Eating can be holier than fasting,”1 writes Martin Buber. Because the God of Israel is the God of Creation, eating is indeed an important part of our response to Him. It is, therefore, our duty to eat and drink so that we remain alive and thus testify to the living God. It is also our duty to enjoy eating and drinking, because this act is the best expression of our thankfulness to the One who gave us all this food. This is just a matter of elementary politeness.
To enjoy eating and drinking is saying “yes” to Creation, to mark our appreciation for God’s gift. The religion of Israel is not a religion of asceticism such as Buddhism, Hinduism, or a certain Christianity, which refuses to eat and drink because they believe that by so doing they will draw closer to their God.
The God of the Bible defines Himself as the God of life, the God of all flesh. In fact, only those who eat and drink can worship the Lord. “Eyn kemah ein Torah, eyn Torah ein kemah,” says the Talmud: “No flour, no Torah, no Torah, no flour.” In other words, spiritual values will not be found apart from the simple physical act of eating and drinking. It is noteworthy that the first time the word “give” (natan) is used in the Bible, it is in relation to the food that God “gave” to mankind: And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed, which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food” (Genesis 1:29).2
This is why, in the Bible, eating is an integral part of religious life. Every religious manifestation, every ritual, and every Jewish festival is in some way or another related to eating and drinking. Still today, in Jewish families, the meal is marked by prayer. In Jewish tradition, the table is viewed as an altar. Before we begin the meal, we season the hallah bread with salt as a reminder of the ancient sacrificial offering (Leviticus 2:13). The New Testament carries the same religious association with food. Yeshua, who shares the bread with his disciples, sanctifies the meal and enjoins his followers to do the same. From that moment on, his disciples will remember the lesson and repeat the “Lord’s supper.” In this tradition, eating and drinking have also become important religious matters.
The Original Diet
Now, if indeed “eating and drinking is holy,” we cannot just eat like puppies and eat just anything. The acute awareness of God’s involvement in the most trivial act of human existence obliges men and women to think about what they eat. This is why the Bible goes so far as to prescribe a special diet in tune with God. Because He is the God of Creation and the God of Life, He expects that humans follow a diet that preserves life. Therefore, the same vegetarian principle governs both human and animal behavior: “Also to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food” (Genesis 1:30). The sacredness of life is thus affirmed from the very beginning in the most fundamental act of biological life. At the time of creation, death was not yet a part of life. Man, woman, and animals were still in a nonthreatening environment. It was still the time when everything was “good” (1:10, 12, etc.) and even “very good’ (Genesis 1:31). The world was “not yet” affected by evil and death. It is only when the first man and the first woman decide to depart from the way indicated, or rather “commanded” (tsiwwah) by God, that suddenly a new perspective is looming: “You shall surely die” (Genesis 2:17). Isn’t it significant that the first commandment, the first mitzwah, given by God to humans concerns food? According to the Bible, the very serious question of the destiny of mankind and ultimately of the world has been played on the trivial matter of eating.
Then, the biblical record tells us about the first death: the slaughter of an animal (Genesis 3:21), quickly followed by the first murder (Genesis 4). And a few chapters later, the trend reaches its climax in the dramatic picture of human wickedness in its fullness: “The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence” (Genesis 6:11). In response, God sends the flood; the earth is covered with water, and for a moment, the soil cannot produce vegetables or fruit.
The Compromise of God
God then makes a compromise with the survivors of the flood. He adds meat to the original vegetarian regime (Genesis 9:3). Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook used to argue that it was human corruption and violence that led God to that compromise.3 According to the ancient rabbis, the permission to eat meat was nothing else but “a concession to human weakness.”4 As a result, the ecological balance is affected, and the relations between men and animals are changed. In the biblical Creation story, man has dominion over the animals (Genesis 1:28); now, it is the fear and the dread of humans that “shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, and on all the fish of the sea” (Genesis 9:2). This mention of the change already suggests the biblical attitude towards eating meat. It has a negative connotation.
Meat Without Blood
This is immediately confirmed by the particular restriction that is, however, attached to this tolerance: “But you shall not eat of the flesh with its life, that is, its blood” (Genesis 9:4). It is noteworthy that this usage is totally absent in the ancient Near East and is enjoined on all. Good health reasons may explain this biblical precaution. From medieval physician Maimonides to contemporary scientist H. Baruk, many medical scholars have shown the dangerous effect of the consumption of blood, for it contains all the toxins of the animal; today, under the threat of AIDS, we don’t need more evidence. But health is not the reason given by the Bible. The biblical principle underlying this restriction is the sacredness of life, because “life is in the blood.” It is also significant that right after this verse, the biblical text associates this restriction with a curse: “Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; from the hand of every beast I will require it” (Genesis 9:5). Furthermore, the text concludes with the most dramatic warning that concerns the killing of humans: “Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed” (Genesis 9:6). Ultimately, the image of God, God Himself, is affected in this process: “For in the image of God He made man” (Genesis 9:6). The idea of the sacredness of life receives here the stamp of God. Eating an animal with its blood is here associated with the worst ethical iniquity, the killing of man, and even the worst religious iniquity, the killing of God. No wonder the prophet Ezekiel associates the act of eating meat with blood with idolatry and murder (Ezekiel 33:25–26). The same lesson of the sacredness of life is behind another dietary restriction: “You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk” (Exodus 23:19). Besides the probable health reason against the abuse of cholesterol, the cultural reason against the fertility cults, or the ethical reason against the cruelty of associating the dead kid with the milk of its mother, this principle contains another lesson: the dead animal should not be associated with the source of its life—the milk of its mother. Just as we should not eat meat—a dead body—with the blood that is supposed to give it life, we should not eat meat with the milk that is supposed to give it life. Likewise, the interdiction to eat from “the muscle... on the hip socket” (Genesis 32:32), which reminds us of the extraordinary fight between Jacob and the angel, points to the same association of thought, for the forbidden piece of the animal is derived from the part of its body that provides its sexual vitality.
Undoubtedly, this regular emphasis on the sacredness of life as one prepares to engage in eating meat suggests the biblical intention to discourage eating meat. Feelings of guilt and fear are supposed to be around as a prelude to the carnal meal. The Jewish laws of kashrut discourage even more the eating of meat by surrounding this act with all sorts of rules (shehita, salting). In fact, the Bible reports several occasions when God tried to put the Israelites back on an exclusive vegetarian regime and to discourage them from eating meat. When Israel had just been redeemed from the Egyptian bondage, it seemed to be the ideal moment to start afresh. God sent the manna, some kind of vegetable bread (Exodus 16:4), of which the “taste was like the taste of pastry prepared with oil” (Numbers 11:8). But the Israelites complained and asked for meat. God reluctantly gave up. The biblical text speaks about God’s anger (Numbers 11:1) and clearly suggests that He does not approve of their request for meat (Numbers 11:4; Deuteronomy 12:20; cf. Psalm 106:14). The Hebrew word taawah, which describes their intense longing to eat meat, is usually associated with evil (Proverbs 21:26) or reprehensible lust (Psalm 45:11; Hebrew v. 12). And when God failed to convince the Israelites to follow His vegetarian regime, He then did everything to disgust them with meat: “Therefore the Lord will give you meat, and you shall eat... until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you” (Numbers 11:18–20; cf. Numbers 11:32–34).
Clean and Unclean Meat
The Mosaic laws of clean and unclean meat are another testimony to God’s attempt to discourage the consumption of meat. To the restriction regarding blood, God added a long series of prohibitions. Not just any animal is allowed to be eaten; among the beasts of the land, only whatever “divides the hoof, having cloven hooves, and chewing the cud” is eatable (Leviticus 11:3). Animals that do not meet all these requirements, such as the pig (Leviticus 11:7) and the hare (Leviticus 11:6), are prohibited. As for the animals in the air, the biblical text gives a long list of forbidden birds, mostly birds of prey (Leviticus 11:13–19; Deuteronomy 14:12–18). On the basis of these lists, the Talmud gives the names of 24 forbidden birds (Hullin 63b). Several reasons have been suggested by the rabbis and the biblical scholars to explain these laws of “clean and unclean” meat. Spiritual reasons, because unclean meat would obstruct human intelligence and spirituality (the Talmud); ethical reasons, because such a discipline will help refine moral conduct such as obedience and self-control (Midrash) or even compassion (Rabbi Kook); health and hygienic reasons (Maimonides). None of these reasons is given in the Bible. One reason is given implicitly through the numerous echoes and literary parallels between Leviticus 11 and the Creation story in Genesis 1. The same technical words and stylistic expressions are used (“beasts of the earth,” “creeping animals,” “after its kind,” etc.). Furthermore, the listing of animals in Leviticus 11 follows the same sequence as the passage of the Creation story covering the sixth day (Genesis 1:24–26). After the creation of the animals of the earth (Genesis 1:24–25; cf. Leviticus 11:2–8), the creation of man is related successively to that of the animals of water (Genesis 1:26a; cf. Leviticus 11:9–12), that of the animals of the air (Genesis 1:26b; cf. Leviticus 11:13–23), and that of the animals of the earth and of the reptiles (Genesis 1:26c; cf. Leviticus 11:24–43). Lastly, in Leviticus 11, as in Genesis 1:24–26, the relationship between humans and animals has its counterpart in the relationship between humans and God. In Genesis 1:20, the duty of domination over the animals is associated with the fact that humans are created in the image of God. Likewise in Leviticus 11, the duty to distinguish between clean and unclean meats is associated with the fact that human holiness reflects divine holiness: “You shall be holy; for I am holy” (Leviticus 11:44, 45).
This connection between the two texts suggests that behind the laws of clean and unclean animals lies a strong reference to the Creation story of Genesis 1, a context where life is celebrated—life without death. Why should we respect the laws of clean and unclean meat? For the same reason that we have to refrain from blood—because of the sacredness of life. It is indeed significant that carnivorous animals are prohibited, and generally, the animals that are permitted to be eaten do not feed themselves meat. The principle behind the kosher laws is simple: life is sacred. This is why the biblical ideal diet can only be a vegetarian one. This is the one that was given at Creation in the Garden of Eden: “The first man was not allowed to eat meat,” says the Talmud (b. Sanhedrin 59b). This will also be the regime of the “world to come” (Isaiah 11:7; cf. Isaiah 65:25; Hosea 2:18). This is why the biblical reason behind the dietary laws is not just ethical, hygienic, or religious; it is all these within reference to the God of life, the living God. This is, in fact, the only explicit reason given by the Bible: “For I am the Lord your God. You shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and you shall be holy, for I am holy. Neither shall you defile yourselves with any creeping thing that creeps on the earth. For I am the Lord who brings you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy” (Leviticus 11:44–45).
Wine and Tobacco
It is interesting to note that the same religious reason is given by the Bible to justify the prohibition of alcohol. The priests are enjoined to abstain from any alcoholic beverage precisely because of the principle of holiness: “The Lord spoke to Aaron, saying, ‘Do not drink wine or intoxicating drink, you, nor your sons with you, when you go into the tabernacle of meeting, lest you die. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations that you may distinguish between holy and unholy and between unclean and clean’” (Leviticus 10:8-10). From this verse, the rabbis of the Talmud concluded that the priests had to be totally and always abstinent from any alcohol: “May not one be permitted to draw the deduction that it is forbidden to drink wine and strong drink only when in the act of entering the tabernacle of the congregation, but it is permissible to drink before entering the tabernacle? The following verse, ‘that you may distinguish between holy and unholy, between unclean and clean’ (Leviticus 10:10), does not allow such a deduction” (Bava Metzia 90b). To be sure, the Bible does not categorically forbid the drinking of wine, but the warning against wine is repeated over and over again in the Scriptures: “Do not look on the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it swirls around smoothly; at the end, it bites like a serpent and stings like a viper” (Proverbs 23:31–32; cf. Proverbs 20:1). And the fact that the first consumption of an alcoholic drink was associated with great immorality (Genesis 9:21; Genesis 19:31–32) suggests from the start the biblical ideal of abstinence. Besides the religious reason of holiness and the ethical reason, the Bible also mentions the value of life as a justification for abstinence from alcohol: “You shall drink no wine, you nor your sons, forever... that you may live many days in the land where you are sojourners” (Jeremiah 35:6-7).
In fact, the biblical principle of the value of life goes beyond the eating of meat and the drinking of alcohol; it applies to a lifestyle that may affect our health and ultimately destroy our lives. On the basis of the halacha (traditional law), “you should preserve your life” (ushemartem et nafshotechem), Rav Ovadia Yosef, chief rabbi of Israel, wished that the use of tobacco should be forbidden for a Jew.5 On the same matter, Rabbi Zalman Schachter thinks that it is inconsistent to keep kosher and indulge oneself in habits that are dangerous to our health: “There is a painful incongruity in the idea of a halakhic authority inhaling deeply on a cigarette as he ponders a question of kashrut. Can a substance at the same time be kosher and dangerous to health?”6
Life is sacred because God is life; life is holy because God is holy. The message of the sa credness of life and the obligation to make life holy shouts loudly throughout the pages of the Scriptures as a call to the Jews but also to any human being, not just in the abstract as a truth to understand or to learn in our minds, but in the concrete of our flesh, because the God of Israel is the God of Creation, the God who animated our earthly bodies and gave us thereby the capacity and the duty to enjoy life, even the spiritual life.
1Martin Buber, Hassidism and Modern Man, ed. and trans. Maurice Friedman; intro. Martin S. Jaffee(Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Humanities Press International, 1988), 32-33.
2All biblical quotations are from the New King James Version unless otherwise noted.
3Louis A. Berman, Vegetarianism and the Jewish Tradition (New York: Ktav Publishing House, 1982), 8.
4Abraham Isaac Kook, Fragments of Light: A View as to the Reasons for the Commandments (New York: Paulist Press, 1978), 318.
5Hervé Aarone Mimoun, Notions de Santé et de prévention dans la Tradition Hébraique (Sarcellas, France: Otsar, 1985 ), 87.
6Quoted by Louis A. Berman, XVI
Image: Yakov Chernin for Shalom L.C.
