The Denver Jewish news., 1921-09-28
MEDICAL ASPECT OF
TREFAH AND KOSHER
BY Henry Leviton. NJ. ID.

The Jewish butcher shop is the he
ginning and the ending of the average
Jewish youths knowledge as to what
constitutes Kosher and this is the real
reason why most of us have so little
respect for the word. Would the aver
age person have II deeper knowledge
of the real meaning of the word Kosh-
er and also its past value to the Jews.
not only would he have II greater re-
spect for it. but its meaning would spell
science and wisdom. The correct Eng
lish meaning of the word Kosher" is
healthful. The opposite word to it is
.Trcfah." which means deleteriOus.
harmful to ones health. To illustrate:
fat-"hcle" of the OK is ''trefah" and
is prohibited to be used as food. Those
If us who have tried to eat the par
ticularly prohibited part of the fat.
ssnow how hard it is to digest it. con-
'euuently its dangers s-"sakkanah.
The fat of the fowl is very easily digest
ID. in fact. is very healthful. therefore
lbsolutcly kosher and may be eaten.
The yolll of an egg containing Il drop
et of blood is Trefah and is prohibited
% he used as food. The droplet of
blood in the egg means beginning OF
he process of Matching: who of MS does
rot know that an egg that is i'm the
process Of Matching is not fresh?
Blood in general is strictly prohibited
% he used as food. Two reasons are
,iven for it, one is based on the sup
posed spiritual value of blood. that is,
he spirit of man is flowing in his blood.
therefore, from moral spiritual stand
,oint. it is not right to use blood as
'octl From q physical standpoint. blood
$ cons sidered unhealthful. When an
lnimal is killed the artcrial or fresh
Hood runs out through the open artcr-
es: the blood that remains is venous;
'ull of carbon dioNide and other body
,oisons. therefore not healthful-''Tre-
'ah'' This mode of reasoning was
BASED on true scientific knowledge of
The general circulation of the blood.
which was proven many centuries later
o he correct. by Dr. Harvey. of Eng
land in 1G2S. by sailing and soaking
he meat in water this injurious vcn"us
blood is extracted and the meat be-
comes Kosher" which means hcalthful
md fit to be used for food. OF course.
we have different ideas on this qucs-
lion today. but in those days the eN-
olanation of the Rabbis was quite
plausible.
The prohibition of using milk and
on sentimental than physical reasons.
sSeething of kid in its mothers milk
is sin" What beautiful sentiment?
Is it not most horrid and brutal to
seeth a small animal in the milk of its
own mother? Ones refinement cannot
help but rebel against such practices.
This principle was elaborated and en-
larged upon by the rabbis, who have
later made general rule not to use
meat and milk at the same time. This
was dohe in order to avoid all remote
possibilities of ''seething kid in its
mothers milk In those days there
were no stockyards where cattle were
shipped for killing. The killing was
done in the same village where the stock
was raised. therefore the possibility of
using the meat of the calf i'm the milk
of its mother. Here is n law based
not on health. but on refinement and
sentiment which makes it still more
beautiful.
Carniverous animals and wild car
| niverous birds are strictly prohibited
to be used as food. The reason here
is not sentimental and not physical
either because such meat is not un-
healthful. but moral.
Those old Jewish savants knew that
a person is a product of his environ
ment, as well as of the food he con-
sumes. The meat of wild carniverous
animals when consumed for any length
of time will create beastliness in men.
and beastliness means crime. The laws
of those days were not only of an i'm
medite protective nature, but of pre-
ventive one as WELL