(e.) “And every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth shall be an abomination; it shall not be eaten” (Lev. xi. 41). In this prohibition are included all kinds of worms such as are found in fruit, and mites, snails, oysters, lobsters, crabs, &c. [[461]]
4. The milk of “unclean” cattle or beasts (e.g., asses’ milk), the eggs of “unclean” birds, and the roe of “unclean” fish (e.g., caviare prepared of the roe of the sturgeon) are likewise forbidden.
5. “Ye shall eat no manner of fat, of ox, or of sheep, or of goat” (Lev. vii. 23). From the context we learn that only those portions of the fat of cattle are forbidden which in the case of sacrifices were burnt upon the altar as an offering made by fire unto the Lord, viz., “the fat that covereth the inwards, and all the fat that is upon the inwards, and the fat that is upon the kidneys which is by the flanks” (ibid. iii. 3, 4). The forbidden fat is known by the name חלב, chelebh, whilst the fat permitted as food is called שומן, shuman.
6. “Therefore the children of Israel do not eat of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day: because he touched the hollow of Jacob’s thigh in the sinew that shrank” (Gen. xxxii. 33). This law is designed to remind us of the wrestling of Jacob with the man who attacked him, which struggle forms a type of Israel’s fight against the evil threatening him from within and from without, and teaches us the lesson that, despite temporary troubles and struggles, Israel will ultimately be victorious. The hind-quarters of cattle are not eaten unless the forbidden fat and “the sinew that shrank” (גיד הנשה) have first been removed from them.
7. “Thou shalt not seethe the kid in its mother’s milk” (Exod. xxiii. 19). Tradition explains this law as forbidding all mixture of meat and milk (בשר בחלב). In its literal sense the verse in which this law is [[462]]mentioned seems to point to the duty of self-restraint, as if to tell us that we should not greedily devour the first ripe fruit, or the young immediately after their birth.
The significance of the law may be learnt from the fact that it is mentioned three times in the Pentateuch. Hence the strictness with which this commandment is observed in Jewish homes. In a Jewish household, established in accordance with Jewish law and tradition, there are two separate sets of utensils, the one to be used for the preparation of meat-diet, the other for the preparation of milk and butter diet.
The flesh of fish is not considered as meat in this respect, nor are fish subject to the laws of shechitah.
Notes.
1. On Page 459—1a.