One of the great contentions under which we strive is that the Jewish dietary laws were instituted for health reasons. The Scripture (Lev 11:44-45) explains the reason for the imposition of dietary regulations in simple, direct language and it lays great emphasis on our physical and moral health, because both are equally Important for a healthy society. A human being has natural desires: food, sleep and sex being the three primary ones. He has also natural emotions: sorrow, happiness, love, disgust and avarice; and the Bible does not recommend the complete abrogation of these impulses but offers a method of controlling them through religious education and discipline. The prohibition of eating Pork is relevant in this context. Amongst all animal flesh, Pork is the favoured cradle of harmful germs. It serves as a carrier of diseases to mankind.
According to medical experts, Pork is a harmful diet and its consumption creates lowliness in character and destroys moral and spiritual faculties in a man. The life of a man (material and nature) is a compound of body and soul. Therefore, anything which is harmful to the body, hurts the soul as well. The prohibition of certain meat is based on the aim of purification of one’s nature, because food, when consumed doesn’t merely enter the stomach and intestines and become excreta. It is absorbed and metabolized into the system and circulated to all parts of the human body, including the brain, and this, in no small way affects man’s nature.
The Pig is naturally lazy and indulgent in sex; it is dirty, greedy and gluttonous. It dislikes sunlight and lacks the spirit and will to “Fight”. It eats almost anything, be it human excreta or anything foul and unwholesome. Consumption of Pork reduces the feeling of shame and such, the standard of modesty.
Investigations have revealed that those nations which consume Pork habitually have a low standard of morality with the result that virginity, chastity and bashfulness are becoming a thing of the past. Since they have become addicted to Pork, proclaiming that it is a very powerful diet, rich in protein: sexual freedom with its entire attendant evils have gotten ingrained to their culture. Some people have argued that the “modern pig” reared in farms is given only clean foods, therefore its flesh should be consumable. The answer is that you may feed the pig on clean, wholesome food, but can’t change its nature. It is still a pig!
Despite the willingness of the believers to accept the dietary law, the propensity to question persists. The diary law is a mandatory statute which must be obeyed, even though the reason for them is beyond man’s understanding. However, the benefits or reasons behind the divine intervention are numerous. They are of a nature intellectual, spiritual, moral, mental, physical and economical. And the sole purpose is to show man how to develop himself according to an upright course of life in order to be a healthy unit in the structure of the family, the society and eventually humanity large.
Therefore, in the consumption of meat, the believers are required to be selective and distinguish between clean and unclean animals. Adhering to the dietary laws keeps the observant apart from those who have rejected it. He cannot mingle freely because socializing together often means dining together. The secret of Jewish survival was separation and this means holiness.
Another meaningful reason for the dietary laws is that they train us to master our appetites, to accustom us to retrain our desires; and to avoid considering the pleasure of eating and drinking as the goal of man’s existence. The dietary laws were instituted as one means of making the believers’ lifestyle different from that of their neighbors.
The Divine Law is much higher than the medical advice. So eat of the lawful and good food which Yahweh has provided for you. All believers are under the obligation to obey the dietary law because it is plain and straightforward.(MZ).
-P.E.A.Nwatu
