So, there is always one major question that comes up about following the Torah. How we tackle what is often viewed of as a behemoth, the dietary laws.
The dietary laws are primarily found in Leviticus 11, and we will go through them each later in this post rather than swamping you in the whole chapter off the bat. Before addressing the what and how of eating kashrut (a Levitical diet), we're going to talk of if we should be eating a Levitical diet. That said, I do what to put in a bit of a disclaimer here, as I more fully elaborate at the end of Catagorizing the Laws of Adonai this is not a sin "that leads to death" and so even though it is a sin to break any of Elohim's Laws (1John 3:4, Everyone who keeps sinning is violating Torah — indeed, sin is violation of Torah).this is not in any way a necessity to salvation, but we are told, as I elaborated on in A Life Changing Faith, to follow his commands as a sign of our love for him.
Now, first knee jerk reaction is often that this is applicable only to the Law of Moses and thus dismissed. I would like to very quickly dismiss that statement with a couple small verses. First, Genesis 7:8, 8 Of clean animals, of animals that are not clean, of birds, and of everything that creeps on the ground, Showing us that clean and unclean where a matter of God long before Moses wrote it down for us. Next, Revelations 18:2, 2 He cried out in a strong voice,“She has fallen! She has fallen! Bavel the Great![a] She has become a home for demons, a prison for every unclean spirit, a prison for every unclean, hated bird. showing that the unclean remains even in the last of days.
Then we get into the passages of the New Testament used to refute the need for the dietary laws. Let us start today with where Yeshua himself spoke of food in a clean and unclean manner. Mark 7:1-23 says, The P’rushim and some of the Torah-teachers who had come from Yerushalayim gathered together with Yeshua 2 and saw that some of his talmidim (disciples) ate with ritually unclean hands, that is, without doing n’tilat-yadayim. 3 (For the P’rushim, and indeed all the Judeans, holding fast to the Tradition of the Elders, do not eat unless they have given their hands a ceremonial washing. 4 Also, when they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they have rinsed their hands up to the wrist; and they adhere to many other traditions, such as washing cups, pots and bronze vessels.)
5 The P’rushim and the Torah-teachers asked him, “Why don’t yourtalmidim live in accordance with the Tradition of the Elders, but instead eat with ritually unclean hands?” 6 Yeshua answered them, “Yesha‘yahu was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites — as it is written,
‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far away from me.
7
Their worship of me is useless,
because they teach man-made rules as if they were doctrines.’[a]
8 “You depart from God’s command and hold onto human tradition.9 Indeed,” he said to them, “you have made a fine art of departing from God’s command in order to keep your tradition! 10 For Moshe said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’[b] and ‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’[c] 11 But you say, ‘If someone says to his father or mother, “I have promised as a korban” ’ ” (that is, as a gift to God) “ ‘ “what I might have used to help you,” ’12 then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother.13 Thus, with your tradition which you had handed down to you, you nullify the Word of God! And you do other things like this.” 14 Then Yeshua called the people to him again and said, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand this! 15 There is nothing outside a person which, by going into him, can make him unclean. Rather, it is the things that come out of a person which make a person unclean!” 16 [d] 17 When he had left the people and entered the house, his talmidimasked him about the parable. 18 He replied to them, “So you too are without understanding? Don’t you see that nothing going into a person from outside can make him unclean? 19 For it doesn’t go into his heart but into his stomach, and it passes out into the latrine.” (Thus he declared all foods ritually clean.) 20 “It is what comes out of a person,” he went on, “that makes him unclean. 21 For from within, out of a person’s heart, come forth wicked thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 greed, malice, deceit, indecency, envy, slander, arrogance, foolishness…. 23 All these wicked things come from within, and they make a person unclean.” Now, many say here 'See! All food is clean!" But that isn't actually the case, and can only be made the case because we have a western viewpoint on the passage and what food is to society today. So lets look harder at this. First, who was Yeshua speaking to? The Pharisees and the Teachers of the Law. People who know the Torah inside and out as well as their additional rabbinical laws. In fact, the chastisement they are trying to give Yeshua at the beginning of the passage is about his disciples eating with unclean hands, but this as a law is not from the Torah and thus we see Jesus dismiss it outright. Rabbinical law is not something to be upheld, only Elohim's Law is, as he was showing us. The Pharisees where 'teaching man-made rules as if they where doctrines' and this Yeshua rebuked. If Yeshua had been rebuking them on the Law as given through Moses they would have killed him on the spot! It would have been seen as blasphemy and grounds for stoning. As we see in Mark 3:6, 6 The P’rushim went out and immediately began plotting with some members of Herod’s party how to do away with him. They where already looking for an excuse, some valid reason to make a criminal out of him. If he was preaching Against what He himself was a part of putting into place (After all, Yeshua is a part of our Elohim, the Godhead, did you think he was absent when God gave the laws to Moses?) they would have had that validity to so. Instead what he is saying is restated in a line from the next passage, "Stop treating as unclean what God has made clean". He made certain things to be food, and certain things not to be, and we will explore that a little later when we go into which is which. So what the Messiah would have been saying here to the Pharisees and the Teachers of the Law was not "Everything people want to eat they can eat!" but, "If what is on your plates is a clean dinner as given by God than dirty hands are not going to defile that and make it unclean. What was clean stays clean."
Acts 10:9-20 states, 9 The next day about noon, while they were still on their way and approaching the city, Kefa went up onto the roof of the house to pray.10 He began to feel hungry and wanted something to eat; but while they were preparing the meal, he fell into a trance 11 in which he saw heaven opened, and something that looked like a large sheet being lowered to the ground by its four corners. 12 In it were all kinds of four-footed animals, crawling creatures and wild birds. 13 Then a voice came to him, “Get up, Kefa, slaughter and eat!” 14 But Kefa said, “No, sir! Absolutely not! I have never eaten food that was unclean or treif. (impure)” 15 The voice spoke to him a second time: “Stop treating as unclean what God has made clean.” 16 This happened three times, and then the sheet was immediately taken back up into heaven. 17 Kefa was still puzzling over the meaning of the vision he had seen, when the men Cornelius had sent, having inquired for Shim‘on’s house, stood at the gate 18 and called out to ask if the Shim‘on known as Kefa was staying there. 19 While Kefa’s mind was still on the vision, the Spirit said, “Three men are looking for you. 20 Get up, go downstairs, and have no misgivings about going with them, because I myself have sent them.” A passage so often used as another argument to be able to eat anything we so desire. But again, is that what it is really saying? First we need to see that Peter himself was confused, so much so that God gave him the dream 3 times to show him what it meant! If it was about food don't you think revealing a meaning would have been needless? Even after three occurrences Peter was confused. The Holy Spirit had to speak up and tell him that it was indeed okay to go with Gentiles, for Elohim had sent them. Acts 10:28-29 continues in saying, 28 He said to them, “You are well aware that for a man who is a Jew to have close association with someone who belongs to another people, or to come and visit him, is something that just isn’t done. But God has shown me not to call any person common or unclean; 29 so when I was summoned, I came without raising any questions. Tell me, then, why did you send for me?” That Peter himself did not regard this as food but as regarding people! God makes no person unclean, and thus we are not to deal with people as unclean when they have been created clean; but this is what the Jews had been doing with the Gentiles for generations and thus Peter needed to be reminded that it is indeed okay to spread the gospel to them. Not once does Peter think of this as regarding food! So did God make the unclean clean? Not so! As we already saw, Revelations 18:2 is one example of the unclean even in the end of the ages. Many can be found in Revelations, Daniel, and Ezekiel. How then would it become unclean again if it was made clean?
So then what of Romans 14? Verses 1-4 make a neat summation of the chapter, saying, Now as for a person whose trust is weak, welcome him — but not to get into arguments over opinions. 2 One person has the trust that will allow him to eat anything, while another whose trust is weak eats only vegetables. 3 The one who eats anything must not look down on the one who abstains; and the abstainer must not pass judgment on the one who eats anything, because God has accepted him — 4 who are you to pass judgment on someone else’s servant? It is before his own master that he will stand or fall; and the fact is that he will stand, because the Lord is able to make him stand. At first glance it certainly looks like, anything means anything to a modern view doesn't it? But instantly it says that those not eating anything is because they are only eating vegetables! The why for this is found in 1 Corinthians 8, Now about food sacrificed to idols: we know that, as you say, “We all have knowledge.” Yes, that is so, but “knowledge” puffs a person up with pride; whereas love builds up. 2 The person who thinks he “knows” something doesn’t yet know in the way he ought to know. 3 However, if someone loves God, God knows him.
4 So, as for eating food sacrificed to idols, we “know” that, as you say, “An idol has no real existence in the world, and there is only one God.”5 For even if there are so-called “gods,” either in heaven or on earth — as in fact there are “gods” and “lords” galore — 6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom all things come and for whom we exist; and one Lord, Yeshua the Messiah, through whom were created all things and through whom we have our being. 7 But not everyone has this knowledge. Moreover, some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat food which has been sacrificed to them, they think of it as really affected by the idol; and their consciences, being weak, are thus defiled. 8 Now food will not improve our relationship with God — we will be neither poorer if we abstain nor richer if we eat. 9 However watch out that your mastery of the situation does not become a stumbling block to the weak. 10 You have this “knowledge”; but suppose someone with a weak conscience sees you sitting, eating a meal in the temple of an idol. Won’t he be built up wrongly to eat this food which has been sacrificed to idols? 11 Thus by your “knowledge” this weak person is destroyed, this brother for whom the Messiah died; 12 and so, when you sin against the brothers by wounding their conscience when it is weak, you are sinning against the Messiah!13 To sum up, if food will be a snare for my brother, I will never eat meat again, lest I cause my brother to sin. So basically, what was happening at the time is because so many of the markets where selling clean meat that may or may not have been sacrificed to an idol, that people where choosing to abstain from meats all together. And so back to Romans 14 we see that it is meat specifically he is speaking of, not necessarily foods outside of what is called clean. Through the rest of the chapter I want to point something out that many miss. In the entire chapter about not judging each other on our choices of these things, to have unity, the target of the chapter is the dietary laws and the Holy Days as well as the Sabbath. Three things that are marked as a part of God's Law, and thus a sin to not keep, but are left out any time a passage is speaking of "sins that lead to death". And thus I can only conclude that Unity is deemed as the more important matter than these things - but that does NOT negate the validity of the thing in question in the slightest. All it sums into is 'Do not argue over non-essentials to your salvation'. And so knowing from earlier that only what God has created clean is clean, we end this section with Romans 14:19-23, 19 So then, let us pursue the things that make for shalom and mutual upbuilding. 20 Don’t tear down God’s work for the sake of food. True enough, all things are clean; but it is wrong for anybody by his eating to cause someone to fall away. 21 What is good is not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble. 22 The belief you hold about such things, keep between yourself and God. Happy the person who is free of self-condemnation when he approves of something! 23 But the doubter comes under condemnation if he eats, because his action is not based on trust. And anything not based on trust is a sin.
If there is any more doubt or questions regarding if the dietary laws remains I would turn you to the post, already linked, Categorizing the Laws of Adonai. From here I will law out what these laws are and how to keep them.
As just stated, we often run into the idea then that people use 1 Corinthians 6:12, 12 You say, “For me, everything is permitted”? Maybe, but not everything is helpful. “For me, everything is permitted”? Maybe, but as far as I am concerned, I am not going to let anything gain control over me. and it's clone, 1 Corinthians 10:23, 23 “Everything is permitted,” you say? Maybe, but not everything is helpful. “Everything is permitted?” Maybe, but not everything is edifying. We already know, I would hope, that to disobey a law of God is not edifying, but lets now look at Leviticus 11 part by part on how to keep it and how disobeying it is not helpful to our bodies or edifying for our health. Our God truly is smarter than we are!
Let's first go to a dietary law that is not included in the ones counted in Leviticus 11. This dietary restriction is first found in Genesis 9:4 shows us that blood was not to be consumed, saying, only flesh with its life, which is its blood, you are not to eat. Leviticus 17:11 gives us a reason for this, saying, For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for yourselves; for it is the blood that makes atonement because of the life.’ Deuteronomy 12:23 further backs this up. And this is the one dietary commandment repeated explicitly in the New Testament. In Acts 15, the chapter which speaks of what is first to be learned by new believers, verse 20 says, Instead, we should write them a letter telling them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from fornication, from what is strangled and from blood. We know that this is just introductory as some very major sins are not listed as needing to be obeyed by the new Gentile believers, yet a dietary restriction is one of those shown! Showing us that dietary was still very important.
Let's first go to a dietary law that is not included in the ones counted in Leviticus 11. This dietary restriction is first found in Genesis 9:4 shows us that blood was not to be consumed, saying, only flesh with its life, which is its blood, you are not to eat. Leviticus 17:11 gives us a reason for this, saying, For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for yourselves; for it is the blood that makes atonement because of the life.’ Deuteronomy 12:23 further backs this up. And this is the one dietary commandment repeated explicitly in the New Testament. In Acts 15, the chapter which speaks of what is first to be learned by new believers, verse 20 says, Instead, we should write them a letter telling them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from fornication, from what is strangled and from blood. We know that this is just introductory as some very major sins are not listed as needing to be obeyed by the new Gentile believers, yet a dietary restriction is one of those shown! Showing us that dietary was still very important.
Leviticus 11 Adonai said to Moshe and Aharon, 2 “Tell the people of Isra’el, ‘These are the living creatures which you may eat among all the land animals: 3 any that has a separate hoof which is completely divided and chews the cud — these animals you may eat. 4-6 But you are not to eat those that only chew the cud or only have a separate hoof. For example, the camel, the coney and the hare are unclean for you, because they chew the cud but don’t have a separate hoof; 7 while the pig is unclean for you, because, although it has a separate and completely divided hoof, it doesn’t chew the cud. 8 You are not to eat meat from these or touch their carcasses; they are unclean for you.
So, for land dwelling animals it breaks down simple. Needing to have a cloven hoof and chew the cud, not just one - but both, At this point I know many of you are bemoaning bacon but I assure you that beef or turkey bacon can fill the hole sufficiently and are much better for you. Sadly the truth is that pork is simply toxic for us, from their inability to process toxins and thus storing them into their fats for us to inject to their genetic makeup being to close to our own and thus we store pork fat into our own - toxins and all! Among the kashrut land dwelling animals you have cow, deer, elk, moose, sheep, and goat. This can go beyond the obvious, as so many things have been affected by pork, from gelatin in jello to the casings on even beef sausages. It can get tricky in that way to find things that meet the levitical standard but it is possible and far easier than I'm sure you would anticipate. But really, do we want to be eating a bear which is a garbage eater, or a horse which serves another purpose, or a dog or cat? To say that we can eat pork is to draw no line on any of these animals as well.
9 “‘Of all the things that live in the water, you may eat these: anything in the water that has fins and scales, whether in seas or in rivers — these you may eat. 10 But everything in the seas and rivers without both fins and scales, of all the small water-creatures and of all the living creatures in the water, is a detestable thing for you. 11 Yes, these will be detestable for you — you are not to eat their meat, and you are to detest their carcasses. 12 Whatever lacks fins and scales in the water is a detestable thing for you.
Now we are onto the sea dwelling animals, and again we are given two simple standards to judge what is good for us and what isn't. This time it is needing both fins and scales, which means most fish do qualify, but not all and certainly nothing beyond the fish family. When you look at shellfish for example they are natures vacuum cleaner for the water, much as pork is for the land. Eating everything, including waste products, to help keep nature in balance. And also like the pig these toxins and wastes do not purge out of their flesh and so when you eat a shrimp or lobster you're eating all the same waste, that's right. Fish poop. I encourage you to review the eating habits of other animals which do not qualify and reason if you're okay with eating what they are, I'm confident your appetite may be lowered for the animal in question. Now, there is hope for shellfish lovers yet! If you boil jackfish in sea salt you get "poor man's lobster" with more meat than a lobster tail.
13 “‘The following creatures of the air are to be detestable for you — they are not to be eaten, they are a detestable thing: the eagle, the vulture, the osprey, 14 the kite, the various kinds of buzzards, 15 the various kinds of ravens, 16 the ostrich, the screech-owl, the seagull, the various kinds of hawks, 17 the little owl, the cormorant, the great owl, 18 the horned owl, the pelican, the barn owl, 19 the stork, the various kinds of herons, the hoopoe and the bat.
This one looks more complicated, but it's really not. It's listing a series of animals which either eat waste or decay. Again showing natures vacuum cleaners and not an animal designed for us to be eating. On the upside, outside of the owl in some cultures, these animals generally aren't eaten within our society anyways; so there is no hard change when turning to eating Kashrut.
20 “‘All winged swarming creatures that go on all fours are a detestable thing for you; 21 except that of all winged swarming creatures that go on all fours, you may eat those that have jointed legs above their feet, enabling them to jump off the ground. 22 Specifically, of these you may eat the various kinds of locusts, grasshoppers, katydids and crickets.23 But other than that, all winged swarming creatures having four feet are a detestable thing for you.
So, again in our western society this isn't an issue as bugs aren't a part of our diet generally. But hey, if you want to eat a grasshopper you go right ahead.
24 “‘The following will make you unclean; whoever touches the carcass of them will be unclean until evening, 25 and whoever picks up any part of their carcass is to wash his clothes and be unclean until evening:26 every animal that has a separate but incompletely divided hoof or that doesn’t chew the cud is unclean for you; anyone who touches them will become unclean. 27 Whatever goes on its paws, among all animals that go on all fours, is unclean for you; whoever touches its carcass will be unclean until evening; 28 and whoever picks up its carcass is to wash his clothes and be unclean until evening — these are unclean for you.
Now, I will again turn you to Categorizing the Laws of Yahweh as it elaborates into clean and unclean extensively. That said, if this meant to say don't do it ever than we couldn't even handle the burrial of a dearly beloved dog. Instead it is saying IF we do it, here is there protocols to clean yourself and prevent illness or disease from coming from the carcass to the people handling it.
29 “‘The following are unclean for you among the small creatures that swarm on the ground: the weasel, the mouse, the various kinds of lizards, 30 the gecko, the land crocodile, the skink, the sand-lizard and the chameleon. 31 They are unclean crawling creatures; whoever touches them when they are dead will be unclean until evening. 32 Anything on which one of them falls when dead will become unclean — wooden utensil, article of clothing, leather, sacking — any utensil used for work; it must be put in water, and it will be unclean until evening; then it will be clean. (vii) 33 If one of them falls into a clay pot, whatever is in it will become unclean, and you are to break the pot. 34 Any food permitted to be eaten that water from such a vessel gets on will become unclean, and any permitted liquid in such a vessel will become unclean. 35 Everything on which any carcass-part of theirs falls will become unclean, whether oven or stove; it is to be broken in pieces — they are unclean and will be unclean for you; 36 although a spring or cistern for collecting water remains clean. But anyone who touches one of their carcasses will become unclean. 37 If any carcass-part of theirs falls on any kind of seed to be sown, it is clean; 38 but if water is put on the seed and a carcass-part of theirs falls on it, it is unclean for you.
This is actually kind of a common sense clause when you think about it, because what all these animals carry can remain in porous materials such as clay and thus never leave even with cleaning. Making that disease still able to be transmitted to the person using the vessel, or from the seeds which keep it as well. General hygiene is thus involved here. God has a purpose here, after all - is the poisonous reptile edifying for our bodies just because we bless it? Of course not, it will still kill you!
39 “‘If an animal of a kind that you are permitted to eat dies, whoever touches its carcass will be unclean until evening. 40 A person who eats meat from its carcass or carries its carcass is to wash his clothes; he will be unclean until evening.
This really is the clincher to the idea that clean and unclean in themselves are not a state of sin, as we are told indeed to eat animals that are clean! And so the discussion here is if butchering the animal is act which makes us unclean until evening or if there is a line on what is a carcass - if there is a level of decay before the term applies.
41 “‘Any creature that swarms on the ground is a detestable thing; it is not to be eaten — 42 whatever moves on its stomach, goes on all fours, or has many legs — all creatures that swarm on the ground; you are not to eat them, because they are a detestable thing. 43 You are not to make yourselves detestable with any of these swarming, crawling creatures; do not make yourselves unclean with them, do not defile yourselves with them. 44 For I am Adonai your God; therefore, consecrate yourselves and be holy, for I am holy; and do not defile yourselves with any kind of swarming creature that moves along the ground. (Maftir) 45 For I amAdonai, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. Therefore you are to be holy, because I am holy.
46 “‘Such, then, is the law concerning animals, flying creatures, all living creatures that move about in the water, and all creatures that swarm on the ground. 47 Its purpose is to distinguish between the unclean and the clean, and between the creatures that may be eaten and those that may not be eaten.’”
And with that I encourage you to keep looking into the dietary laws and studying if this is something you are being led to make the change to. If you already are eating Kashrut I hope this gave you a better understanding of why and how this is something that we do.
