Editing Kashrut (section)

==Explanations==

===Philosophical===
[[Jewish philosophy]] divides the [[613 commandments]] (or {{transliteration|he|mitzvot}}) into three groups—laws that have a rational explanation and would probably be enacted by most orderly societies ({{transliteration|he|mishpatim}}), laws that are understood after being explained, but would not be legislated without the Torah's command ({{transliteration|he|eidot}}), and laws that do not have a rational explanation ({{transliteration|he|chukim}}).

Some Jewish scholars say that {{transliteration|he|kashrut}} should be categorized as laws for which there is no particular explanation since the human mind is not always capable of understanding divine intentions. In this line of thinking, the dietary laws were given as a demonstration of God's authority, and man must obey without asking why.<ref name="Is there a reason why we are required to keep kosher?">{{cite web |title=Is there a reason why we are required to keep kosher? |url=https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/is-there-a-reason-why-we-are-required-to-keep-kosher/ |website=Times of Israel |access-date=20 October 2020}}</ref> Although [[Maimonides]] concurs that all the statutes of the Torah are decrees, he is of the view that whenever possible, one should seek out reasons for the Torah's commandments.<ref>''[[Mishneh Torah]]'' ''[[Korban]]ot'', ''[[Temurah (Halacha)|Temurah]] 4:13 (in eds. Frankel; "Rambam L'Am")''</ref>

Some theologians have said that the laws of {{transliteration|he|kashrut}} are symbolic in character: kosher animals represent [[virtue]]s, while non-kosher animals represent [[vice]]s. The 1st-century BCE [[Letter of Aristeas]] argues that the laws "have been given [...] to awake pious thoughts and to form the character".<ref>''Letter of Aristeas'', 145–154</ref> This view reappears in the work of the 19th-century [[Rabbi]] [[Samson Raphael Hirsch]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|year =1971|title=Dietary Laws|encyclopedia=[[Encyclopedia Judaica]]|publisher=[[Keter Publishing House]]|location=Jerusalem}}</ref>

The Torah prohibits "cooking the kid (goat, sheep, calf) in its mother's milk". While the Torah does not provide a reason, it has been suggested that the practice was perceived as cruel and insensitive.<ref>{{cite book| last = Gottlieb| first = Roger S.| title = The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Ecology| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=_LldeLvqQNsC&pg=PA45| access-date = October 18, 2012| year = 2006| publisher = Oxford Handbooks Online| isbn = 978-0-19-517872-2| page = 45 }} quoting [[Deuteronomy Rabbah]] 6:1</ref><ref>{{cite book| last = Chill| first = Abraham| author-link = Abraham Chill| title = The mitzvot: the commandments and their rationale| year = 1974| publisher = [[Bloch Publishing Company]]| isbn = 978-0-8197-0376-7| page = 114 }}</ref>

[[Hasidic Judaism]] believes that everyday life is imbued with channels connecting with [[God|Divinity]], the activation of which it sees as helping the [[Shechinah|Divine Presence]] to be drawn into the physical world;<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/73827/jewish/The-Chassidic-Masters-on-Food.htm |title=The Chassidic Masters on Food and Eating |access-date=April 10, 2013 |last=Schneersohn |first=Yosef Yitzchak |author-link=Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn |publisher=[[Chabad.org]]}}</ref> Hasidism argues that the food laws are related to the way such channels, termed 'sparks of holiness', interact with various animals. These 'sparks of holiness' are released whenever a Jew manipulates any object for a 'holy reason', (which includes eating);<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/73850/jewish/Meat.htm |title=Meat |access-date=April 10, 2013 |last=Tauber |first=Yanki |author-link=Yanki Tauber |publisher=[[Chabad.org]]}}</ref> however, not all animal products are capable of releasing their 'sparks of holiness'.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chabad.org/library/tanya/tanya_cdo/aid/7887/jewish/Chapter-8.htm |title=The Tanya Chapter 8 |access-date=April 10, 2013 |last=Borukhovich |first=Shneur Zalman |publisher=[[Chabad.org]]}}</ref> The Hasidic argument is that animals are imbued with signs that reveal the release of these sparks, and the signs are expressed in the biblical categorization of ritually 'clean' and ritually 'unclean'.<ref>{{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070829062317/http://www.rabbifriedman.org/sichaReeh.asp |date=August 29, 2007 |title=Re'eh }}, rabbifriedman.org (archived from [http://www.rabbifriedman.org/sichaReeh.asp the original]  on August 29, 2007).</ref>

===Medical===
Although the reason for {{transliteration|he|kashrut}} is that it is a decree from the Torah, there have been attempts to provide scientific support for the view that Jewish food laws have an incidental health benefit. One of the earliest is that of [[Maimonides]] in ''[[The Guide for the Perplexed]]'' (c. 1190).

In 1953, [[David Macht]], an Orthodox Jew and proponent of the theory of biblical scientific foresight, conducted [[toxin|toxicity]] experiments on many kinds of animals and fish.<ref>{{cite journal |title=An Experimental Pharmalogical Appreciation of Leviticus&nbsp;XI and Deuteronomy&nbsp;XIV |url=http://members.dslextreme.com/users/hollymick/Macht1953.pdf |archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20070630112056/http://members.dslextreme.com/users/hollymick/Macht1953.pdf |archive-date=2007-06-30 |last=Macht |first=David I. |date=September–October 1953 |journal=Bulletin of the History of Medicine |volume=XXXVII |issue=5 |pages=444–450 }}</ref> His experiment involved [[lupin]] seedlings being supplied with extracts from the meat of various animals; Macht reported that in 100% of cases, extracts from ritually 'unclean' meat inhibited the seedling's growth more than that from ritually 'clean' meats.<ref>{{Harvnb|Macht|1953}} op. cit.</ref>

At the same time, these explanations are controversial. Scholar [[Lester L. Grabbe]], writing in the ''Oxford Bible Commentary'' on Leviticus, says "[a]n explanation now almost universally rejected is that the laws in this section<ref>{{Tanakhverse|Leviticus|11–15}}</ref> have hygiene as their basis. Although some of the laws of ritual purity roughly correspond to modern ideas of physical cleanliness, many of them have little to do with hygiene. For example, there is no evidence that the 'unclean' animals are intrinsically bad to eat or to be avoided in a Mediterranean climate, as is sometimes asserted."<ref>''The Oxford Bible Commentary'', eds. J. Barton and J. Muddiman. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2001: 99.</ref>