ONE OF THE WAYS that archaeologists use to determine if an ancient site was Jewish/Israelite or not is the presence or absence of pig bones. It is one concrete way of confirming that the biblical ban on Israelites' eating pork was in fact observed. One of the three chapters in this week's Torah portion (Sh'mini, Leviticus chapters 9 through 11) deals entirely
with rules for what land animals (including insects), birds and sea creatures that an Israelite may eat.
Many contemporary Jews struggle to find meaning in the biblical laws on kosher and non-kosher animals, to say nothing of the much-more-stringent rules that the rabbis added to them. How do our own food issues -- healthy nutrition, calorie-watching, etc. -- compare to Jews' traditional dietary concerns?
LET'S TALK!
HERE'S A LINK to some of the texts we'll be examining:
