Sublime

Keeping these food laws is one part of what is referred to in Jewish culture as “keeping kosher.”

shortening, gelatin, and stearic acid, which could be derived from non-kosher animals or from dairy sources. That is why rabbinic supervision is

Kashrut is not simply a set of rules about permitted and forbidden foods; kashrut is a way of life. As with any life-style we adopt, we know we are successful at it when it becomes second nature to us.

First they circumcise all Israelite males, then they celebrate Passover. Their hearts need to remember Passover—it reinforces their faith.

forbidden to deceive a gentile even with regard to a matter that will not cause him a loss, e.g., to sell him meat from an animal that

Devarim 15:8. Kesubos 67b infers from the Hebrew phrase employed that the mitzvah of giving charity involves giving a person not merely enough to satisfy his basic necessities, but also enough to enable him to maintain

There’s some rich symbolism here: The unleavened loaf represents the Israelites, and the leavened loaf is foreshadowing the day when the Gentiles, non-Jews, will be brought into this family.

believe that the purpose of kashrut is to make eating a special experience and to serve as a reminder of a Jew’s ethical conscience as well as of the other unique teachings of Judaism. To me, distinctiveness and not separation is the Jew’s calling.