When I was younger, I decided to try to go a week as (essentially) a vegetarian. I define "vegetarian" as eating nothing that obviously had meat in it. Now, I didn't scour the labels, or search the ingredients, so I may well have eaten some meat. But for the most part I abstained from meat. Why? Because I simply wanted to see if I could do it.
Tomorrow I will begin a different, though similar, journey of the palate. For the first ten days of August, I will be going Kosher.
Of course, the first question is: Why? Are we not Christians? Hasn't Christ fulfilled the food laws? Yes, of course He has.
You see, I like air conditioning. I see it as a great blessing from God. He didn't have to work in the hearts of men to invent air conditioning. After all, for thousands of years mankind has roamed the Earth, with no electric air conditioning. Yet God saw fit to allow A/C to be invented. Not only that, but it is a great blessing from the Father that He saw fit to create me in such a situation where A/C is prevalent.
But I am not as grateful for air conditioning as I could be. None of us really are, that is, until we go camping, or when the A/C suddenly cuts out. Then we really appreciate it.
God has made all foods clean. It is a great blessing from God. He didn't have to do that. After all, for thousands of years His chosen people have been subjected to His own food laws. Not only that, but it is a great blessing from the Father that He saw fit to create us in such a situation where we are not bound by the Kosher laws.
But we are not as grateful for that as we could be. Perhaps the closest many come to being grateful is wondering how awful a world without bacon would be. So in order to understand the great and wonderful gift that God has given me, that I can be clean before Him despite eating meats and other foods considered unclean for a previous generation, I will spend the next ten days abstaining from that gift.
What rules?
So, what rules will I be following? For those not knowledgable of Modern Judaism, the Kosher laws found in the Bible are not the entirety of Modern Kosher laws. The Talmud and Mishnah (Books written by Jewish rabbis considered almost as authoritative as our Old Testament) add many other laws. The biggest one is the abstaining from eating meat and cheese together. There is no set amount of time that must pass in between eating meat and cheese, but my research suggests that many Jews wait 6 hours. All of this is from these Rabbinical books and the Rabbis that follow them. They base it, however, on one passage of Scripture: Exodus 23:19b, which says, (wait for it) "you must not boil a young goat in its mother's milk."
Yeah, that's all the Biblical evidence for that. Obviously, I'd follow the Biblical Kosher laws instead of the Modern Kosher laws, yes? Actually, no. I will follow Modern Kosher laws. Why? Because I can honestly see that if Christ had not made all things clean, and had kept the Kosher laws in effect (which He certainly would be justified in doing), I don't think things would have changed too much, except the Modern Kosher laws would be followed by both Jews and Christians. So to emulate such an alternate reality, I will follow these harsher, more legalistic laws.
Here are the general laws that I'll be following:
As mentioned earlier, I will wait 6 hours between eating meat and dairy. At the beginning of this six hour waiting period, I will brush my teeth and mouthwash to ensure that no milk or dairy remains in my mouth (Yes, Kosher Jews do this).
I will not eat any meat except Kosher meat. This refers both to the animal, and the way it is prepared. Pork is obviously out. There is a Kosher deli in Creve Cour, and I plan on picking up something. I'll also be eating Hebrew National hot dogs from time to time, since it's the only widely available Kosher meat.
I will not be eating anything that does not have a Kosher sign on it. If its Kosher, it will have a little sign with a 'K' on it, or an O with a U inside of it. There are some other symbols as well (thankfully, it shows a small 'D' on it if there is dairy products in it).
When eating fruits or vegetables, I will be taking pains to ensure that there are no bugs hidden on or in it. Some things will be easier than others. On the one hand, apples are simple. Just look for holes, and then rinse it under water with some vegetable wash. Lettuce, on the other hand, will be very difficult. I have to inspect every fold of every leaf.
Lastly, and this is my own rule: I will not be eating substitutes. Just because they have non-dairy cheese that's kosher doesn't mean I'll be having cheese dogs. After ten days I can eat what I want, as Christ has allowed. I don't need to be doing it during this period. (There will be one exception, which I will explain at a later day)
Updating the blog
I will be keeping a diary of the next ten days, explaining what I've eaten, and my thoughts on how keeping Kosher makes me more grateful for being a New Covenant believer. I will also add an epilogue on August 11, when I can eat non-Kosher foods again.
I hope this is an interesting set of articles for you. I hope you will think about the unseen blessings God has poured out on you. Maybe you want to try going Kosher yourself. Perhaps you may want to expand your experience in other ways. I hope that my experience enriches both myself and other believers in The Lord Jesus Christ to seek Him more faithfully, and to love Him on a deeper level than we do now.
