Kosher animals
Encyclopedia
Kosher animals are those that comply with regulations for Kosher food in Jewish religion. These food regulations form the main aspect of kashrut
, and ultimately derive from various passages in the Torah
. Various modifications, additions, and clarifications, have subsequently been added to these biblical rules by halakha
(traditional Jewish law).
11:3-8 and Deuteronomy
14:4-8 both give the same general set of rules for identifying which land animals (Hebrew: בהמות Behemoth) are ritually clean. According to these, anything that chews the cud
and has a cloven hoof would be ritually clean, but those animals that only chew the cud, or only have cloven hooves would be unclean; this includes all ruminant even-toed ungulate
s (the ruminantia
ns: cattle
, deer
, goat
s, etc.) among the clean, but excludes the Suiforms (pigs
, hippo
s etc.). Technically, the Ceratomorphs (Tapir
s, Rhinoceros
, etc.) also have cloven hoofs, with three toes, although they are not normally considered to fall under the cloven hoof description.
Both documents explicitly list four animals as being ritually impure, due to this general rule:
Unlike the biblical descriptions, the Tylopods
(camels etc.) are actually both even-toed ungulates and ruminants, although their feet aren't hooves at all, instead being two toes with a pad. Similarly, although the bible portrays them as ruminants, the hyrax, hare, and coney, are all coprophages, and do not ruminate and lack a rumen
. These obvious discrepancies, and the question of whether there is a way to resolve them, have been investigated by various authors, most recently by Rabbi Natan Slifkin
, in a book, etitled The Camel, the Hare, and the Hyrax
Unlike Leviticus 11:3-8, Deuteronomy 14:4-8 also explicitly names 10 animals considered ritually pure:
The general rule does not explicitly forbid anything that is neither cloven hoofed, nor ruminant. The Deuteronomic passages mention no further land beasts as being clean or unclean, seemingly suggesting that the status of the remaining land beasts can be extrapolated from the given rules. By contrast, the Levitical rules later go on to add that all quadruped
s with paw
s should be considered ritually unclean, something not explicitly stated by the Deuteronomic passages; the only quadrupeds with paws are the carnivora
ns (dog
s, wolves, cat
s, lion
s, hyena
s, bear
s, etc.), and all carnivorans fall under this description.
The Leviticus passages thus cover all the large land animals that naturally live in Canaan
, except for Primate
s, which (besides humans) are not mentioned by the Bible at all, and, except for the Equids
(horse
s, zebra
s, etc.), which are not mentioned in Leviticus as being either ritually clean or unclean, despite their importance in warfare and society, and their mention elsewhere in Leviticus.
In an attempt to help identify animals of ambiguous appearance, the Talmud
, in a similar manner to Aristotle
's earlier Historia Animalium, argued that animals without upper teeth would always chew the cud and have split hoofs (thus being ritually clean), and that no animal with upper teeth would do so; the Talmud makes an exception for the case of the camel (which, like the other ruminant even-toed ungulates, is without upper teeth). The Talmud also argues that the meat from the legs of clean animals can be torn lengthwise as well as across, unlike that of unclean animals, thus aiding to identify the status of meat from uncertain origin.
Egyptian priests would only eat the meat of artiodactyls (swine, camelids, and ruminantians), and Rhinoceros. Like the Egyptian priests, Vedic India (and presumably the Persians also) allowed the meat of Rhinoceros and Ruminantians, although cattle were excluded from this, since they were seemingly taboo in Vedic India; in a particular parallel with the Israelite list, Vedic India explicitly forbade the consumption of camelids and domestic pigs (but not boar). However, unlike the biblical rules, Vedic India did allow the consumption of hare and porcupine, but Harran did not, and was even more similar to the Israelite regulations, allowing all ruminants, but not other land beasts, and expressly forbidding the meat of camels.
Historically, health concerns were the main argument against the consumption of pigs, and
Nachmanides comments that many non-Jewish physician
s maintained objections against eating pork. In recent times, the concern has been that pork can easily harbour trichinosis
, as well as bringing a significant risk of cirrhosis
.
The late anthropologist Marvin Harris
instead proposed that the regulation results from mundane socio-economic concerns. Pigs are not biologically suited to living in the arid
climate of the Middle East, requiring far more water to keep cool than animals native to the region. Although wild pigs forage in the forests, there are no such environments for them in the region that was Canaan, and consequently they must instead be fed grain; however, the grain pigs food is also eaten by people, so the pigs would compete with humans for survival during years of bad harvest. As such, raising pigs could have been seen as wasteful and decadent; Harris cites examples of similar ecological reasons for religious practices, including prohibitions against pork, in other religions of the world.
In 1966, British
cultural anthropologist Mary Douglas
published the influential study Purity and Danger
, which made the first proposal that the prohibited foods were those that were liminal
; for example, she argued that Leviticus declared pigs unclean because the place of pigs in the natural order is superficially ambiguous, since they shared the cloven hoof of the ungulates, but do not chew cud.
Like Said al-Fayyumi, biblical scholars view totemism as the significant factor in the origin of the pig taboo. The denizens of Harran wouldn't eat pigs, because they were sacred to Sin, the Levantine lunar deity, which scholars suspect Mount Sinai
was sacred to, hence its name; Ibn al-Nadim
reports that pigs were only eaten once a year in Harran, at an annual sacrifice.
Despite the urban legend
that giraffes cannot be eaten because the proper area of the neck that must be cut is unknown, the makom shechitah (region of the neck in which ritual slaughter is valid) on a giraffe is precisely defined by halachah, just as it is for all animals. The impediments to producing giraffe meat relate primarily to practical considerations such as cost. (They are among the most difficult animals to restrain.)
In addition to meeting the restrictions as defined by the Torah
, there is also the issue of mesorah (tradition). In general, animals are eaten only if there is a mesorah that has been passed down from generations ago that clearly indicates that these animals are acceptable. For instance, there was considerable debate as to the kosher status of zebu
and bison
among the rabbinical authorities when they first became known and available for consumption; the Orthodox Union
permits bison, as can be attested to by the menus of some of the more upscale kosher restaurants in New York City
.
Leviticus
11:9-12 and Deuteronomy
14:9-10 both state that anything residing in the waters (which Leviticus specifies as being the seas and rivers) is ritually pure if it has both fins and scales
, in contrast to anything residing in the waters with neither fins nor scales; the latter class of animals is only described as ritually impure by Deuteronomy, but the Leviticus is much harsher, describing them as filth (Hebrew: sheqets, sometimes translated as abomination; abomination is also sometimes used to translate piggul and toebah). Although these biblical rules do not specify the status of animals in the waters with fins but no scales, or vice versa, it has traditionally been assumed that these animals are also excluded from the ranks of the ritually clean.
These rules restrict the permissible seafood
to stereotypical fish, prohibiting the unusual forms such as the eel
, lamprey
, hagfish
, and lancelet
. In addition, these rules exclude non-fish marine creatures, such as crustacean
s (lobster
, crab
, prawn
, shrimp
, barnacle
, etc.), molluscs (squid
, octopus
, oyster
, periwinkle
, etc.), sea cucumbers
, and the cnids (jellyfish
etc.); other creatures living in the sea and rivers that would be prohibited by the rules, but are not normally considered seafood, include the Cetacea
ns (dolphin
, whale
, etc.), Crocodilia
ns (alligator
, crocodile
etc.), Turtle
s, and all amphibian
s.
Shark
s are sometimes regarded as being among the ritually unclean foods according to these regulations, as they appear to have a smooth skin; however, sharks do have scales, they are just placoid scales, which are denser and appear smooth if rubbed in one direction, in contrast to leptoid scales, ganoid scales, and cosmoid scales. The Sturgeon
, and related fish, are also sometimes included among the ritually impure foods, as their surfaces are covered in scutes, which are bony armoured nodules; however, fish scutes are actually just hardened and enlarged scales. Scales has thus been traditionally interpreted along the lines of Nahmanides
's proposal that qasqeseth (scales) must refer specifically to scales that can be detached, by hand or with a knife, without ripping the skin. In practice this excludes all but ctenoid and cycloid scales. A minor controversy arises from the fact that the appearance of the scales of sturgeon, swordfish
, and catfish
, is heavily affected by the ageing process - their young satisfy Nahmanides' rule, but when they reach adulthood they do not.
Traditionally fins has been interpreted as referring to translucent fins. The Mishnah
claims that all fish with scales will also have fins, but that the reverse is not always true; for the latter case, the Talmud argues that ritually clean fish have a distinct spinal column and flatish face, while ritually unclean fish don't have spinal columns and have pointy heads, which would define the Shark and Sturgeon (and related fish) as ritually unclean. Nevertheless, Aaron Chorin
, a prominent 19th-century rabbi and reformer, declared that the Sturgeon was actually ritually pure, and hence permissible to eat. Many Conservative
rabbis now view these particular fish as being kosher, but most Orthodox
rabbis do not. The question for sturgeon is particularly significant as most caviar
consists of sturgeon eggs, and therefore cannot be kosher if the sturgeon itself is not.
As it may not be easy to identify fins and scales on any kind of fish, it may be more convenient to refer to the following Kosher fish list
.
Nachmanides believed that the restrictions against certain fish also addressed health concerns, arguing that fish with fins and scales (and hence ritually clean) typically live in shallower waters than those without fins or scales (i.e., those that were ritually impure), and consequently the latter were much colder and more humid, qualities he believed made their flesh toxic. It is clearly plausible for fish to become toxic due to the food they consume; shellfish, for example, are notorious for their potential toxicity due to their gradual accumulation of harmful parasites and toxins. However, these toxicity risks can usually be reduced to insignificance simply by ensuring the meat is properly cooked.
The academic perception is that natural repugnance from weird-looking fish is a significant factor in the origin of the restrictions. Vedic India (and presumably the Persians also) exhibit such repugnance, generally allowing fish, but forbidding weird looking fish and exclusively carnivorous fish; in Egypt, another significant and influential culture near to the Israelites, the priests avoided all fish completely.
11:13-19 and Deuteronomy
14:11-18 explicitly list the prohibited birds:
The masoretic text
lists the birds as:
The list in Deuteronomy has an additional bird, the dayyah, which seems to be a combination of da'ah and ayyah, and may be a scribal error; the Talmud
regards it as a duplication of ayyah. This, and the other terms are vague and difficult to translate, but there are a few further descriptions, of some of these birds, elsewhere in the Bible:
The septuagint versions of the lists are more helpful, as in almost all cases the bird is clearly identifiable:
Although the first ten of the birds identified by the Septuagint seem to fit the descriptions of the masoretic text, the ossifrage (Latin
for bone breaker) being a good example, the correspondence is less clear for most of the remaining birds; it is also obvious that the list in Leviticus, or the list in Deuteronomy, or both, are in a different order in the Septuagint, compared to the masoretic text. Attempting to determine the correspondence is problematic; for example, the pelican may correspond to qa'at (vomiting), in reference to the pelican's characteristic behaviour, but it may also correspond to kos (cup), as a reference to the pelican's jaw pouch. An additional complexity arises from the fact that the porphyrion has not yet been identified, and classical Greek literature merely identifies a number of species that are not the porphyrion, including the peacock, grouse
, and robin
, and implies that the porphyrion is the cousin of the kingfisher
; from these meagre clarifications, the porphyrion can only be identified as anything from the Lilac-breasted Roller
, Indian Roller
, or Northern Carmine Bee-eater
, to the flamingo
.
During the Middle Ages, classical descriptions of the hoopoe were mistaken for descriptions of the lapwing
, on account of the lapwing's prominent crest, and the hoopoe's rarity in England, resulting in lapwing being listed in certain bible translations instead of hoopoe; similarly the sea eagle has historically been confused with the osprey
, and translations have often used the latter bird in place of the former. Because strouthos (ostrich) was also used in Greek for the sparrow
, a few translations have placed the sparrow among the list. In Arabic, the Egyptian Vulture
is often referred to as rachami, and therefore a number of translations render racham as gier eagle, the old name for the Egyptian Vulture.
Variations arise when translations follow other ancient versions of the Bible, rather than the Septuagint, where they differ. Rather than vulture (gyps), the Vulgate
has milvus, meaning Red Kite
, which historically has been called the glede, on account of its gliding flight; similarly, the Syriac Peshitta has owl rather than ibis. Other variations arise from attempting to base translations primarily on the masoretic text; these translations generally interpret some of the more ambiguous birds as being various different kinds of vulture and owl. All of these variations mean that most translations arrive at a list of 20 birds from among the following:
Despite being listed among the birds by the bible, bats are not birds, and are in fact mammal
s. Most of the remaining animals on the list are either birds of prey or birds living on water, and the majority of the latter in the list also eat fish or other seafood. The Septuagint's version of the list comprehensively lists most of the birds of Canaan that fall into these categories. The conclusion of modern scholars is that, generally, ritually unclean birds were those clearly observed to eat other animals.
Although it does regard all birds of prey as being forbidden, the Talmud is uncertain of there being a general rule, and instead gives detailed descriptions of the features that distinguish a bird as being ritually clean. The Talmud argues that clean birds would have craws
, an easily separated double-skin, and would eat food by placing it on the ground (rather than holding it on the ground) and tearing it with their bills before eating it; however, the Talmud also argues that only the birds in the biblical list are actually forbidden - these distinguishing features were only for cases when there was any uncertainty in the bird's identity
, which argues that this prohibition is a lesson to teach justice, and is also about not injuring others. Such allegorical explanations were abandoned by most Jewish and Christian theologians after a few centuries, and later writers instead sought to find medical explanations for the rules; Nachmanides, for example, claimed that the black and thickened blood of birds of prey would cause psychological damage, making people much more inclined to cruelty.
However, other cultures treated the meat of certain carnivorous birds as having medical benefits, the Romans
viewing Owl meat as being able to ease the pain of insect bites, for example; conversely, modern scientific studies have discovered very toxic birds such as the Pitohui
, which are neither birds of prey nor water birds, and therefore the biblical regulations allow them to be eaten. Laws against eating any carnivorous birds also existed in Vedic India and Harran, and the Egyptian priests also refused to eat carnivorous birds.
, pigeon, turtle dove
, quail
, the European and Middle Eastern
partridges, the pheasant
, duck
s, geese, chicken
s, guineafowl
among others. As a general principle, scavenging birds such as vulture
s and birds of prey
such as hawk
s and eagle
s (which eat carrion
when they find it) are not kosher
. Turkey
does not have a tradition, but because so many Orthodox Jews have come to eat it and it possesses the simanim (signs) required to render it a kosher bird, an exception is made, but with all other birds a Mesorah (tradition) is required.
Birds such as songbird
s, which are consumed as delicacies in many societies, may be kosher in theory, but are not eaten in kosher homes as there is no tradition of them being eaten as such. Pigeons and dove
s are known to be kosher based on their permissible status as sacrificial offerings in the Temple
. Likewise, though swan
s are kosher in theory if kosher-slaughtered, there is no Jewish tradition of eating them.
The Laws of Deuteronomy specify that all flying creeping things were to be considered ritually impure, and those of Leviticus go further, describing all flying creeping things as filth (Hebrew: sheqets). However, Leviticus also goes on to list four exceptions, which Deuteronomy does not; all these exceptions are described by the Levitical passages as going upon all four legs, and as having legs above their feet for the purpose of leaping. The identity of the four creatures the Levitical rules list are named in the masoretic text using words of uncertain meaning:
The general rule against flying creeping things evidently concerns locusts and similar creatures. The Mishnah argues that exceptions to the rule in Leviticus - the ritually clean locusts - could be distinguished as they would all have four feet, jumping with two of them, and have four wings, which are of sufficient size to cover the entire locust's body. However, the Mishnah also goes on to state that any species of locust could only be considered as clean if there was a reliable tradition that it was so; the only Jewish group that continue to preserve such a tradition are the Jews of Yemen
, who use the term kosher locust
to describe the specific species of locusts they believe to be kosher, all of which are native to the Arabian Peninsula
. Due to the difficulties in establishing the validity of such traditions, later rabbinical authorities
forbade contact with all types of locust, to ensure that the ritually unclean locusts were avoided.
11:29-30 and 11:42-43, unlike the passages of Deuteronomy, specifies that every creeping thing which creeps upon the earth should be considered to be filthy (Hebrew: sheqets). Before stating this, it singles out 8 particular creeping things as specifically being ritually unclean. Like many of the other biblical lists of animals, the exact identity of the creatures in the list is uncertain; the masoretic text names them as follows:
The Septuagint's version of the list doesn't appear to directly parallel the masoretic text's, and instead is thought to be listed partly in a different order. It lists the 8 animals as:
Although the Priestly Code lists a variety of mammal
s and reptile
s, the classical rabbinical writers interpreted creeping thing which creep upon the earth to refer particularly to worm
s; however, they still permitted the consumption of worms found in other substances, such as maggots in meat, fish, and drinking water, reducing the risk of starvation in a period when pesticide
s were barely known about, and finding worms in these substances was common. Nevertheless, the classical rabbis did forbid the consumption of food if the worms in it had been moved from one place to another; thus all food a worm had eaten but left, and all food that has worms in it but did not originally, was forbidden.
Kashrut
Kashrut is the set of Jewish dietary laws. Food in accord with halakha is termed kosher in English, from the Ashkenazi pronunciation of the Hebrew term kashér , meaning "fit" Kashrut (also kashruth or kashrus) is the set of Jewish dietary laws. Food in accord with halakha (Jewish law) is termed...
, and ultimately derive from various passages in the Torah
Torah
Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...
. Various modifications, additions, and clarifications, have subsequently been added to these biblical rules by halakha
Halakha
Halakha — also transliterated Halocho , or Halacha — is the collective body of Jewish law, including biblical law and later talmudic and rabbinic law, as well as customs and traditions.Judaism classically draws no distinction in its laws between religious and ostensibly non-religious life; Jewish...
(traditional Jewish law).
Land animals
LeviticusLeviticus
The Book of Leviticus is the third book of the Hebrew Bible, and the third of five books of the Torah ....
11:3-8 and Deuteronomy
Deuteronomy
The Book of Deuteronomy is the fifth book of the Hebrew Bible, and of the Jewish Torah/Pentateuch...
14:4-8 both give the same general set of rules for identifying which land animals (Hebrew: בהמות Behemoth) are ritually clean. According to these, anything that chews the cud
Ruminant
A ruminant is a mammal of the order Artiodactyla that digests plant-based food by initially softening it within the animal's first compartment of the stomach, principally through bacterial actions, then regurgitating the semi-digested mass, now known as cud, and chewing it again...
and has a cloven hoof would be ritually clean, but those animals that only chew the cud, or only have cloven hooves would be unclean; this includes all ruminant even-toed ungulate
Even-toed ungulate
The even-toed ungulates are ungulates whose weight is borne about equally by the third and fourth toes, rather than mostly or entirely by the third as in odd-toed ungulates such as horses....
s (the ruminantia
Ruminantia
Ruminantia includes many of the well-known large grazing or browsing mammals: among them cattle, goats, sheep, deer, and antelope. All members of the Ruminantia are ruminants: they digest food in two steps, chewing and swallowing in the normal way to begin with, and then regurgitating the...
ns: cattle
Cattle
Cattle are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius...
, deer
Deer
Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. Species in the Cervidae family include white-tailed deer, elk, moose, red deer, reindeer, fallow deer, roe deer and chital. Male deer of all species and female reindeer grow and shed new antlers each year...
, goat
Goat
The domestic goat is a subspecies of goat domesticated from the wild goat of southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the Bovidae family and is closely related to the sheep as both are in the goat-antelope subfamily Caprinae. There are over three hundred distinct breeds of...
s, etc.) among the clean, but excludes the Suiforms (pigs
PIGS
PIGS is a four letter acronym that can stand for:* PIGS , Phosphatidylinositol glycan anchor biosynthesis, class S, a human gene* PIGS , the economies of Portugal, Italy , Greece and Spain...
, hippo
Hippo
A hippo or hippopotamus is either of two species of large African mammal which live mainly in and near water:* Hippopotamus* Pygmy HippopotamusHippo may also refer to:-Given names:...
s etc.). Technically, the Ceratomorphs (Tapir
Tapir
A Tapir is a large browsing mammal, similar in shape to a pig, with a short, prehensile snout. Tapirs inhabit jungle and forest regions of South America, Central America, and Southeast Asia. There are four species of Tapirs: the Brazilian Tapir, the Malayan Tapir, Baird's Tapir and the Mountain...
s, Rhinoceros
Rhinoceros
Rhinoceros , also known as rhino, is a group of five extant species of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. Two of these species are native to Africa and three to southern Asia....
, etc.) also have cloven hoofs, with three toes, although they are not normally considered to fall under the cloven hoof description.
- The camelCamelA camel is an even-toed ungulate within the genus Camelus, bearing distinctive fatty deposits known as humps on its back. There are two species of camels: the dromedary or Arabian camel has a single hump, and the bactrian has two humps. Dromedaries are native to the dry desert areas of West Asia,...
, for being a ruminant without their hooves being divided. - The hyraxHyraxA hyrax is any of four species of fairly small, thickset, herbivorous mammals in the order Hyracoidea. The rock hyrax Procavia capensis, the yellow-spotted rock hyrax Heterohyrax brucei, the western tree hyrax Dendrohyrax dorsalis, and the southern tree hyrax, Dendrohyrax arboreus live in Africa...
, for being a ruminant without cloven hooves. The Hebrew term for this animal - שפן shaphan - has been translated by older English versions of the bible as coney; the existence of the hyrax wasn't known to early English translators. The coney was an exclusively European animal, not present in Canaan, while the shaphan was described by the Book of ProverbsBook of ProverbsThe Book of Proverbs , commonly referred to simply as Proverbs, is a book of the Hebrew Bible.The original Hebrew title of the book of Proverbs is "Míshlê Shlomoh" . When translated into Greek and Latin, the title took on different forms. In the Greek Septuagint the title became "paroimai paroimiae"...
as living on rocks (like the hyrax, but unlike the coney). - The hareHareHares and jackrabbits are leporids belonging to the genus Lepus. Hares less than one year old are called leverets. Four species commonly known as types of hare are classified outside of Lepus: the hispid hare , and three species known as red rock hares .Hares are very fast-moving...
, for being a ruminant without cloven hooves. - The pigPigA pig is any of the animals in the genus Sus, within the Suidae family of even-toed ungulates. Pigs include the domestic pig, its ancestor the wild boar, and several other wild relatives...
, for having cloven hooves without being a ruminant.
Unlike the biblical descriptions, the Tylopods
Tylopoda
Tylopoda is a suborder of terrestrial herbivorous even-toed ungulates belonging to Artiodactyla. They are extant in the wild in their native ranges of South America and Asia, while Australian feral camels are an introduced species. The group has a long fossil history in North America and Europe...
(camels etc.) are actually both even-toed ungulates and ruminants, although their feet aren't hooves at all, instead being two toes with a pad. Similarly, although the bible portrays them as ruminants, the hyrax, hare, and coney, are all coprophages, and do not ruminate and lack a rumen
Rumen
The rumen, also known as a paunch, forms the larger part of the reticulorumen, which is the first chamber in the alimentary canal of ruminant animals. It serves as the primary site for microbial fermentation of ingested feed...
. These obvious discrepancies, and the question of whether there is a way to resolve them, have been investigated by various authors, most recently by Rabbi Natan Slifkin
Natan Slifkin
Natan Slifkin , also popularly known as the "Zoo Rabbi", is an ordained but non-pulpit serving Orthodox rabbi best known for his interest in zoology, science and for his books on these topics, which are controversial in the Haredi world.-Biography:Natan Slifkin was born and raised in Manchester,...
, in a book, etitled The Camel, the Hare, and the Hyrax
- the oxOxAn ox , also known as a bullock in Australia, New Zealand and India, is a bovine trained as a draft animal. Oxen are commonly castrated adult male cattle; castration makes the animals more tractable...
- the sheep
- the goatGoatThe domestic goat is a subspecies of goat domesticated from the wild goat of southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the Bovidae family and is closely related to the sheep as both are in the goat-antelope subfamily Caprinae. There are over three hundred distinct breeds of...
- the deerDeerDeer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. Species in the Cervidae family include white-tailed deer, elk, moose, red deer, reindeer, fallow deer, roe deer and chital. Male deer of all species and female reindeer grow and shed new antlers each year...
- the gazelleGazelleA gazelle is any of many antelope species in the genus Gazella, or formerly considered to belong to it. Six species are included in two genera, Eudorcas and Nanger, which were formerly considered subgenera...
- the yahmur; this term, directly taken from the masoretic textMasoretic TextThe Masoretic Text is the authoritative Hebrew text of the Jewish Bible and is regarded as Judaism's official version of the Tanakh. While the Masoretic Text defines the books of the Jewish canon, it also defines the precise letter-text of these biblical books, with their vocalization and...
, is ambiguously used by Arabs to refer to roe deerRoe DeerThe European Roe Deer , also known as the Western Roe Deer, chevreuil or just Roe Deer, is a Eurasian species of deer. It is relatively small, reddish and grey-brown, and well-adapted to cold environments. Roe Deer are widespread in Western Europe, from the Mediterranean to Scandinavia, and from...
and to oryxOryxOryx is one of four large antelope species of the genus Oryx. Three of the species are native to arid parts of Africa, with a fourth native to the Arabian Peninsula. Their pelage is pale with contrasing dark markings in the face and on the legs, and their long horns are almost straight... - the the'o; this term, directly taken from the masoretic textMasoretic TextThe Masoretic Text is the authoritative Hebrew text of the Jewish Bible and is regarded as Judaism's official version of the Tanakh. While the Masoretic Text defines the books of the Jewish canon, it also defines the precise letter-text of these biblical books, with their vocalization and...
, has traditionally been translated ambiguously. In Deuteronomy, it is traditionally been translated as wild goatWild GoatThe wild goat is a widespread species of goat, with a distribution ranging from Europe and Asia Minor to central Asia and the Middle East. It is the ancestor of the domestic goat.-Social structure:...
, but in the same translations is called a wild oxOxAn ox , also known as a bullock in Australia, New Zealand and India, is a bovine trained as a draft animal. Oxen are commonly castrated adult male cattle; castration makes the animals more tractable...
where it occurs in Deutero-IsaiahBook of IsaiahThe Book of Isaiah is the first of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible, preceding the books of Ezekiel, Jeremiah and the Book of the Twelve...
; the Bubal HartebeestBubal HartebeestThe Bubal Hartebeest is classified as an extinct antelope.The statement that the antelope was extinct in 1923 has been refuted by the following source written in 1945...
lies somewhere between these creatures in appearance and has been regarded as a likely fit for the'o. - the pygarg; the identity of this animal is uncertain, and pygarg is merely the Septuagint's rendering. The masoretic text calls it a dishon, meaning springing; it has thus usually been interpreted as some form of antelopeAntelopeAntelope is a term referring to many even-toed ungulate species indigenous to various regions in Africa and Eurasia. Antelopes comprise a miscellaneous group within the family Bovidae, encompassing those old-world species that are neither cattle, sheep, buffalo, bison, nor goats...
or ibex. - the antelopeAntelopeAntelope is a term referring to many even-toed ungulate species indigenous to various regions in Africa and Eurasia. Antelopes comprise a miscellaneous group within the family Bovidae, encompassing those old-world species that are neither cattle, sheep, buffalo, bison, nor goats...
- the camelopardalis; the identity of this animal is uncertain, and camelopardalis, is merely the Septuagint's wording. The masoretic text calls it a zemer, which means wool, but camelopardalis means camel-leopard and refers to the giraffeGiraffeThe giraffe is an African even-toed ungulate mammal, the tallest of all extant land-living animal species, and the largest ruminant...
(giraffe is derived, via ItalianItalian languageItalian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
, from the arabic term ziraafa meaning assembled [from multiple parts]). The traditional translation has been chamoisChamoisThe chamois, Rupicapra rupicapra, is a goat-antelope species native to mountains in Europe, including the Carpathian Mountains of Romania, the European Alps, the Tatra Mountains, the Balkans, parts of Turkey, and the Caucasus. The chamois has also been introduced to the South Island of New Zealand...
, but the chamois has never naturally existed in Canaan; neither is the giraffe naturally found in Canaan, and consequently the mouflonMouflonThe mouflon is a subspecies group of the wild sheep Ovis aries. Populations of Ovis aries can be partitioned into the mouflons and urials or arkars...
is considered the best remaining identification.
The general rule does not explicitly forbid anything that is neither cloven hoofed, nor ruminant. The Deuteronomic passages mention no further land beasts as being clean or unclean, seemingly suggesting that the status of the remaining land beasts can be extrapolated from the given rules. By contrast, the Levitical rules later go on to add that all quadruped
Quadruped
Quadrupedalism is a form of land animal locomotion using four limbs or legs. An animal or machine that usually moves in a quadrupedal manner is known as a quadruped, meaning "four feet"...
s with paw
Paw
A paw is the soft foot of a mammal, generally a quadruped, that has claws or nails. A hard foot is called a hoof. Paws are used to pad feet for walking and increase friction.- Common characteristics :...
s should be considered ritually unclean, something not explicitly stated by the Deuteronomic passages; the only quadrupeds with paws are the carnivora
Carnivora
The diverse order Carnivora |Latin]] carō "flesh", + vorāre "to devour") includes over 260 species of placental mammals. Its members are formally referred to as carnivorans, while the word "carnivore" can refer to any meat-eating animal...
ns (dog
Dog
The domestic dog is a domesticated form of the gray wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The dog may have been the first animal to be domesticated, and has been the most widely kept working, hunting, and companion animal in...
s, wolves, cat
Cat
The cat , also known as the domestic cat or housecat to distinguish it from other felids and felines, is a small, usually furry, domesticated, carnivorous mammal that is valued by humans for its companionship and for its ability to hunt vermin and household pests...
s, lion
Lion
The lion is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...
s, hyena
Hyena
Hyenas or Hyaenas are the animals of the family Hyaenidae of suborder feliforms of the Carnivora. It is the fourth smallest biological family in the Carnivora , and one of the smallest in the mammalia...
s, bear
Bear
Bears are mammals of the family Ursidae. Bears are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans, with the pinnipeds being their closest living relatives. Although there are only eight living species of bear, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Northern...
s, etc.), and all carnivorans fall under this description.
The Leviticus passages thus cover all the large land animals that naturally live in Canaan
Canaan
Canaan is a historical region roughly corresponding to modern-day Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, and the western parts of Jordan...
, except for Primate
Primate
A primate is a mammal of the order Primates , which contains prosimians and simians. Primates arose from ancestors that lived in the trees of tropical forests; many primate characteristics represent adaptations to life in this challenging three-dimensional environment...
s, which (besides humans) are not mentioned by the Bible at all, and, except for the Equids
Equidae
Equidae is the taxonomic family of horses and related animals, including the extant horses, donkeys, and zebras, and many other species known only from fossils. All extant species are in the genus Equus...
(horse
Horse
The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
s, zebra
Zebra
Zebras are several species of African equids united by their distinctive black and white stripes. Their stripes come in different patterns unique to each individual. They are generally social animals that live in small harems to large herds...
s, etc.), which are not mentioned in Leviticus as being either ritually clean or unclean, despite their importance in warfare and society, and their mention elsewhere in Leviticus.
In an attempt to help identify animals of ambiguous appearance, the Talmud
Talmud
The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....
, in a similar manner to Aristotle
Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
's earlier Historia Animalium, argued that animals without upper teeth would always chew the cud and have split hoofs (thus being ritually clean), and that no animal with upper teeth would do so; the Talmud makes an exception for the case of the camel (which, like the other ruminant even-toed ungulates, is without upper teeth). The Talmud also argues that the meat from the legs of clean animals can be torn lengthwise as well as across, unlike that of unclean animals, thus aiding to identify the status of meat from uncertain origin.
Origin
Biblical scholars believe that the classification of animals was created to explain pre-existing taboos. Beginning with Said al-Fayyumi, several Jewish commentators started to explain these taboos rationalistically; Said himself expresses an argument similar to that of totemism - that the unclean animals were declared so because they were worshipped by other cultures. Due to comparatively recent discoveries about the cultures adjacent to the Israelites, it has become possible to investigate whether such principles could underlie some of the food laws.Egyptian priests would only eat the meat of artiodactyls (swine, camelids, and ruminantians), and Rhinoceros. Like the Egyptian priests, Vedic India (and presumably the Persians also) allowed the meat of Rhinoceros and Ruminantians, although cattle were excluded from this, since they were seemingly taboo in Vedic India; in a particular parallel with the Israelite list, Vedic India explicitly forbade the consumption of camelids and domestic pigs (but not boar). However, unlike the biblical rules, Vedic India did allow the consumption of hare and porcupine, but Harran did not, and was even more similar to the Israelite regulations, allowing all ruminants, but not other land beasts, and expressly forbidding the meat of camels.
Pigs
Nachmanides comments that many non-Jewish physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
s maintained objections against eating pork. In recent times, the concern has been that pork can easily harbour trichinosis
Trichinosis
Trichinosis, also called trichinellosis, or trichiniasis, is a parasitic disease caused by eating raw or undercooked pork or wild game infected with the larvae of a species of roundworm Trichinella spiralis, commonly called the trichina worm. There are eight Trichinella species; five are...
, as well as bringing a significant risk of cirrhosis
Cirrhosis
Cirrhosis is a consequence of chronic liver disease characterized by replacement of liver tissue by fibrosis, scar tissue and regenerative nodules , leading to loss of liver function...
.
The late anthropologist Marvin Harris
Marvin Harris
Marvin Harris was an American anthropologist. He was born in Brooklyn, New York. A prolific writer, he was highly influential in the development of cultural materialism...
instead proposed that the regulation results from mundane socio-economic concerns. Pigs are not biologically suited to living in the arid
Arid
A region is said to be arid when it is characterized by a severe lack of available water, to the extent of hindering or even preventing the growth and development of plant and animal life...
climate of the Middle East, requiring far more water to keep cool than animals native to the region. Although wild pigs forage in the forests, there are no such environments for them in the region that was Canaan, and consequently they must instead be fed grain; however, the grain pigs food is also eaten by people, so the pigs would compete with humans for survival during years of bad harvest. As such, raising pigs could have been seen as wasteful and decadent; Harris cites examples of similar ecological reasons for religious practices, including prohibitions against pork, in other religions of the world.
In 1966, British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
cultural anthropologist Mary Douglas
Mary Douglas
Dame Mary Douglas, DBE, FBA was a British anthropologist, known for her writings on human culture and symbolism....
published the influential study Purity and Danger
Purity and Danger
Purity and Danger: An Analysis of Concepts of Pollution and Taboo is the best known book by the influential anthropologist and cultural theorist Mary Douglas. In 1991 the Times Literary Supplement listed it as one of the hundred most influential non-fiction books published since 1945...
, which made the first proposal that the prohibited foods were those that were liminal
Liminality
Liminality is a psychological, neurological, or metaphysical subjective state, conscious or unconscious, of being on the "threshold" of or between two different existential planes, as defined in neurological psychology and in the anthropological theories of ritual by such writers as Arnold van...
; for example, she argued that Leviticus declared pigs unclean because the place of pigs in the natural order is superficially ambiguous, since they shared the cloven hoof of the ungulates, but do not chew cud.
Like Said al-Fayyumi, biblical scholars view totemism as the significant factor in the origin of the pig taboo. The denizens of Harran wouldn't eat pigs, because they were sacred to Sin, the Levantine lunar deity, which scholars suspect Mount Sinai
Biblical Mount Sinai
The Biblical Mount Sinai is the mountain at which the Book of Exodus states that the Ten Commandments were given to Moses by God...
was sacred to, hence its name; Ibn al-Nadim
Ibn al-Nadim
Abu'l-Faraj Muhammad bin Is'hāq al-Nadim , whose father was known as al-Warrāq was a Shia Muslim scholar and bibliographer. Some scholars regard him as a Persian, but this is not certain. He is famous as the author of the Kitāb al-Fihrist...
reports that pigs were only eaten once a year in Harran, at an annual sacrifice.
Modern practices
Despite the large range of kosher mammals, in practice, adherents to kashrut largely restrict their choice of meat to beef (including veal) and mutton (including lamb); goats are universally accepted as kosher, but are rarely eaten in the western world.Despite the urban legend
Urban legend
An urban legend, urban myth, urban tale, or contemporary legend, is a form of modern folklore consisting of stories that may or may not have been believed by their tellers to be true...
that giraffes cannot be eaten because the proper area of the neck that must be cut is unknown, the makom shechitah (region of the neck in which ritual slaughter is valid) on a giraffe is precisely defined by halachah, just as it is for all animals. The impediments to producing giraffe meat relate primarily to practical considerations such as cost. (They are among the most difficult animals to restrain.)
In addition to meeting the restrictions as defined by the Torah
Torah
Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...
, there is also the issue of mesorah (tradition). In general, animals are eaten only if there is a mesorah that has been passed down from generations ago that clearly indicates that these animals are acceptable. For instance, there was considerable debate as to the kosher status of zebu
Zebu
Zebu , sometimes known as humped cattle, indicus cattle, Cebu or Brahmin cattle are a type of domestic cattle originating in South Asia, particularly the Indian subcontinent. They are characterised by a fatty hump on their shoulders, drooping ears and a large dewlap...
and bison
Bison
Members of the genus Bison are large, even-toed ungulates within the subfamily Bovinae. Two extant and four extinct species are recognized...
among the rabbinical authorities when they first became known and available for consumption; the Orthodox Union
Orthodox Union
The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America , more popularly known as the Orthodox Union , is one of the oldest Orthodox Jewish organizations in the United States. It is best known for its kosher food preparation supervision service...
permits bison, as can be attested to by the menus of some of the more upscale kosher restaurants in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
Fish and seafood
Leviticus
The Book of Leviticus is the third book of the Hebrew Bible, and the third of five books of the Torah ....
11:9-12 and Deuteronomy
Deuteronomy
The Book of Deuteronomy is the fifth book of the Hebrew Bible, and of the Jewish Torah/Pentateuch...
14:9-10 both state that anything residing in the waters (which Leviticus specifies as being the seas and rivers) is ritually pure if it has both fins and scales
Scale (zoology)
In most biological nomenclature, a scale is a small rigid plate that grows out of an animal's skin to provide protection. In lepidopteran species, scales are plates on the surface of the insect wing, and provide coloration...
, in contrast to anything residing in the waters with neither fins nor scales; the latter class of animals is only described as ritually impure by Deuteronomy, but the Leviticus is much harsher, describing them as filth (Hebrew: sheqets, sometimes translated as abomination; abomination is also sometimes used to translate piggul and toebah). Although these biblical rules do not specify the status of animals in the waters with fins but no scales, or vice versa, it has traditionally been assumed that these animals are also excluded from the ranks of the ritually clean.
These rules restrict the permissible seafood
Seafood
Seafood is any form of marine life regarded as food by humans. Seafoods include fish, molluscs , crustaceans , echinoderms . Edible sea plants, such as some seaweeds and microalgae, are also seafood, and are widely eaten around the world, especially in Asia...
to stereotypical fish, prohibiting the unusual forms such as the eel
Eel
Eels are an order of fish, which consists of four suborders, 20 families, 111 genera and approximately 800 species. Most eels are predators...
, lamprey
Lamprey
Lampreys are a family of jawless fish, whose adults are characterized by a toothed, funnel-like sucking mouth. Translated from an admixture of Latin and Greek, lamprey means stone lickers...
, hagfish
Hagfish
Hagfish, the clade Myxini , are eel-shaped slime-producing marine animals . They are the only living animals that have a skull but not a vertebral column. Along with lampreys, hagfish are jawless and are living fossils whose next nearest relatives include all vertebrates...
, and lancelet
Lancelet
The lancelets , also known as amphioxus, are the modern representatives of the subphylum Cephalochordata, formerly thought to be the sister group of the craniates. They are usually found buried in sand in shallow parts of temperate or tropical seas. In Asia, they are harvested commercially as food...
. In addition, these rules exclude non-fish marine creatures, such as crustacean
Crustacean
Crustaceans form a very large group of arthropods, usually treated as a subphylum, which includes such familiar animals as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill and barnacles. The 50,000 described species range in size from Stygotantulus stocki at , to the Japanese spider crab with a leg span...
s (lobster
Lobster
Clawed lobsters comprise a family of large marine crustaceans. Highly prized as seafood, lobsters are economically important, and are often one of the most profitable commodities in coastal areas they populate.Though several groups of crustaceans are known as lobsters, the clawed lobsters are most...
, crab
Crab
True crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting "tail" , or where the reduced abdomen is entirely hidden under the thorax...
, prawn
Prawn
Prawns are decapod crustaceans of the sub-order Dendrobranchiata. There are 540 extant species, in seven families, and a fossil record extending back to the Devonian...
, shrimp
Shrimp
Shrimp are swimming, decapod crustaceans classified in the infraorder Caridea, found widely around the world in both fresh and salt water. Adult shrimp are filter feeding benthic animals living close to the bottom. They can live in schools and can swim rapidly backwards. Shrimp are an important...
, barnacle
Barnacle
A barnacle is a type of arthropod belonging to infraclass Cirripedia in the subphylum Crustacea, and is hence related to crabs and lobsters. Barnacles are exclusively marine, and tend to live in shallow and tidal waters, typically in erosive settings. They are sessile suspension feeders, and have...
, etc.), molluscs (squid
Squid
Squid are cephalopods of the order Teuthida, which comprises around 300 species. Like all other cephalopods, squid have a distinct head, bilateral symmetry, a mantle, and arms. Squid, like cuttlefish, have eight arms arranged in pairs and two, usually longer, tentacles...
, octopus
Octopus
The octopus is a cephalopod mollusc of the order Octopoda. Octopuses have two eyes and four pairs of arms, and like other cephalopods they are bilaterally symmetric. An octopus has a hard beak, with its mouth at the center point of the arms...
, oyster
Oyster
The word oyster is used as a common name for a number of distinct groups of bivalve molluscs which live in marine or brackish habitats. The valves are highly calcified....
, periwinkle
Common Periwinkle
The common periwinkle or winkle, scientific name Littorina littorea, is a species of small edible sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk which has gills and an operculum, and is classified within the family Littorinidae, the periwinkles....
, etc.), sea cucumbers
Sea cucumber (food)
Sea cucumbers are marine animals of the class Holothuroidea used in fresh or dried form in various cuisines.The creature and the food product is commonly known as bêche-de-mer in French, trepang in Indonesian, namako in Japanese and in the Philippines it is called balatan...
, and the cnids (jellyfish
Jellyfish
Jellyfish are free-swimming members of the phylum Cnidaria. Medusa is another word for jellyfish, and refers to any free-swimming jellyfish stages in the phylum Cnidaria...
etc.); other creatures living in the sea and rivers that would be prohibited by the rules, but are not normally considered seafood, include the Cetacea
Cetacea
The order Cetacea includes the marine mammals commonly known as whales, dolphins, and porpoises. Cetus is Latin and is used in biological names to mean "whale"; its original meaning, "large sea animal", was more general. It comes from Ancient Greek , meaning "whale" or "any huge fish or sea...
ns (dolphin
Dolphin
Dolphins are marine mammals that are closely related to whales and porpoises. There are almost forty species of dolphin in 17 genera. They vary in size from and , up to and . They are found worldwide, mostly in the shallower seas of the continental shelves, and are carnivores, mostly eating...
, whale
Whale
Whale is the common name for various marine mammals of the order Cetacea. The term whale sometimes refers to all cetaceans, but more often it excludes dolphins and porpoises, which belong to suborder Odontoceti . This suborder also includes the sperm whale, killer whale, pilot whale, and beluga...
, etc.), Crocodilia
Crocodilia
Crocodilia is an order of large reptiles that appeared about 84 million years ago in the late Cretaceous Period . They are the closest living relatives of birds, as the two groups are the only known survivors of the Archosauria...
ns (alligator
Alligator
An alligator is a crocodilian in the genus Alligator of the family Alligatoridae. There are two extant alligator species: the American alligator and the Chinese alligator ....
, crocodile
Crocodile
A crocodile is any species belonging to the family Crocodylidae . The term can also be used more loosely to include all extant members of the order Crocodilia: i.e...
etc.), Turtle
Turtle
Turtles are reptiles of the order Testudines , characterised by a special bony or cartilaginous shell developed from their ribs that acts as a shield...
s, and all amphibian
Amphibian
Amphibians , are a class of vertebrate animals including animals such as toads, frogs, caecilians, and salamanders. They are characterized as non-amniote ectothermic tetrapods...
s.
Shark
Shark
Sharks are a type of fish with a full cartilaginous skeleton and a highly streamlined body. The earliest known sharks date from more than 420 million years ago....
s are sometimes regarded as being among the ritually unclean foods according to these regulations, as they appear to have a smooth skin; however, sharks do have scales, they are just placoid scales, which are denser and appear smooth if rubbed in one direction, in contrast to leptoid scales, ganoid scales, and cosmoid scales. The Sturgeon
Sturgeon
Sturgeon is the common name used for some 26 species of fish in the family Acipenseridae, including the genera Acipenser, Huso, Scaphirhynchus and Pseudoscaphirhynchus. The term includes over 20 species commonly referred to as sturgeon and several closely related species that have distinct common...
, and related fish, are also sometimes included among the ritually impure foods, as their surfaces are covered in scutes, which are bony armoured nodules; however, fish scutes are actually just hardened and enlarged scales. Scales has thus been traditionally interpreted along the lines of Nahmanides
Nahmanides
Nahmanides, also known as Rabbi Moses ben Naḥman Girondi, Bonastruc ça Porta and by his acronym Ramban, , was a leading medieval Jewish scholar, Catalan rabbi, philosopher, physician, kabbalist, and biblical commentator.-Name:"Nahmanides" is a Greek-influenced formation meaning "son of Naḥman"...
's proposal that qasqeseth (scales) must refer specifically to scales that can be detached, by hand or with a knife, without ripping the skin. In practice this excludes all but ctenoid and cycloid scales. A minor controversy arises from the fact that the appearance of the scales of sturgeon, swordfish
Swordfish
Swordfish , also known as broadbill in some countries, are large, highly migratory, predatory fish characterized by a long, flat bill. They are a popular sport fish of the billfish category, though elusive. Swordfish are elongated, round-bodied, and lose all teeth and scales by adulthood...
, and catfish
Catfish
Catfishes are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Named for their prominent barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, catfish range in size and behavior from the heaviest and longest, the Mekong giant catfish from Southeast Asia and the second longest, the wels catfish of Eurasia, to detritivores...
, is heavily affected by the ageing process - their young satisfy Nahmanides' rule, but when they reach adulthood they do not.
Traditionally fins has been interpreted as referring to translucent fins. The Mishnah
Mishnah
The Mishnah or Mishna is the first major written redaction of the Jewish oral traditions called the "Oral Torah". It is also the first major work of Rabbinic Judaism. It was redacted c...
claims that all fish with scales will also have fins, but that the reverse is not always true; for the latter case, the Talmud argues that ritually clean fish have a distinct spinal column and flatish face, while ritually unclean fish don't have spinal columns and have pointy heads, which would define the Shark and Sturgeon (and related fish) as ritually unclean. Nevertheless, Aaron Chorin
Aaron Chorin
Áron Chorin was a Hungarian rabbi and pioneer of religious reform. He favored the use of the organ and of prayers in the vernacular, and was instrumental in founding schools along modern lines. Chorin was thus regarded as a leader of the newer Judaism...
, a prominent 19th-century rabbi and reformer, declared that the Sturgeon was actually ritually pure, and hence permissible to eat. Many Conservative
Conservative Judaism
Conservative Judaism is a modern stream of Judaism that arose out of intellectual currents in Germany in the mid-19th century and took institutional form in the United States in the early 1900s.Conservative Judaism has its roots in the school of thought known as Positive-Historical Judaism,...
rabbis now view these particular fish as being kosher, but most Orthodox
Orthodox Judaism
Orthodox Judaism , is the approach to Judaism which adheres to the traditional interpretation and application of the laws and ethics of the Torah as legislated in the Talmudic texts by the Sanhedrin and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and...
rabbis do not. The question for sturgeon is particularly significant as most caviar
Caviar
Caviar, sometimes called black caviar, is a luxury delicacy, consisting of processed, salted, non-fertilized sturgeon roe. The roe can be "fresh" or pasteurized, the latter having much less culinary and economic value....
consists of sturgeon eggs, and therefore cannot be kosher if the sturgeon itself is not.
As it may not be easy to identify fins and scales on any kind of fish, it may be more convenient to refer to the following Kosher fish list
Kosher fish list
Here is a list of fishes considered kosher according to the Jewish Halakhic framework and Kashrut. There is no named fishes list in the Bible, but the following species have the appropriate characteristics .*Albacore*Alewife*Amberjack*Anchovy...
.
Origin
The academic perception is that natural repugnance from weird-looking fish is a significant factor in the origin of the restrictions. Vedic India (and presumably the Persians also) exhibit such repugnance, generally allowing fish, but forbidding weird looking fish and exclusively carnivorous fish; in Egypt, another significant and influential culture near to the Israelites, the priests avoided all fish completely.
Birds
In regard to birds, no general rule is given, and instead LeviticusLeviticus
The Book of Leviticus is the third book of the Hebrew Bible, and the third of five books of the Torah ....
11:13-19 and Deuteronomy
Deuteronomy
The Book of Deuteronomy is the fifth book of the Hebrew Bible, and of the Jewish Torah/Pentateuch...
14:11-18 explicitly list the prohibited birds:
The masoretic text
Masoretic Text
The Masoretic Text is the authoritative Hebrew text of the Jewish Bible and is regarded as Judaism's official version of the Tanakh. While the Masoretic Text defines the books of the Jewish canon, it also defines the precise letter-text of these biblical books, with their vocalization and...
lists the birds as:
|
|
Talmud
The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....
regards it as a duplication of ayyah. This, and the other terms are vague and difficult to translate, but there are a few further descriptions, of some of these birds, elsewhere in the Bible:
- The ayyah is mentioned again in the Book of JobBook of JobThe Book of Job , commonly referred to simply as Job, is one of the books of the Hebrew Bible. It relates the story of Job, his trials at the hands of Satan, his discussions with friends on the origins and nature of his suffering, his challenge to God, and finally a response from God. The book is a...
, where it is used to describe a bird distinguished by its particularly good sight. - The bat yaanah is described by the Book of IsaiahBook of IsaiahThe Book of Isaiah is the first of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible, preceding the books of Ezekiel, Jeremiah and the Book of the Twelve...
as living in desolate places, and the Book of MicahBook of MicahThe Book of Micah is one of fifteen prophetic books in the Hebrew bible/Old Testament, and the sixth of the twelve minor prophets. It records the sayings of Mikayahu, meaning "Who is like Yahweh?", an 8th century prophet from the village of Moresheth in Judah...
states that it emits a mournful cry. - The qa'at appears in the Book of ZephaniahBook of ZephaniahThe superscription of the Book of Zephaniah attributes its authorship to “Zephaniah son of Cushi son of Gedaliah son of Amariah son of Hezekiah, in the days of King Josiah son of Amon of Judah” . All that is known of Zephaniah comes from the text. The superscription of the book is lengthier than...
, where it is portrayed as nesting on the columns of a ruined city; the Book of IsaiahBook of IsaiahThe Book of Isaiah is the first of the Latter Prophets in the Hebrew Bible, preceding the books of Ezekiel, Jeremiah and the Book of the Twelve...
identifies it as possessing a marshy and desolate kingdom.
The septuagint versions of the lists are more helpful, as in almost all cases the bird is clearly identifiable:
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Raven Raven is the common name given to several larger-bodied members of the genus Corvus—but in Europe and North America the Common Raven is normally implied... (raven) Ostrich The Ostrich is one or two species of large flightless birds native to Africa, the only living member of the genus Struthio. Some analyses indicate that the Somali Ostrich may be better considered a full species apart from the Common Ostrich, but most taxonomists consider it to be a... (ostrich) Owl Owls are a group of birds that belong to the order Strigiformes, constituting 200 bird of prey species. Most are solitary and nocturnal, with some exceptions . Owls hunt mostly small mammals, insects, and other birds, although a few species specialize in hunting fish... (owl) Gull Gulls are birds in the family Laridae. They are most closely related to the terns and only distantly related to auks, skimmers, and more distantly to the waders... (gull) Hawk The term hawk can be used in several ways:* In strict usage in Australia and Africa, to mean any of the species in the subfamily Accipitrinae, which comprises the genera Accipiter, Micronisus, Melierax, Urotriorchis and Megatriorchis. The large and widespread Accipiter genus includes goshawks,... (hawk) |
Night heron The night herons are medium-sized herons in the genera Nycticorax, Nyctanassa and Gorsachius. The genus name Nycticorax derives from the Greek for “night raven” and refers to the largely nocturnal feeding habits of this group of birds, and the croaking crow-like call of the best known species, the... (night raven) Cormorant The bird family Phalacrocoracidae is represented by some 40 species of cormorants and shags. Several different classifications of the family have been proposed recently, and the number of genera is disputed.- Names :... (cormorant) Swan Swans, genus Cygnus, are birds of the family Anatidae, which also includes geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe Cygnini. Sometimes, they are considered a distinct subfamily, Cygninae... (swan) Ibis The ibises are a group of long-legged wading birds in the family Threskiornithidae.... |
Pelican A pelican, derived from the Greek word πελεκυς pelekys is a large water bird with a large throat pouch, belonging to the bird family Pelecanidae.... Plover Plovers are a widely distributed group of wading birds belonging to the subfamily Charadriinae. There are about 40 species in the subfamily, most of them called "plover" or "dotterel". The closely related lapwing subfamily, Vanellinae, comprises another 20-odd species.Plovers are found throughout... (plover) Heron The herons are long-legged freshwater and coastal birds in the family Ardeidae. There are 64 recognised species in this family. Some are called "egrets" or "bitterns" instead of "heron".... (heron) Hoopoe The Hoopoe is a colourful bird that is found across Afro-Eurasia, notable for its distinctive 'crown' of feathers. It is the only extant species in the family Upupidae. One insular species, the Giant Hoopoe of Saint Helena, is extinct, and the Madagascar subspecies of the Hoopoe is sometimes... (hoopoe) Bat Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera "hand" and pteron "wing") whose forelimbs form webbed wings, making them the only mammals naturally capable of true and sustained flight. By contrast, other mammals said to fly, such as flying squirrels, gliding possums, and colugos, glide rather than fly,... (bat) Guineafowl The guineafowl are a family of birds in the Galliformes order, although some authorities include the guineafowl as a subfamily, Numidinae, of the family Phasianidae... (guineafowl) |
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
for bone breaker) being a good example, the correspondence is less clear for most of the remaining birds; it is also obvious that the list in Leviticus, or the list in Deuteronomy, or both, are in a different order in the Septuagint, compared to the masoretic text. Attempting to determine the correspondence is problematic; for example, the pelican may correspond to qa'at (vomiting), in reference to the pelican's characteristic behaviour, but it may also correspond to kos (cup), as a reference to the pelican's jaw pouch. An additional complexity arises from the fact that the porphyrion has not yet been identified, and classical Greek literature merely identifies a number of species that are not the porphyrion, including the peacock, grouse
Grouse
Grouse are a group of birds from the order Galliformes. They are sometimes considered a family Tetraonidae, though the American Ornithologists' Union and many others include grouse as a subfamily Tetraoninae in the family Phasianidae...
, and robin
European Robin
The European Robin , most commonly known in Anglophone Europe simply as the Robin, is a small insectivorous passerine bird that was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family , but is now considered to be an Old World flycatcher...
, and implies that the porphyrion is the cousin of the kingfisher
Kingfisher
Kingfishers are a group of small to medium sized brightly coloured birds in the order Coraciiformes. They have a cosmopolitan distribution, with most species being found in the Old World and Australia...
; from these meagre clarifications, the porphyrion can only be identified as anything from the Lilac-breasted Roller
Lilac-breasted Roller
The Lilac-breasted Roller is a member of the roller family of birds. It is widely distributed in sub-Saharan Africa and the southern Arabian Peninsula, preferring open woodland and savanna; it is largely absent from treeless places...
, Indian Roller
Indian Roller
The Indian Roller , also called the Blue Jay in former times is a member of the roller family of birds. They are found in southern Asia from Iraq to Thailand and are best known for the aerobatic displays of the male during the breeding season...
, or Northern Carmine Bee-eater
Northern Carmine Bee-eater
The Northern Carmine Bee-eater Merops nubicus is a near passerine bird in the bee-eater family Meropidae. Alternative common names include the Carmine Bee-eater or the Nubian Bee-eater.-Distribution:...
, to the flamingo
Flamingo
Flamingos or flamingoes are gregarious wading birds in the genus Phoenicopterus , the only genus in the family Phoenicopteridae...
.
During the Middle Ages, classical descriptions of the hoopoe were mistaken for descriptions of the lapwing
Lapwing
Vanellinae are any of various crested plovers, family Charadriidae, noted for its slow, irregular wingbeat in flight and a shrill, wailing cry. Its length is 10-16 inches. They are a subfamily of medium-sized wading birds which also includes the plovers and dotterels. The Vanellinae are...
, on account of the lapwing's prominent crest, and the hoopoe's rarity in England, resulting in lapwing being listed in certain bible translations instead of hoopoe; similarly the sea eagle has historically been confused with the osprey
Osprey
The Osprey , sometimes known as the sea hawk or fish eagle, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey. It is a large raptor, reaching more than in length and across the wings...
, and translations have often used the latter bird in place of the former. Because strouthos (ostrich) was also used in Greek for the sparrow
Sparrow
The sparrows are a family of small passerine birds, Passeridae. They are also known as true sparrows, or Old World sparrows, names also used for a genus of the family, Passer...
, a few translations have placed the sparrow among the list. In Arabic, the Egyptian Vulture
Egyptian Vulture
The Egyptian Vulture is a small Old World vulture, found widely distributed from southwestern Europe and northern Africa to southern Asia. It is the only living member of the genus Neophron. It has sometimes also been known as the White Scavenger Vulture or Pharaoh's Chicken...
is often referred to as rachami, and therefore a number of translations render racham as gier eagle, the old name for the Egyptian Vulture.
Variations arise when translations follow other ancient versions of the Bible, rather than the Septuagint, where they differ. Rather than vulture (gyps), the Vulgate
Vulgate
The Vulgate is a late 4th-century Latin translation of the Bible. It was largely the work of St. Jerome, who was commissioned by Pope Damasus I in 382 to make a revision of the old Latin translations...
has milvus, meaning Red Kite
Red Kite
The Red Kite is a medium-large bird of prey in the family Accipitridae, which also includes many other diurnal raptors such as eagles, buzzards, and harriers. The species is currently endemic to the Western Palearctic region in Europe and northwest Africa, though formerly also occurred just...
, which historically has been called the glede, on account of its gliding flight; similarly, the Syriac Peshitta has owl rather than ibis. Other variations arise from attempting to base translations primarily on the masoretic text; these translations generally interpret some of the more ambiguous birds as being various different kinds of vulture and owl. All of these variations mean that most translations arrive at a list of 20 birds from among the following:
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Pharaoh Eagle-owl The Pharaoh Eagle-Owl is a species of owl in the Strigidae family.It is found in Algeria, Chad, Egypt, Eritrea, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sudan, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates.-References:* BirdLife International 2004.... |
Little Owl The Little Owl is a bird which is resident in much of the temperate and warmer parts of Europe, Asia east to Korea, and north Africa. It is not native to Great Britain, but was first introduced in 1842, and is now naturalised there... European Nightjar The European Nightjar, or just Nightjar, Caprimulgus europaeus, is the only representative of the nightjar family of birds in most of Europe and temperate Asia.- Habitat and distribution :... |
Barn Owl The Barn Owl is the most widely distributed species of owl, and one of the most widespread of all birds. It is also referred to as Common Barn Owl, to distinguish it from other species in the barn-owl family Tytonidae. These form one of two main lineages of living owls, the other being the typical... Barn Owl The Barn Owl is the most widely distributed species of owl, and one of the most widespread of all birds. It is also referred to as Common Barn Owl, to distinguish it from other species in the barn-owl family Tytonidae. These form one of two main lineages of living owls, the other being the typical... |
Mammal
Mammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young...
s. Most of the remaining animals on the list are either birds of prey or birds living on water, and the majority of the latter in the list also eat fish or other seafood. The Septuagint's version of the list comprehensively lists most of the birds of Canaan that fall into these categories. The conclusion of modern scholars is that, generally, ritually unclean birds were those clearly observed to eat other animals.
Although it does regard all birds of prey as being forbidden, the Talmud is uncertain of there being a general rule, and instead gives detailed descriptions of the features that distinguish a bird as being ritually clean. The Talmud argues that clean birds would have craws
Crop (anatomy)
A crop is a thin-walled expanded portion of the alimentary tract used for the storage of food prior to digestion that is found in many animals, including gastropods, earthworms, leeches, insects, birds, and even some dinosaurs.- Bees :Cropping is used by bees to temporarily store nectar of flowers...
, an easily separated double-skin, and would eat food by placing it on the ground (rather than holding it on the ground) and tearing it with their bills before eating it; however, the Talmud also argues that only the birds in the biblical list are actually forbidden - these distinguishing features were only for cases when there was any uncertainty in the bird's identity
Origin
The earliest rationalistic explanations of the laws against eating certain birds focused on symbolic interpretations; the first indication of this view can be found in the 1st century BC Letter of AristeasLetter of Aristeas
The so-called Letter of Aristeas or Letter to Philocrates is a Hellenistic work of the 2nd century BCE, one of the Pseudepigrapha. Josephus who paraphrases about two-fifths of the letter, ascribes it to Aristeas and written to Philocrates, describing the Greek translation of the Hebrew Law by...
, which argues that this prohibition is a lesson to teach justice, and is also about not injuring others. Such allegorical explanations were abandoned by most Jewish and Christian theologians after a few centuries, and later writers instead sought to find medical explanations for the rules; Nachmanides, for example, claimed that the black and thickened blood of birds of prey would cause psychological damage, making people much more inclined to cruelty.
However, other cultures treated the meat of certain carnivorous birds as having medical benefits, the Romans
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
viewing Owl meat as being able to ease the pain of insect bites, for example; conversely, modern scientific studies have discovered very toxic birds such as the Pitohui
Pitohui
The pitohuis are a genus of birds endemic to New Guinea, belonging to the family Pachycephalidae.Currently six species are classified in the genus, though current molecular genetics research suggests that significant reclassification of the Pachycephalidae may be needed.-Species:* Variable...
, which are neither birds of prey nor water birds, and therefore the biblical regulations allow them to be eaten. Laws against eating any carnivorous birds also existed in Vedic India and Harran, and the Egyptian priests also refused to eat carnivorous birds.
Modern practical considerations
Due to the difficulty of identification, religious authorities have restricted consumption to specific birds for which Jews have passed down a tradition or permissibility from generation to generation. Birds for whom there has been a tradition of their being kosher include: the sparrowHouse Sparrow
The House Sparrow is a bird of the sparrow family Passeridae, found in most parts of the world. One of about 25 species in the genus Passer, the House Sparrow occurs naturally in most of Europe, the Mediterranean region, and much of Asia...
, pigeon, turtle dove
Turtle Dove
The European Turtle Dove , also known as Turtle Dove, is a member of the bird family Columbidae, which includes the doves and pigeons.-Distribution & Status:...
, quail
Common Quail
The Common Quail, Coturnix coturnix, is a small bird in the pheasant family Phasianidae. It is widespread and is found in parts of Europe, .- Description :It is a small rotund bird, essentially streaked brown with...
, the European and Middle Eastern
Alectoris
Alectoris, is a genus of partridges with representatives in southern Europe, north Africa and Arabia, and across Asia in Pakistan to Tibet and western China. Members of the genus, notably the Chukar and Red-legged Partridge, have been introduced to the United States, Canada, New Zealand and Hawaii...
partridges, the pheasant
Common Pheasant
The Common Pheasant , is a bird in the pheasant family . It is native to Georgia and has been widely introduced elsewhere as a game bird. In parts of its range, namely in places where none of its relatives occur such as in Europe , it is simply known as the "pheasant"...
, duck
Duck
Duck is the common name for a large number of species in the Anatidae family of birds, which also includes swans and geese. The ducks are divided among several subfamilies in the Anatidae family; they do not represent a monophyletic group but a form taxon, since swans and geese are not considered...
s, geese, chicken
Chicken (food)
Chicken is the most common type of poultry in the world, and is prepared as food in a wide variety of ways, varying by region and culture.- History :...
s, guineafowl
Guineafowl
The guineafowl are a family of birds in the Galliformes order, although some authorities include the guineafowl as a subfamily, Numidinae, of the family Phasianidae...
among others. As a general principle, scavenging birds such as vulture
Vulture
Vulture is the name given to two groups of convergently evolved scavenging birds, the New World Vultures including the well-known Californian and Andean Condors, and the Old World Vultures including the birds which are seen scavenging on carcasses of dead animals on African plains...
s and birds of prey
Bird of prey
Birds of prey are birds that hunt for food primarily on the wing, using their keen senses, especially vision. They are defined as birds that primarily hunt vertebrates, including other birds. Their talons and beaks tend to be relatively large, powerful and adapted for tearing and/or piercing flesh....
such as hawk
Hawk
The term hawk can be used in several ways:* In strict usage in Australia and Africa, to mean any of the species in the subfamily Accipitrinae, which comprises the genera Accipiter, Micronisus, Melierax, Urotriorchis and Megatriorchis. The large and widespread Accipiter genus includes goshawks,...
s and eagle
Eagle
Eagles are members of the bird family Accipitridae, and belong to several genera which are not necessarily closely related to each other. Most of the more than 60 species occur in Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just two species can be found in the United States and Canada, nine more in...
s (which eat carrion
Carrion
Carrion refers to the carcass of a dead animal. Carrion is an important food source for large carnivores and omnivores in most ecosystems. Examples of carrion-eaters include vultures, hawks, eagles, hyenas, Virginia Opossum, Tasmanian Devils, coyotes, Komodo dragons, and burying beetles...
when they find it) are not kosher
Unclean animals
Unclean animals, in some religions, are animals whose consumption or handling is labeled a taboo. According to these religion's dogmas, persons who handle such animals may need to purify themselves to get rid of their uncleanness.-Judaism:...
. Turkey
Turkey (bird)
A turkey is a large bird in the genus Meleagris. One species, Meleagris gallopavo, commonly known as the Wild Turkey, is native to the forests of North America. The domestic turkey is a descendant of this species...
does not have a tradition, but because so many Orthodox Jews have come to eat it and it possesses the simanim (signs) required to render it a kosher bird, an exception is made, but with all other birds a Mesorah (tradition) is required.
Birds such as songbird
Songbird
A songbird is a bird belonging to the suborder Passeri of the perching birds . Another name that is sometimes seen as scientific or vernacular name is Oscines, from Latin oscen, "a songbird"...
s, which are consumed as delicacies in many societies, may be kosher in theory, but are not eaten in kosher homes as there is no tradition of them being eaten as such. Pigeons and dove
Dove
Pigeons and doves constitute the bird family Columbidae within the order Columbiformes, which include some 300 species of near passerines. In general terms "dove" and "pigeon" are used somewhat interchangeably...
s are known to be kosher based on their permissible status as sacrificial offerings in the Temple
Temple in Jerusalem
The Temple in Jerusalem or Holy Temple , refers to one of a series of structures which were historically located on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem, the current site of the Dome of the Rock. Historically, these successive temples stood at this location and functioned as the centre of...
. Likewise, though swan
Swan
Swans, genus Cygnus, are birds of the family Anatidae, which also includes geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe Cygnini. Sometimes, they are considered a distinct subfamily, Cygninae...
s are kosher in theory if kosher-slaughtered, there is no Jewish tradition of eating them.
Flying insects
- arbeh; the Hebrew word literally means [one which] increases. The Septuagint calls it a brouchos, referring to a wingless locust, and older English translations render this as grasshopperGrasshopperThe grasshopper is an insect of the suborder Caelifera in the order Orthoptera. To distinguish it from bush crickets or katydids, it is sometimes referred to as the short-horned grasshopper...
in most parts of the bible, but inconsistently translate it as locust in Leviticus. In the Book of NahumBook of NahumThe book of Nahum is the seventh book of the 12 minor prophets of the Hebrew Bible. It is attributed to the prophet Nahum, and was probably written in Jerusalem in the 8th century BC.-Background:...
, the arbeh is poetically described as camping in hedges in cold days, but flying off into the far distance when the sun arises; for this reason, a number of scholars have suggested that the arbeh must actually be the migratory locustMigratory locustThe migratory locust is the most widespread locust species, and the only species in the genus Locusta. It occurs throughout Africa, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. It used to be common in Europe but has now become rare there...
. - sol'am; the Hebrew term literally means swallower. The Septuagint calls it an attacos, the meaning of which is currently uncertain. The Talmud describes it as having a long head that is bald in front, for which reason a number of English translations call it a bald locust (an ambiguous term); many modern scholars believe that the Acrida (previously called Tryxalis) is meant, as it is distinguished by its very elongated head.
- hargol; the Hebrew term literally means strafer (i.e., [one that] runs to the right or to the left). The Septuagint calls it an ophiomachos, literally meaning snake fighter; the Talmud describes it as having a tail, which may be the origin of the Septuagint's description of it as snake-like. The Talmud also states that it has large eggs, which were turned into amulets. This has historically been translated as beetleBeetleColeoptera is an order of insects commonly called beetles. The word "coleoptera" is from the Greek , koleos, "sheath"; and , pteron, "wing", thus "sheathed wing". Coleoptera contains more species than any other order, constituting almost 25% of all known life-forms...
, but since the 19th century, cricketCricket (insect)Crickets, family Gryllidae , are insects somewhat related to grasshoppers, and more closely related to katydids or bush crickets . They have somewhat flattened bodies and long antennae. There are about 900 species of crickets...
has been deemed more likely to fit. - hagab; the word literally means hider. The Book of NumbersBook of NumbersThe Book of Numbers is the fourth book of the Hebrew Bible, and the fourth of five books of the Jewish Torah/Pentateuch....
implies that they were particularly small. The Septuagint calls it an akrida, and it has usually been translated as grasshopper.
The general rule against flying creeping things evidently concerns locusts and similar creatures. The Mishnah argues that exceptions to the rule in Leviticus - the ritually clean locusts - could be distinguished as they would all have four feet, jumping with two of them, and have four wings, which are of sufficient size to cover the entire locust's body. However, the Mishnah also goes on to state that any species of locust could only be considered as clean if there was a reliable tradition that it was so; the only Jewish group that continue to preserve such a tradition are the Jews of Yemen
Yemenite Jews
Yemenite Jews are those Jews who live, or whose recent ancestors lived, in Yemen . Between June 1949 and September 1950, the overwhelming majority of Yemen's Jewish population was transported to Israel in Operation Magic Carpet...
, who use the term kosher locust
Kosher locust
While most insects are considered to be forbidden by Kosher dietary laws, four varieties of locust are listed in the Torah as permissible. However, the identities of the four varieties are not completely clear.- Source in the Torah :...
to describe the specific species of locusts they believe to be kosher, all of which are native to the Arabian Peninsula
Arabian Peninsula
The Arabian Peninsula is a land mass situated north-east of Africa. Also known as Arabia or the Arabian subcontinent, it is the world's largest peninsula and covers 3,237,500 km2...
. Due to the difficulties in establishing the validity of such traditions, later rabbinical authorities
Posek
Posek is the term in Jewish law for "decider"—a legal scholar who decides the Halakha in cases of law where previous authorities are inconclusive or in those situations where no halakhic precedent exists....
forbade contact with all types of locust, to ensure that the ritually unclean locusts were avoided.
Small land creatures
LeviticusLeviticus
The Book of Leviticus is the third book of the Hebrew Bible, and the third of five books of the Torah ....
11:29-30 and 11:42-43, unlike the passages of Deuteronomy, specifies that every creeping thing which creeps upon the earth should be considered to be filthy (Hebrew: sheqets). Before stating this, it singles out 8 particular creeping things as specifically being ritually unclean. Like many of the other biblical lists of animals, the exact identity of the creatures in the list is uncertain; the masoretic text names them as follows:
- holed; the Talmud describes it as a predatory animal that bores underground.
- akhbar; in Arabic, the cognateCognateIn linguistics, cognates are words that have a common etymological origin. This learned term derives from the Latin cognatus . Cognates within the same language are called doublets. Strictly speaking, loanwords from another language are usually not meant by the term, e.g...
word, akhbar, refers to the jerboaJerboaThe jerboa form the bulk of the membership of the family Dipodidae. Jerboas are hopping desert rodents found throughout Asia and Northern Africa. They tend to be found in hot deserts.... - tzab; the Talmud describes it as being similar to a salamanderSalamanderSalamander is a common name of approximately 500 species of amphibians. They are typically characterized by a superficially lizard-like appearance, with their slender bodies, short noses, and long tails. All known fossils and extinct species fall under the order Caudata, while sometimes the extant...
- anaqah; this Hebrew term literally means groaner, and consequently a number of scholars believe it refers to a geckoGeckoGeckos are lizards belonging to the infraorder Gekkota, found in warm climates throughout the world. They range from 1.6 cm to 60 cm....
, which makes a distinctive croaking sound. - ko'ah
- leta'ah; the Talmud describes it as being paralyzed by heat but revived with water, and states that its tail moves when cut off
- homet
- tinshemet; this term literally means blower/breather, this term also appears in the list of birds
The Septuagint's version of the list doesn't appear to directly parallel the masoretic text's, and instead is thought to be listed partly in a different order. It lists the 8 animals as:
- galei; a general term including the weaselWeaselWeasels are mammals forming the genus Mustela of the Mustelidae family. They are small, active predators, long and slender with short legs....
, ferretFerretThe ferret is a domesticated mammal of the type Mustela putorius furo. Ferrets are sexually dimorphic predators with males being substantially larger than females. They typically have brown, black, white, or mixed fur...
, and the stoatStoatThe stoat , also known as the ermine or short-tailed weasel, is a species of Mustelid native to Eurasia and North America, distinguished from the least weasel by its larger size and longer tail with a prominent black tip...
, all of which are predatory animals noticeably attracted to holes in the ground. - mus; the mouseMouseA mouse is a small mammal belonging to the order of rodents. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse . It is also a popular pet. In some places, certain kinds of field mice are also common. This rodent is eaten by large birds such as hawks and eagles...
. - krokodelos-chersaios; the land crocodile, which is thought to refer to the monitor lizardMonitor lizardMonitor lizards are usually large reptiles, although some can be as small as in length. They have long necks, powerful tails and claws, and well-developed limbs. Most species are terrestrial, but arboreal and semiaquatic monitors are also known...
, a very large lizard of somewhat crocodilian appearance. - mygale; the shrewShrewA shrew or shrew mouse is a small molelike mammal classified in the order Soricomorpha. True shrews are also not to be confused with West Indies shrews, treeshrews, otter shrews, or elephant shrews, which belong to different families or orders.Although its external appearance is generally that of...
. - chamaileon; the chameleonChameleonChameleons are a distinctive and highly specialized clade of lizards. They are distinguished by their parrot-like zygodactylous feet, their separately mobile and stereoscopic eyes, their very long, highly modified, and rapidly extrudable tongues, their swaying gait, the possession by many of a...
, which puffs itself up and opens its mouth wide when threatened - chalabotes; a term derived from chala meaning rock/claw, and therefore probably the wall lizardWall lizardThe common wall lizard is a species of lizard with a large distribution in Europe and well-established introduced populations in North America, where it is also called the European wall lizard. It can grow to about in total length.-Identification:The common wall lizard is a small, thin lizard...
- saura; the lizardLizardLizards are a widespread group of squamate reptiles, with nearly 3800 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica as well as most oceanic island chains...
in general, possibly here intended to be the skinkSkinkSkinks are lizards belonging to the family Scincidae. Together with several other lizard families, including Lacertidae , they comprise the superfamily or infraorder Scincomorpha...
, since it is the remaining other major group of lizards - aspalax; the mole-ratMole-ratMole rat or mole-rat refers to several groups of burrowing rodents or * Bathyergidae, a family of about twenty species from Africa, including:* Heterocephalus glaber; the "naked mole rat";...
, although some older English translations, not being aware of the mole-rat's existence, have instead translated this as moleMole (animal)Moles are small cylindrical mammals adapted to a subterranean lifestyle. They have velvety fur; tiny or invisible ears and eyes; and short, powerful limbs with large paws oriented for digging. The term is especially and most properly used for the true moles, those of the Talpidae family in the...
Mammal
Mammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young...
s and reptile
Reptile
Reptiles are members of a class of air-breathing, ectothermic vertebrates which are characterized by laying shelled eggs , and having skin covered in scales and/or scutes. They are tetrapods, either having four limbs or being descended from four-limbed ancestors...
s, the classical rabbinical writers interpreted creeping thing which creep upon the earth to refer particularly to worm
Worm
The term worm refers to an obsolete taxon used by Carolus Linnaeus and Jean-Baptiste Lamarck for all non-arthropod invertebrate animals, and stems from the Old English word wyrm. Currently it is used to describe many different distantly-related animals that typically have a long cylindrical...
s; however, they still permitted the consumption of worms found in other substances, such as maggots in meat, fish, and drinking water, reducing the risk of starvation in a period when pesticide
Pesticide
Pesticides are substances or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, repelling or mitigating any pest.A pesticide may be a chemical unicycle, biological agent , antimicrobial, disinfectant or device used against any pest...
s were barely known about, and finding worms in these substances was common. Nevertheless, the classical rabbis did forbid the consumption of food if the worms in it had been moved from one place to another; thus all food a worm had eaten but left, and all food that has worms in it but did not originally, was forbidden.