglets-on-a-get-well-card-be-considered-repulsive-by-a-secular-israeli-jew/362758/28 "2006-07-03T21:09:33Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Kinky Friedman has a Vietnamese Potbellied Pig ;j pretty sure Kinky is not an orthadox anything. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2006, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-piglets-on-a-get-well-card-be-considered-repulsive-by-a-secular-israeli-jew/362758/29 "2006-07-03T23:25:43Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > If any Jewish law might in any small way cause a death if observed, it is mandatory to disobey it. So an observant Jew would have to eat the bacon if the only other option was death. Not quite _any_ Jewish law: “Of the 613 commandments, only the prohibitions against murder, idolatry, incest and adultery are so important that they cannot be violated to save a life.” (from [Death and Mourning in Judaism](http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/death.html)) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2006, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-piglets-on-a-get-well-card-be-considered-repulsive-by-a-secular-israeli-jew/362758/30 "2006-07-03T23:42:51Z")
> [@Taber](#): > > Well, presumably a vampire that doesn’t drink blood will starve to death, and as noted by posters above, if the choice is between not starving to death and keeping kosher, the correct choice is not starving to death. Except that vampires typically cause the death of their hosts (at least they do in the movies); surely the choice then is committing murder or dying; wouldn’t it be the case that the prohibition of murder trumps that of suicide by starvation? ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2006, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-piglets-on-a-get-well-card-be-considered-repulsive-by-a-secular-israeli-jew/362758/31 "2006-07-03T23:54:09Z")
So Jews have a hierarchy of laws they have to obey, like Asimov’s robots? ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2006, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-piglets-on-a-get-well-card-be-considered-repulsive-by-a-secular-israeli-jew/362758/32 "2006-07-04T19:40:45Z")
> [@tschild](#): > > So, would a secular Israeli Jew consider (non-stinky, live) pigs repulsive/nasty, more than a non-Jew would? hey–don’t be so politically correct! you’re giving a card to somebody you care about, because, well, you’re a friend and you care about him. What is there for him to get upset about? Now, about those Israeli piggies… There are restaurants in Israel that have pork on the menu. And there are lots of people in Israel who won’t go to those restaurants. for the Orthodox, its a religious issue. But for most other Israelis, it’s a cultural thing. Pork to most Israelis is like eating octopus or squid is to most Americans. Sure, it is done in some parts of the world, but it’s just a bit too exotic and unappealing. Not something you’d want to put in your mouth. But to be insulted by your get-well card… well, he would have to be a really socially-incompetent geek. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2006, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-piglets-on-a-get-well-card-be-considered-repulsive-by-a-secular-israeli-jew/362758/33 "2006-07-04T19:44:03Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Except that vampires typically cause the death of their hosts (at least they do in the movies); surely the choice then is committing murder or dying; wouldn’t it be the case that the prohibition of murder trumps that of suicide by starvation? Not if you did what Louis did in _Interview with the Vampire_, and stuck to rats. ---
**Author:** ![Taber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ac91a4/32.png) [@Taber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taber)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2006, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-piglets-on-a-get-well-card-be-considered-repulsive-by-a-secular-israeli-jew/362758/34 "2006-07-04T19:58:47Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Except that vampires typically cause the death of their hosts (at least they do in the movies); surely the choice then is committing murder or dying; wouldn’t it be the case that the prohibition of murder trumps that of suicide by starvation? Well sure, but the question asked was how Jewish vampires dealt with not keeping kosher. Keeping kosher isn’t a problem for Jewish vampires, because of the starving to death thing. Presumably, the murder issue is an issue for vampires of any religion. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-piglets-on-a-get-well-card-be-considered-repulsive-by-a-secular-israeli-jew/362758/35 "2006-07-06T01:34:11Z")
Thudlow Boink: > [@](#): > > So Jews have a hierarchy of laws they have to obey, like Asimov’s robots? Yes, there are rules in Jewish law for which laws take precedence over which others if two should come in conflict. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2006, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-piglets-on-a-get-well-card-be-considered-repulsive-by-a-secular-israeli-jew/362758/36 "2006-07-06T01:48:38Z")
Which reminds me, have I told you about the Zeroth Mitzvot? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-piglets-on-a-get-well-card-be-considered-repulsive-by-a-secular-israeli-jew/362758.md?page=1)