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FOOD AND NUTRITION

DISTINGUISHING CLEAN AND UNCLEAN FOODS

  1. Lev.20:25 You shall therefore distinguish between clean animals and unclean, between unclean birds and clean, and you shall not make yourselves abominable by beast or by bird, or by any kind of living thing that creeps on the ground, which I have separated from you as unclean. Lev.11:46 This is the law of the animals and the birds and every living creature that moves in the waters, and of every creature that creeps on the earth, to distinguish between the unclean and the clean, and between the animal that may be eaten and the animal that may not be eaten.

Commandments about clean and unclean food were known as far back as by Noah and his sons: Gen.7:1 Then YHWH  said to Noah, “Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation. You shall take with you seven each of every clean animal, a male and his female; two each of animals that are unclean, a male and his female (of all unclean beasts, thou shalt take only one pair, male and female).”

  1. Deut.14:3 Don’t eat anything abominable.

Is.66:15 For behold, YHWH will come with fire And with His chariots, like a whirlwind, to render His anger with fury, And His rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire and by His sword YHWH will judge all flesh. And the slain of YHWH shall be many. “Those who sanctify themselves and purify themselves, To go to the gardens After an idol in the midst, Eating swine’s meat and the abomination and the mouse (obscene meal of pigs/swine and mice), shall be consumed together,” says YHWH!

Is.66:2 I was sought by those who did not ask for Me; I was found by those who did not seek Me. I said, ‘Here I am, here I am,’ to a nation that was not called by My name. I have stretched out My hands all day long to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, according to their own thoughts; a people who provoke Me to anger continually to My face; who sacrifice in gardens, and burn incense on altars of brick; who sit among the graves, and spend the night in the tombs; who eat swine’s flesh, and the broth of abominable things is in their vessels.

 

BLOOD AND FAT 

  1. Lev.3:17 This is the fixed rule down through the generations, wherever you happen to live: Don’t eat the fat. Don’t eat the blood. None of it.
  1. Deut.12:23 Only be sure: absolutely no blood. Don’t eat the blood. Blood is life. Don’t eat the life with the meat.
  1. Lev.7:26 You shall eat no blood of any kind, whether of bird or of beast, in any of your dwellings. Whoever eats any kind of blood, that person shall be cut off from his people.
  1. Lev.17:10 And whatever man of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who dwell among you, who eats any blood, I will set My face against that person who eats blood, and will cut him off from among his people. For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls. For it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul. Therefore I said to the children of Israel, “No one among you shall eat blood, nor shall any stranger who dwells among you eat blood.”
  1. Deut.12:24 You shall not eat it (blood) you shall pour it on the earth like water. You shall not eat it, that it may go well with you and your children after you, when you do what is right in the sight of YHWH.
  1. Gen.9:4 You shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.
  1. Lev.19:26 You shall not eat anything with the blood.
  1. Lev.17:13 Whatever man of the children of Israel, or of the strangers who dwell among you, who hunts and catches any animal or bird that may be eaten, he shall pour out its blood and cover it with dust. For it is the life of all flesh. Its blood sustains its life. Therefore I said to the children of Israel, “You shall not eat the blood of any flesh, for the life of all flesh is its blood. Whoever eats it shall be cut off.”
  1. Lev.7:23 You shall not eat any fat, of ox or sheep or goat. Lev.7:25 For whoever eats the fat of the animal of which men offer an offering made by fire to YHWH, the person who eats it shall be cut off from his people.
  1. Lev.7:24 And the fat of an animal that dies naturally, and the fat of what is torn by wild beasts, may be used in any other way. But you shall by no means eat it.

MEAT TORN BY BEASTS OR THAT WHICH DIED NATURALLY

  1. Ex.22:31 You shall not eat meat torn by beasts in the field; you shall throw it to the dogs.
  1. Deut.14:21 You shall not eat of anything that dies of itself (carrion). You may give it to the stranger or the foreigner who is within your towns, that he may eat it, or you may sell it to an alien. For you are a holy people to YHWH your Elohim.

MEAT

  1. Deut.12:20 When YHWH your Elohim enlarges your border as He has promised you, and you say, “Let me eat meat,” because you long to eat meat, you may eat as much meat as your heart desires.

LIVESTOCK 

  1. Lev.11:2 These are the animals which you may eat among all the beasts that are on the earth. Whatever parts the hoof and is cloven-footed and chews the cud, any of these animals you may eat. Deut.14:4 These are the animals you may eat: ox, sheep, goat, deer, gazelle, roebuck, wild goat, ibex, antelope, mountain sheep – any animal that has a cloven hoof and chews the cud among the beasts you may eat. Lev.11:26 The carcass of any animal which divides the foot, but is not cloven-hoofed or does not chew the cud, is unclean to you. Everyone who touches it shall be unclean.
  1. Deut.14:7 Nevertheless, of those (animals) that chew the cud or have cloven hooves, you shall not eat, such as these: the camel, the hare, and the rock hyrax (coney). For they chew the cud but do not have cloven hooves; they are unclean for you. Also the swine is unclean for you, because it has cloven hooves, yet does not chew the cud. You shall not eat their flesh or touch their dead carcasses. Lev.11:4 Nevertheless these you shall not eat among those that chew the cud or those that have cloven hooves: the camel, because it chews the cud but does not have cloven hooves, is unclean to you. The rock hyrax, because it chews the cud but does not have cloven hooves, is unclean to you. The hare, because it chews the cud but does not have cloven hooves, is unclean to you. And the swine, though it divides the hoof, having cloven hooves, yet does not chew the cud, is unclean to you. Their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch. They are unclean to you. Lev.11:27 And whatever goes on its paws, among all kinds of animals that go on all fours, those are unclean to you. Whoever touches any such carcass shall be unclean until evening.

FISH AND SEAFOOD

  1. Lev.11:9 These you may eat of all that are in the water: whatever in the water has fins and scales, whether in the seas or in the rivers – that you may eat. Deut.14:9 These you may eat of all that are in the waters whatever has fins and scales you may eat.
  1. Deut.14:10 And whatever has not fins and scales you may not eat. It is unclean for you. Lev.11:10 But all in the seas or in the rivers that do not have fins and scales, all that move in the water or any living thing which is in the water, they are an abomination to you. They shall be an abomination to you. You shall not eat their flesh, but you shall regard their carcasses as an abomination. Whatever in the water does not have fins or scales – that shall be an abomination to you.

 

POULTRY

  1. Deut.14:11 Of all clean birds you may eat.
  1. Deut.14:12 But these are the ones which you shall not eat the eagle, the vulture, the ospray, the buzzard, the kite in its several species, the raven in all its species, the ostrich, the nighthawk, the sea gull, the hawk of any variety, the little owl, the great owl, the horned owl, the pelican, the carrion vulture, the cormorant, the stork, the heron of any variety, the jackdaw the hoopoe, and the bat. Lev.11:13 And these you shall regard as an abomination among the birds. They shall not be eaten, they are an abomination: the eagle, the vulture, the buzzard, the kite, and the falcon after its kind. Every raven after its kind, the ostrich, the short-eared owl, the sea gull, and the hawk after its kind. The little owl, the fisher owl, and the screech owl. The white owl, the jackdaw, and the carrion vulture. The stork, the heron after its kind, the hoopoe, and the bat.

INSECTS

  1. Lev.11:20 All flying insects that creep on all fours shall be an abomination to you. Deut.14:19 And all winged swarming things (all flying insects) are unclean unto you. They shall not be eaten.
  1. Lev.11:21 You can eat some of these, namely, those that have jointed legs for hopping on the ground: all locusts, katydids, crickets, and grasshoppers after its kind. But all other winged insects which have four feet shall be detestable to you (shall be an abomination to you). By these you shall become unclean. Whoever touches the carcass of any of them shall be unclean until evening.

REPTILES

  1. Lev.11:29 These also shall be unclean to you among the creeping things that creep on the earth: the mole, the mouse, and any kind of great lizard. The gecko, the land crocodile, the sand reptile (lizard), skink and the chameleon. These are unclean to you among all that creep. Whoever touches them when they are dead shall be unclean until evening. Lev.11:41 And every creeping thing that creeps on the earth shall be an abomination. It shall not be eaten. Whatever crawls on its belly, whatever goes on all fours, or whatever has many feet among all creeping things that creep on the earth – these you shall not eat, for they are an abomination.
  1. Lev.11:43 You shall not make yourselves abominable with any creeping thing that creeps nor shall you make yourselves unclean with them, lest you be defiled by them. For I am YHWH your Elohim. You shall therefore consecrate yourselves, and you shall be holy. For I am holy. Neither shall you defile yourselves with any creeping thing that creeps on the earth.

YOUNG GOAT IN ITS MOTHER’S MILK

  1. Ex.23:19/ Ex.34:26/ Deut.14:21 You shall not boil a kid*(young goat) in its mother’s milk. 

* ‘do not boil young goat’ is mentioned three times in the Torah: twice in the context about the first fruits (Ex.23:19; 34:26), and once in the context about food (Deut.14:2).  In the first two instances (Ex.23:19; 34:26) this can be read as an allegory.

In the second context (Deut.14:2), it can be seen that this commandment is a ban of the Canaan ritual and so it can be classified under idolatry. This ritual, as it is mentioned in the Canaan texts from Ugarit, was analogous to the harvest feast: ‘Ancient pagans had a ritual of boiling a young goat in his mother milk after they would gather the harvest, and then marking the trees, fields and fruit gardens with that milk; as they believed this ritual was supposed to help increase the next year’s harvest’. This was confirmed during excavations of the city of Uragit. An ancient manuscript about an Ugarit ritual (KTU 1. 23 ХII BC ) said: ‘Cook a young goat on fire seven times, a lamb in oil on a fire seven times as a food for Astarte’, describing a ritual of bringing sacrifice for goddess Ishtar (Easter/Astarte).

Interpretation of this commandment as the separation of the meat and dairy products has no evidence in the Torah and, therefore, is one of its religious interpretations.

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