68 Deep seated reasons for eating kosher

Deep-seated reasons for eating kosher foods.

There are groups who believe the food laws given in Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14 are for health reasons only. But, since there are always people who come up with reasons for not eating kosher foods, we need to also determine the deeper reasons why YHVH our Elohim and the Creator of everything that exists, gave the sons of Israel these rules regarding the foods we are allowed to eat and not to eat. Most of us are aware that our Jewish Brothers in general do not eat un-kosher foods and their Rabbis will be the last to ever tell them the food laws in the Scriptures are not applicable any longer.

But, for what reason does the word of YHVH say to the Prophet Ezekiel in Ezekiel 22: 26, “Her priests have done violence to My law and have profaned My holy things; they have made no distinction between the holy and the profane, and they have not taught the difference between the unclean and the clean; and they hide their eyes from My Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.” If we backtrack a bit in the book of Ezekiel, we will notice that the Prophet Ezekiel’s prophecies was in the main directed at the house of Israel, who were dispersed into the nations of the world because of idolatry, started by their king Jeroboam. Jeroboam became king over the house of Israel, after YHVH split the commonwealth of Israel into two separate kingdoms namely the house of Israel and the house of Judah, ruled over by Rehobaom king Solomon’s son, after King Solomon’s death. Later both houses of Israel were taken into captivity, the house of Israel for idolatry and the house of Judah for not keeping Elohim’s land Sabbaths. Whilst Ezekiel was in exile in Babylon with the house of Judah, he was made specifically a watchman to the house of Israel who was by then taken away in exile by the Assyrians who took them along into Europe. Because we know that Ezekiel’s prophecies never reached the people for whom they were intended, and since it was mostly talking about what has and is happening during our time, it is clear that most of his prophecies were aimed at us the latter day descendants of the lost sheep of the house of Israel. It is also therefore clear that the above quoted section in Ezekiel 22 is aimed at the ‘priests’ amongst us, who have for the past two thousand years been teaching against Elohim’s Torah. The people and priests that these prophecies are directed to, all confess faith in Messiah, and even though they claim Him to be their Master and Savior, they do not follow any of His teachings whilst He was on earth.

If we claim to love YHVH our Elohim, then we need to show Him our faith by our works. How do we show YHVH that we love Him? We read the answer from the so-called ‘New Testament’ in 1 John 5: 2 & 3, in this way: “By this we know that we love the children of Elohim, when we love Elohim and observe His commandments. (3) For this is the love of Elohim, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.” This tells us that we keep the food laws and any other laws that YHVH has given for our good, not only for health reasons, but to demonstrate that we love and obey Him. Even so, let’s also determine the reason why we are allowed to eat certain animals and not others? The reason why YHVH tells us what to eat and what not, is because He created certain things for the benefit of His covenant people, and He also knows what would be harmful to us. The reason we can eat cattle, sheep and goats is because they have a lot lower incidence of communicable diseases. Hooves protect clean animals from cuts and injury, which are entry points for germs, parasites and prevent diseases entering the body. These animals are ruminating animals, meaning they chew the cud – that is their stomachs have more than one compartment. Their food is thoroughly digested as it moves from one compartment to the next, before it passes on to the intestines where the nutrients are extracted and absorbed into the bloodstream for nourishment. They eliminate toxins much more effectively than they would, if they had shorter digestive processes like other animals and humans. In addition ruminating animals do not by nature eat flesh, and are not predatory, but are vegetarians and eat food less complicated to digest, than meat. Consequently meat from ruminating animals is ideal for human nourishment.

Much like ruminating animals, birds that are suitable for human consumption have stomachs or gizzards with a double skin, which can be easily separated, such as chicken, turkey, and certain species of duck and geese. They have digestive systems much like the ruminating animals, more capable of eliminating impurities from their food than the digestive systems of unclean animals; leaf eating birds like ducks, geese, pigeons and swans have bacteria in their intestines that break down roughage; pigeons and doves store partly digested food in their crops to be passed on to their stomachs when it is more digestible. During brooding season their crops produce a type of milk from the seeds eaten, which is regurgitated for their young. This form of rumination, also render these birds suitable for human consumption. The only clean insects that are considered fit for human consumption are the variants of grasshopper that has a crop, gizzard, intestines and a stomach, in that order, from front to back. Like clean animals grasshoppers chew their food with jaws and have long digestive processes like ruminating animals or clean birds. These facts could not have been discovered by mankind through mere observation, and it was for this reason that YHVH, the Creator of these animals revealed these to His people through His Torah. The laws concerning clean and unclean foods are found in the Scriptures long before YHVH gave His Torah teachings to Moses. YHVH told Noah to take clean animals into the ark in pairs of seven, but unclean animals by twos only (in Genesis 7: 1 – 3). We see that after Noah’s safe arrival on Mount Ararat, he built an altar and sacrificed of every clean animal and clean fowl to YHVH (Genesis 8: 20). From this we know that Noah was already aware of those animals and birds that were clean and those unclean. But we see further from reading from Leviticus 20: 25 that it is not only unhealthy to eat unclean meat, it also makes us detestable (abominable or vile), as follows: ‘You are therefore to make a distinction between the clean animal and the unclean, and between the unclean bird and the clean; and you shall not make yourselves detestable by animal or by bird or by anything that creeps on the ground, which I have separated for you as unclean.’ It is not only pork that makes us detestable, but shell fish, like lobsters, crabs, shrimp; rodents like mice, rats, rabbits, squirrel, raccoon, kangaroo and wallaby; scavengers like eagles, buzzards, catfish and sharks. These meats are detestable and not fit for human consumption.

Now we get to the health issues regarding the meats we eat. We need to also understand that ruminating animals are not completely free from diseases, but because of their digestive systems they have a lower rate per capita of having contaminated flesh. It should be mentioned in passing that cattle meat may occasionally be infested by the parasite, Taenia Saginata that requires that such meat be properly cooked before it is consumed by humans. Failure to do so could result in a tapeworm that could become twenty feet long and has about two thousand segments. We are not allowed to eat contaminated meat and we may also not eat meat with any blood in it (as per Leviticus 3: 17). The blood of any kosher animal listed in Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14, should be poured on the ground and covered in soil. In addition we should only eat meat that is cooked properly. We read further from Leviticus 7: 26 & 27: ‘And you are not to eat any blood, either of bird or animal, in any of your dwellings. (27) Any person who eats any blood, even that person shall be cut off from his people.’ In Deuteronomy 12: 23 - 25 YHVH gives more details regarding the prohibition against the eating of blood, saying: “Only be sure not to eat the blood, for the blood is the life, and you shall not eat the life with the flesh. (24) You shall not eat it; you shall pour it out on the ground like water. (25) You shall not eat it, in order that it may be well with you and your sons after you, for you will be doing what is right in the sight of YHVH.” However, the biggest problem with ruminants is that of mutated diseases. Tons of feed containing dried plasma and other blood products produced from hides, skin, tallow and calcium phosphate originating from defatted bones and gelatin from cattle are being fed back to cattle. A considerable proportion is fed to newborn calves, to replace their mother’s milk, which gets sold. The problem is that when you take vegetarian animals and feed them meat, you cause diseases that never existed before, due to mutations.

Research by scientists has shown that blood products can transmit mad cows (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy) and other diseases. This is exactly what happened in Europe and England a number of years ago, when mad cows disease was affecting human beings who ate meat from such infected animals. Since then more than 50 people have died and many more fell ill with the disease, now known as Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease. At that time the USA had only a single documented case, when a Florida resident got infected when she lived in Britain, but she defied all odds by living with the disease for two years before she died at age 25. However, it has also come to light that a portion of the people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s actually suffered from mad cow’s disease. Studies show that it is possible that about 4 million people in the USA may be infected with the agent that causes the human form of mad cow’s disease. How it is possible to insure that the meat that we eat is not affected? I believe the only way is to buy kosher meat, even if it costs a little more. The word kosher means (1) meats approved according to Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14; (2) animals and birds that have been slaughtered by the ritual method, by a certified slaughterer known as a ‘shochet’ and all blood is therefore allowed to flow to the ground (Deuteronomy 12: 16); (3) meat has been salted to remove any excess blood; (4) meat prepared by separate clean utensils under strict supervision.

Chicken is the preferred white meat by most westerners, since it is low in fat, a good source of protein and tasty too. However, since chicken meat is fairly rich it can, if not processed correctly be a host of diseases such a Salmonella and Campylobacter, the main source of food poisoning in humans. Chicken meat should be properly washed and salted before it is cooked to make sure there is no residue of stomach content or feces left on it. Another thing to be aware of, is that beef and pork proteins are regularly added to chicken because it enables the product to hold high levels of water, a common practice to ‘pump up’ the size of the chicken. Carefully look at the packaging of the chicken meat that you buy to avoid this type of contamination. Another point of concern is that a form of influenza has mutated from pigs to chickens called Avian flu. Migratory birds pick up this virus and have infected chickens, turkeys, pheasants, quail, ducks, geese and guinea fowl and a wide variety of other birds. It is therefore also safer to buy kosher chickens as well.

Pork is being advertised extensively as being the healthier option for meat buyers in South Africa. Even though a pig has split hoofs, it does not qualify as food according to the guidelines YHVH gave us in the Scriptures. YHVH expressly legislated against the consumption of pork in Leviticus 11: 7 & 8, saying: ‘And the pig, for though it divides the hoof, thus making a split hoof, it does not chew cud, it is unclean to you. (8) You shall not eat of their flesh nor touch their carcasses, they are unclean to you.’ The pig digests the slop it consumes in three and a half hours, whereas a cow takes 24 hours to send food through its digestive system. The special enzymes and bacteria in the stomachs of cattle and other ruminants help them break down plant matter into food, without absorbing any poisons. In contrast there are over 42 diseases and parasites humans can get from eating pork. In addition pork is loaded with unsaturated fat, which makes it virtually impossible to select a piece that is free from fat. We read from Leviticus 3: 17, ‘It is a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings; you shall not eat any fat or any blood.’ Medical science has proven that animal fat consumed by humans will cause plaque to develop in the blood vessels and eventually clog blood flow throughout the body. The funny thing is that people are more likely to listen to advice given them by a Medical Doctor, but will refuse to believe the word of Elohim, which would have caused them to avoid the illness to start with. If a Medical Doctor tells his patient to stop eating pork, he/she will stop immediately, but if a person hears the word of YHVH and is told to stop eating unclean meat he/she will say that is legalism.

A large percentage (about 75%) of pig livers are filled with abscesses. Examining these closer will reveal the reason for these abscesses. Numerous little sacs or cysts dislodge and move into the stomach, the gastric juices dissolves the membranous sac, and liberates a small animal, with a head and four suckers, which attaches itself to the wall of the intestines, and starts growing into thousands of segmented tapeworms. The pig is a host to a number of diseases, one of which is known as Trichinosis, a disease caused by worms called Trinhinelle, which lives in animals including pigs, dogs, cats and horses, and wild animals such as bears, wolves, foxes seals and rats. When a human or animal eats the meat that contains infective Trichinella cysts the acid in the stomach dissolves the hard covering of the cyst and releases the worms. The worms pass into the small intestines and in about 2 days become mature. After mating, the adult females lay eggs, which develop into mature worms that travel through the arteries and are transported to the muscles. Death occurs when it reaches the heart. The most common pork carrier of Trichinella is the sausage. People usually consume these ‘tasty’ sausages undercooked. Another prime suspect for infestation is the honey baked or smoked ham enjoyed around the Xmas season. Today we are plagued by heart attacks that have reached epidemic proportions, with a large percentage obviously ascribed to the eating of pork, but it is as if no one really cares. Eating pork is like playing Russian roulette with your life. If a pig is more than a few months old, you may find large numbers of tubercles, but after the animal escaped the butcher’s knife for a few years, he would have died of tuberculosis consumption. Then people wonder why TB is so prevalent among human being in countries like South Africa.

Botulism and other food poisoning result from infection due to contaminated pork products, and in severe cases respiratory failure is a complication. At other times the ingestion of pork meat starts a severe allergic reaction followed by fever and a rash. A more common infection is that of hog bladder worms known as Taenia Solium, where the pig is the intermediate host and man the digestive host. The developed worm is about 109 feet long with about 1,000 segments, and is derived from the Cysticecus Cellulose Parasite sometimes present in undercooked pork. A rare degeneration of this condition is seen in Somatic Teanaises, when nodules form in the muscles and the brain to produce symptoms like epilepsy. Yet another disease that can be contracted from ingesting undercooked pork that has come to the notice of medical research in recent years is called Toxoplasmosis and its symptomatic form resembles pneumonia. The Toxplasma organism in pork is unaffected by the periods of storage prescribed by western food laws and seems to be able to survive the usual cooking temperatures. It occurs in a cyst-like mass called a pseudo-cyst the structure of which is resistant to freezing or the actions of gastric juices, but it tends to be broken down after prolonged cooking at high temperatures - because it is a segmented tapeworm, it is just what you don’t want, since once the segments are broken down it becomes a multiplicity of worms. It is clear, that undercooked pork is dangerous, but overcooked pork is equally dangerous. Pigs are scavengers, and often go on the rampage to seek flesh. Pigs think nothing of eating their own young, so the babies must be separated from the mother. Pigs were created to become nature’s garbage disposals and humans need to stay clear of them.

Many rodent species have been and continue to be a delicacy in a number of counties. Rodents carry rabbit fever (Tularemia) a disease that is found worldwide in more than a hundred species of wild animals, rodents and insects. We are told in no uncertain terms by YHVH in Leviticus 11: 29 – 31 that rodents should not be eaten, in this way: “Now these are to you the unclean among the swarming things which swarm on the earth; the mole, and the mouse, and the great lizard in its kinds, (30) and the gecko, and the crocodile, and the lizard, and the sand reptile, and the chameleon. (31) These are to you the unclean among all the swarming things; whoever touches them when they are dead becomes unclean until evening.” Another disease carried by rodents is Bubonic Plague. You do not even have to eat them, if you just handle their carcasses that are contaminated and ingest blood through an opening in your body, or are bitten by a flea on the body of the rodent, you will get the plague. We are warned in Isaiah 66: 16 & 17 about eating pig meat and or rodents, as follows: ‘For YHVH will execute judgment by fire and by His sword on all flesh, and those slain by YHVH will be many. (17) Those who sanctify and purify themselves to go to the gardens, following one in the center, who eat swine’s flesh, detestable things, and mice, shall come to an end altogether,” declares YHVH.’

Shellfish live in the lower parts of river channels and ocean basins that drain the refuse of large cities. They thrive on garbage, sewer sludge and other refuse discharged from coastal cities that are carried on the currents of the world’s oceans and rivers and deposit in its basins and channels. Our heavenly Father created these marine animals to filter our water sources and not for human consumption. Most people would not think of going down to the water treatment plant and ask for a glass of wastewater to drink, so why are they eating shellfish. Scientist condemned oysters and shellfish in general because their meet is difficult to digest and is apt to contain a deadly poison, tyrotoxicon. Cooking is not preventative and boiling does not destroy the poison. Typhoid fever and other intestinal infections have been traced to infected oysters. The meat of shellfish digests in a period of 3 hours as opposed to 18 for clean fish. Most people are aware that shellfish does not keep like other meats, but is very perishable and spoils quickly. Most American restaurants where shellfish is served are obliged to have sign posts, ‘Eat shellfish at your own risk.’ Catfish are a principal source of ‘erysipelas’, a feverish inflammation of the skin and mucous membrane, often affecting the heart, bloodstream and causing various forms of arthritis. One of the main purposes of scales on clean fish is to provide the fish with a coat of armor, which protects it from cuts, predators and parasites. Scales also reflect light, repelling parasites like leeches, which avoid light. Fins help clean fish to maneuver so as to keep them from getting hookworms, and dislodge any that have attempted to attach themselves in spite of the protective scales. Clean fish also have gill covers called opercula, which provide protection from worms, bacteria, and other parasites. Whereas fish whose bones are made of softer cartilage rather than hard bones, have a gill which slits open directly to the outside environment, fish with bones – mostly clean ones have a different jaw structure than unclean fish, and a lengthened, folded small intestine. The softer fish have only a spiral valve. As a general rule, clean fish are not scavengers. Herring and sardines eat plankton, salmon, tuna and mackerel eat other fish; cod eat mollusks (squid, octopus, cuttlefish and sea snails); and halibut eat most types of food. We read YHVH’s instructions regarding fish in Leviticus 11: 9 -12, as follows: ‘These you may eat, whatever is in the water: all that have fins and scales, those in the water, in the seas or in the rivers, you may eat. (10) But whatever is in the sea and in the rivers, that do not have fins and scales among all the teeming life of the water, and among all the living creatures that are in the water, they are detestable things to you, (11) and they shall be abhorrent to you; you may not eat of their flesh, and their carcasses you shall detest. (12) Whatever in the water does not have fins and scales is abhorrent to you.’

Today some people consider reptiles and amphibians as delicacies, even though YHVH legislated against the use of these animals for food or medicine. Just because the world eats turtle soup, snake, crocodile and alligator meat does not make it right, since YHVH told us they are unfit for human consumption in Leviticus 11: 29 – 31, (quoted before). Unclean birds such as vultures, owls, eagles, hawks and seagulls are carnivorous birds of prey and often feed on dead decaying flesh, including fat and blood. Owls eat rats and other disease carrying rodents. Vultures and eagles eat dead animals. Consequently YHVH also legislated against the eating of their meat in Leviticus 11: 13 – 19, saying: ‘Those, moreover, you shall detest among the birds; they are abhorrent, not to be eaten: the eagle and the vulture and the buzzard, (14) and the kite and the falcon in its kind, (15) every raven in its kind, (16) and the ostrich and the owl and the sea gull and the hawk in its kind, (17) and the little owl and the cormorant and the great owl, (18) and the white owl and the pelican and the carrion vulture, (19) and the stork, the heron in its kinds, and the hoopoe, and the bat.’ Unclean insects are generally scavengers, omnivores and occasionally predators. They bite and suck instead of chew thoroughly like the grasshopper. Even though the honey obtained from bees is clean, since it is converted pollen from flowers, bees are also considered unclean. Unclean creeping things are notorious disease carriers; mosquitoes transmit malaria, yellow fever and other diseases. Fleas hosted by rats and mice carry Bubonic plague and can transmit numerous diseases and parasites to man.

The classification of animal species into clean and unclean categories listed in Leviticus 11: 1 – 47 are very significant, since it forms part of the medical code given in Torah, and constituted the basis of dietary regulations that are still adhered to by orthodox Jews and by those returning from the lost ten tribes of Israel (including a number of Gentiles) who are concerned with obeying YHVH the Elohim of Israel and who want to maintain good physical health. The law of clean and unclean represents several Torah concepts, such as the laws of quarantine and sexual behavior that guard against physical and spiritual impurity. YHVH gives us the reason for giving us the laws of clean and unclean food in Leviticus 11: 45 – 47, saying: ‘For I am YHVH, who brought you up from the land of Egypt, to be your Elohim; thus you shall be holy for I am holy.’ (46) This is the law regarding the animal, and the bird, and every living thing that moves in the waters, and everything that swarms on the earth, (47) to make a distinction between the unclean and the clean, and between the edible creature and the creature which is not to be eaten.’ These instructions were given by YHVH to set us apart from other nations. He gave us these righteous instructions to protect our health, our souls (lives) and ultimately because of obedience, our spirits. If we truly love our heavenly Father we will obey Him. Our keeping of commandments distinguishing between clean and unclean in everything we do form the basis of holiness.

To this end Rav Shaul admonish true believers in 2 Corinthians 6: 14 – 18, saying: ‘Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? (15) Or what harmony has Messiah with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? (16) Or what agreement has the temple of Elohim with idols? For we are the temple of the living Elohim, just as Elohim said, ‘I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM; AND I WILL BE THEIR ELOHIM, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE. (17) Therefore, COME OUT FROM THEIR MIDST AND BE SEPARATE,” says YHVH. AND DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN; and I will welcome you. (18) And I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to Me,” says YHVH Almighty.’ As we’ve seen, medical science and the Sacred Scriptures teach us that the Torah lifestyle is a healthy and righteous lifestyle. Torah was made for man, not man for Torah. Torah is our operating manual for life, as YHVH told us in Deuteronomy 30: 15 – 20, saying: “See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and adversity; (16) in that I command you today to love YHVH your Elohim, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that you may live and multiply, and that YHVH your Elohim may bless you in the land where you are entering to possess it. (17) But if your heart turns away and you will not obey, but are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, (18) I declare to you today that you shall surely perish. You shall not prolong your days in the land where you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess it. (19) I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, (20) by loving YHVH your Elohim, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which YHVH swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give them.”

Rav Kepha also warned those of us from the house of Israel who are returning to Elohim, through Yahshua not to go back to our former lust for Idolatry and unclean foods in 1 Peter 1:10 – 16, saying: ‘As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you (who were scattered into the world because of idolatry) made careful search and inquiry, (11) seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Messiah within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Messiah and the glories to follow. (12) It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Set-apart Spirit sent from heaven – things into which angels long to look. (13) Therefore, gird your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Yahshua Messiah. (14) As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts (X-mas and honey glazed ham) which were yours in your ignorance, (15) but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; (16) because it is written, “YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY (Quoted from the last part of Leviticus 11: 44).” Since Yahshua our kinsman redeemer has bought back our piece of the Promised Land that we from the lost ten tribes who are returning to YHVH our Elohim through Him lost, to once again become heirs of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, we are now like our Jewish Brother obliged to serve and obey Him as our Elohim and love Him completely with our hearts, souls and strength, thereby making Him the King in our lives once again. Think about it!