Kosher for Health (Part 1)

People are becoming more and more aware of what we eat and drink and how it impacts us both physically and mentally.  Many start eating kosher for health reasons.   It is hard sometimes to differentiate how kosher items are handled from the health aspect and what we can eat, but we’ll do the best we can and cover any items missed in the next article on kosher handling.  Kosher revolves around control of what we eat, when we eat it, and even goes down to what is used to prepare the kosher product.  Let’s delve deeper to try to answer these questions.

What we eat

Let’s take the easiest to understand first: What we eat.  The kosher world is divided into 3 major groups (for now we will leave out Passover Kosher as it is much more complicated).  The 3 groups are:

• meat (Basar)
• Dairy (Khalav),
• and all other items that are eatable.

First, let’s look at meat.  Meat fit for human consumption in scripture is very different from what many eat today.  The major types in scripture are defined as animal, fowl, and fish.  Each has specific instructions.

For animal, it must have both a split hoof and 2 stomachs.  This means cows, goats, sheep, and deer are all kosher.  All species which have none, only one or the other attribute are unclean (Trief).  This leaves out pork, camel, horse, etc.  Now some believe that the prohibition is outdated by modern cooking and storage.  I respectfully disagree.  The issue here does address health (some of these animals carry disease (such as the pig), but the list also are the only species allowed to be sacrificed to HaShem (G-d).  So even if physical health were no longer an issue, spiritual health still is.  Do we take into the temple of our body, where G-d’s Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Breath or Spirit) lives, items He calls unclean?  Messiah made us priests before G-d, would a priest eat anything unclean?  Now you say, but didn’t Messiah make all things clean.  The verse quoted most often begins in Acts 10-11:

But he (Kefa or Peter) became hungry and was desiring to eat; but while they were making preparations, he fell into a trance; and he saw the sky opened up, and an object like a great sheet coming down, lowered by four corners to the ground, and there were in it all kinds of four-footed animals and crawling creatures of the earth and birds of the air. A voice came to him, “Get up, Peter, kill and But Peter said, “By no means, Lord, for I have never eaten anything unholy and unclean.” eat!” Again a voice came to him a second time, “What God has cleansed, no longer consider unholy.” This happened three times, and immediately the object was taken up into the sky.

So see G-d called all things clean to eat, you may say.  Well, maybe if you stopped there, but the first rule in scripture study is context.  To prove my point see a few more verses starting in Acts 10:19.

While Peter was reflecting on the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Behold, three men are looking for you. “But get up, go downstairs and accompany them without misgivings, for I have sent them Myself.” Peter went down to the men and said, “Behold, I am the one you are looking for; what is the reason for which you have come?” They said, “Cornelius, a centurion, a righteous and God-fearing man well spoken of by the entire nation of the Jews, was divinely directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and hear a message from you.”

The ending verses complete the story.  For Jews were forbidden by custom from entering a Gentile’s home for fear of becoming unclean.  Acts 10:28 further explains Kefa (Peter’s) vision:

And he said to them, “You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a man who is a Jew to associate with a foreigner or to visit him; and yet God has shown me that I should not call any man unholy or unclean. “That is why I came without even raising any objection when I was sent for. So I ask for what reason you have sent for me.”

So here Kefa (Peter) himself interprets G-d’s vision.  It is not about food but Gentiles being unclean.  The final evidence comes from Acts 10:34 – 35 Opening his mouth, Peter said: “I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality, but in every nation, the man who fears Him and does what is right is welcome to Him. The second place most often misquoted are the words of Messiah in Matt 15:11: “It is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man.” Some scriptures even add a verse that is not in the original text “Thus declaring all foods clean”.  Only one problem, that verse was added by man, Messiah did not say those words.  So let’s look at the context.  Matt 15:1-2 says Then some Pharisees and scribes  came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, “Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.”  Note, first, they said disciples, not Messiah, so apparently He was not eating with unwashed hands. He was following the customs of the Fathers.  Secondly, the issue is washing of hands before eating, this custom came about because the dinner table had become a type of altar to worship G-d at.  So scripture proves Messiah was addressing Hand washing, not kosher. Thus meat of unclean animals will carry the toxins from their prey or the dead they consumed.  If we eat them we are eating those toxins. Fowl do not have split hoofs or chew the cud (2 stomachs).  With fowl, we are to not eat the species listed in scripture, these include all birds of prey and birds that eat dead animals.  Also, Ostrich is forbidden.  So which birds are allowed? Chicken, duck, goose, pigeon, and quail (according to some groups).  Predators and carrion feeders (eat dead) are ingesting the blood and toxins from what they eat and are passing the toxins to those eating them for food. For fish the rules are pretty simple, they must have scales and fins.  This leaves out bottom feeders which generally eat dead, such as crab, shrimp, lobster, and catfish.  It also eliminates shark.  Since fish are for fowl or animals, there is no prohibition about removing the blood. Reptiles are all forbidden as they cannot be sacrificed to G-d and carry many diseases.  We have pet lizards and every time we handle one, we need to wash our hands due to salmonella.

Removing Blood

What about blood?  Animal meat contains a lot of blood.  Some people today even eat blood.  Did you know that it is forbidden by scripture?  The Jerusalem Council in Acts 15 19-21 states:

“Therefore it is my judgment that we do not trouble those who are turning to God from among the Gentiles, but that we write to them that they abstain from things contaminated by idols and from fornication and from what is strangled and from blood. “For Moses from ancient generations has in every city those who preach him, since he is read in the synagogues every Sabbath.”

So please note Gentile believers (Non-Jews) are commanded not to eat blood or things strangled, why, because scripture says “for the Life is in the Blood”.  It is important to note, these are the very men who Messiah gave the right to “Bind and Loose”, meaning not allow or allow.  Note this was also commanded of all believers, even non-Jews. So what is the big deal about blood?  Besides the spiritual aspect of “Life is in the Blood,” eating and drinking blood was also practiced in pagan temples.  Scripture is clear you cannot be of the light (following G-d) and participate in darkness (paganism).  So animal meat that we consume is to be from clean animals and the blood must be drained out.  Also, blood carries toxins that are normally eliminated from the animal’s body.  When we consume blood we are ingesting those toxins.

Milk

Milk and all items made from milk are included.  Milk can only be used from a kosher animal.  Why is that so?  Because milk carries the attributes of the animal it was taken from.  So goat milk, cow milk, and even sheep milk are kosher, whereas camel, pig, or pork is not.  Also, milk contaminated with blood is not kosher for the reasons stated under blood.

So what about meat and dairy together?  In Messianic (most sects) and Traditional Judaism it is not allowed.  The “why” is a little complicated but it revolves around meat representing death and milk representing life.  How so?  Think about it, something has to die for it to be eaten as meat, while milk is what gives life to newborns.

From a health perspective, it has been shown the body processes meat and dairy differently, so separating them makes sense. All other items are parve (neutral).  Thus, all produce of the field is clean and fit to eat.  Now we know there are plants that will make us sick, so that does not mean we should eat hemlock, for example.

How the animal, fish or fowl was raised

It seems that going to the grocery store is an adventure if you keep kosher.  Many products today are not what they seem.  Some fruits are covered with pesticides and coated with wax made from insects.  Animals, fowl, and fish are full of hormones, antibiotics, and even fed dead or diseased meat products.  We will go into this in more depth on kosher preparation in the next article.  To keep kosher means knowing how the product was raised or produced. We all have heard about mad cow disease.  It was started by feeding dead animals to cows which then became infected.  It is very common for animal remains to be fed to living animals used for food.  Thus all the toxins in the dead animal are being passed to the living one.  Considering G-d made clean animals to eat grass (Genesis 1:30), feeding a clean animal dead flesh is rending then unclean.  It is also passing toxins to those who then eat what we believed to be a safe animal. Antibiotics and hormones injected or fed to the animals are passed on to us.  A major store chain was selling milk with some many hormones that boys drinking the milk were growing breasts.  That is not healthy. Kosher meat cannot contain massive doses of these products, meaning you are not consuming those hormones and antibiotics.  Fruits and vegetables can not be coated with insect products which can make washing pesticides away difficult.  Do we really want to be feeding our families or ourselves toxins, antibiotics, and hormones? Conclusion What we eat matters both for spiritual health and physical well-being.  What we put into this temple G-d has given us matters to both us and our children. Kosher is a choice.  Whether you do it for health or because you want to be more like Messiah the choice is yours alone. No one has the right to tell you what to do.  We have been given a great gift by G-d, in His Messiah.  We need to live in that gift and choose the path we believe will help us live healthy, productive, G-d centered lives.  The choice of kosher for health is really up to you!