Everyone Eats: Why Are Jews Different?

Everyone eats.  Every man, woman, child.  Thief, sinner, or saint.

Everything eats.  Every beast of the field.  Every insect.  Every fish swarming the seas and oceans, lakes and rivers.

To eat is to live, to maintain contact with corporeal existence.  To keep the body alive.  For without the body, there is nothing.  No experience.  No memory.  No joy, no hardship.  No soul.

Unlike animals and insects, people eat to live and for enjoyment.  Once beyond the barest of caloric needs, everyone develops personal routines surrounding eating to make the act more enjoyable.  We honor world-renown chefs.  Cookbooks proliferate.  Glossy magazines are dedicated to the joy of eating.  We love food.

So how is a Jew to respond when challenged as to why he imposes upon himself not ceremonies dedicated solely to the enjoyment of eating, but rather strict limitations on what he can eat?

Of course, this is a false question.  Understanding the rules of kashrut (kosher) as a restriction is to miss the essential nature of creation and of our relationships with G-d and what it means to truly enjoy partaking of creation.

Read More:

http://www.ou.org/life/food/everyone-eats-why-jews-different-eliyahu-safran/#.UDvHvKBHlLs