Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 7, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 November 1874 — The Jewish Dietary System. [ARTICLE]

The Jewish Dietary System.

I The dietary code relates almost en- ! tirely tn animal food. None of I lie nrod- ' ucts of the vegetable kingdom are under ordinary circumstances forbidden, nor is the manner of their use limited. There is, in fact, in reference to them no dietary law whatever of practical importance, except in connection with the Passover festival. As to animal food, the first ordinance requires that the quadruped, fowl or fish shall be, in the Biblical sense, “clean.” The law on this point is laid down in Leviticus xi., and is /partially reiterated in Deuteronomy xiv.; and in all tile many centuries that have since expired it has undergone no alteration. There we see that quadrupeds, to be fit for food, must chew the cud and be cloven-footed; and some that are clean and a number that are forbidden are particularly mentioned.' To enlarge a little’on. this list, we may say that among animals not eaten are, of course, the horse, the' ass, the squirrel and the rabbit. Those famed delicacies, bears’ paws and beavers’ tails, are in the catalogue of the pro■hibitetl. —In China an orthodox Israelite cannot partake of the cat, nor, in Brazil, of the tapir; but, on the other hand, if he can have it properly slaughtered, there is no sufficient reason why, on.the Western prairies, he should not feast on the savory hump of the buffalo. Of fowls that are unclean we find in the chapters referred to an enumeration of twenty-four. All others are regarded as clean; the only difficulty consists in identifying those that are by name forbidden. The translations of this list differ widely, and among Talmudic commentators there is the same uncertainty as with later scholars. They have suggested certain peculiarities in the formation of the feet anti stomach as marking the uncleanbird; but the possibility of mistake notwithstanding has impressed the tabbis So~ gravely that they have advised the scrupulous Israelite after all to eat of no fowl unless he is convinced, for reasons beyond these suggested peculiarities, that it does hot belong to the prohibited two dozen. It may be stated as a general rule that all birds of prey are forbidden, and that birds which feed on grains are Clean. This is, of course, a more agreeable classification to the Israelitish epicure tlisn that of quadrupeds. — Galaxy far November.