The Jewish dietary laws are one of the more bewildering features of Jewish life. Certain foods like pork and shellfish are forbidden. Certain food combinations—like dairy and meat products—are also forbidden.

People who follow these laws are known to “keep kosher.” The word “kosher” has enter the popular lexicon as well, connoting something legitimate or fitting.

Is It About Health? 

The reasons for the dietary laws are questionable. Some argue they reflected an early concern with health and hygiene. Others suggest they were the result of certain cultural taboos among the ancient Israelites.

Perhaps they served as a means of separating Jews from other peoples so as to maintain a unique identity and religious life.

Ultimately, I think we can broadly categorize the purpose of the dietary laws under the heading of a more contemporary idea, “Mindful Eating.” Mindful eating means different things to different people, but it reflects a core belief that what we eat illustrates our values.

For Jews in particular mindful eating illustrates the following values:

1. Religious discipline: Eating is something we do every day (except for Yom Kippur, the day of atonement.) At every meal we have to exert discipline and maintain boundaries. This constant practices makes us more likely to maintain this discipline when our values are tested by temptation.

2. Holiness: Eating is something all organisms do. Eating in itself does not separate us from the animals. Mindful eating, however, is something only humans can do. Only we can delay our gratification and bless a meal and choose to eat not only to survive, but to enjoy the bounty of God’s creation.

3. The importance of faith: Faith is not only expressed in prayer. It is found in the everyday choices we make. Every day we choose what to eat, and when we make those choices, we remind ourselves of who we are and what we believe. We remind ourselves of what God asks us to do. In so doing, we bring God into our lives.

4. Gratitude: Ultimately, mindful eating is a form of giving thanks for the sustenance we enjoy. The following prayer, which can be recited before a meal, illustrates this truth:

As we make ready to eat this food

We remember with gratitude

The people, animals, plants, insects,

Creatures of the sky and sea

Air and water, fire and earth

All turning in the wheel of living and dying

Whose joyful exertion

Not separate from ours

Provides our sustenance this day. (Norman Fisher) 

Amen.