Why Kosher?: An Anthology of Answers / Although the Bible contains no reason for the dietary laws, over the last thee millennia Jewish commentators have sought explanations for kashruth. In Why Kosher?: An Anthology of Answers, Irving Welfeld offers a variety of opinions on the topic of kashruth from some of Judaism's greatest thinkers past and present.
The sources explored come from ancient Egypt and the Internet, from hasidic stories and the Bible, and from Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist, and non-Jewish individuals. Among the comments expressed are those of Maimonides, Nehama Leibowitz, Cynthia Ozick, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Dennis Prager, Abraham Joshua Heschel, Isaac Beshevis Singer, and Adin Steinsaltz. Their perceptions vary: some consider kosher food to be health food and soul food; other look at sociological, allegorical, ecological, and ethical explanations. The effect of kashruth on Jewish identity is explored along with the belief that the body is the receptacle of the soul and therefore must be kept holy. The relationship between kashruth the vegetarianism, and the idea that the kosher laws are a pathway to the sanctification of the ordinary, are also examined.
