Reasons for kashrut – Ask the Rabbi
Q. What are the reasons for the kosher laws?
A. The Torah does not specify the reasons for kashrut, but it associates it with holiness. Thus the careful process of shechitah aids holiness by sparing the animal all possible pain.
The methods of slaughtering and soaking and salting the meat promote the removal of the blood; Ezekiel associates the eating of blood with the sins of idolatry and murder. Thus removing the blood symbolises our abhorrence of bloodshed.
Not mixing milk and meat, and all the other aspects of kashrut, were regarded by the rabbis as a means of discipline and moral conduct.
A famous passage states, “A person should not say, ‘I do not like the flesh of swine’, but ‘It might well be tasty, but what can I do, seeing that my Father in Heaven has forbidden it to me?'”
Maimonides says the dietary laws “accustom us to restrain the growth of desire and the disposition to consider the pleasure of eating as the purpose of human existence.”
A loyal Jewish home is a kosher home. A kosher home expresses Jewish identity and ensures that even the most banal daily activities have a quality of Jewishness and refinement.
Further, by restricting the places where a Jew can freely eat, kashrut reinforces the importance of home and family life.
