Tikvah
Editors’ Pick

January 22, 2020

That the Torah Gives No Reason for Keeping Kosher Doesn’t Mean It’s Unreasonable

The rationalists’ case for observing kashrut.

Through the ages, rabbis have suggested various explanations for the Hebrew Bible’s detailed dietary restrictions, while others have cited them as archetypes of laws that are beyond explanation. Detractors, meanwhile, have taken these rules as evidence of the Bible’s irrationality. But, argues Natan Slifkin, the fact that Scripture doesn’t provide an explicit rationale for these commandments is an invitation for the believer to search one out rather than simply falling back on “God said so.”

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