Kosher/Trefah

Food always comes up as an issue in Messianic congregations.

When the congregation was small and we all lived near each other we had potlucks every Shabbot. We all came from different backgrounds and were all at different points in our spiritual growth and so it was decided that we were not going to fight over food. So we posted, “some in our Congregation keep kosher, so if you bring something to share that contains pork or shellfish please tell us.” Some of us will eat such food and some of us won’t.

Now that we are larger and all over the world, we still feel the same way. There is so much wrong with what is being taught in the post-modern churches, that what we eat is the least of our problems.

But the question still comes up, what is clean and unclean? And does it matter anymore? 

If you are interested in a kosher lifestyle watch this:  Tour of my Orthodox Sephardic Kosher Kitchen)

The Text

Many Messianics use the word Kosher improperly or it can be argued that the Jew use it improperly, (like we did up there in our keep kosher comment). To a Jew the noun Kosher is about the separation of meat and dairy. Where Messianics tend to use Kosher to mean meats that are forbidden which are actually called Trefah.

Forbidden or Trefah Foods

A full list of what is clean and unclean is in the whole chapter of Leviticus 11. Here are the ones that come up most often.

 7 And the swine, because it parts the hoof and is cloven-footed but does not chew the cud, is unclean to you. 8 Of their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch; they are unclean to you.

9   “These you may eat, of all that are in the waters. Everything in the waters that has fins and scales, whether in the seas or in the rivers, you may eat. 10 But anything in the seas or the rivers that has not fins and scales, of the swarming creatures in the waters and of the living creatures that are in the waters, is an abomination to you.Lev. 11:7-9

But anything in the seas or the rivers that has not fins and scales, of the swarming creatures in the waters and of the living creatures that are in the waters, is an abomination to you. Lev. 11:10

And Deuteronomy

And the swine, because it parts the hoof but does not chew the cud, is unclean for you. Their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch. Deut. 14:8

“You shall not eat anything that dies of itself; you may give it to the alien who is within your towns, that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner; for you are a people holy to the LORD your God. 

 “You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk. Deut. 14:21  

Gentiles

The entire Leviticus 11 chapter is addressed to the children of Israel.

1   And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, 2 “Say to the people of Israel, These are the living things which you may eat among all the beasts that are on the earth. Lev. 11:1-2

This an other laws became a problem in the first century. How many of these laws were to be applied to the non Jew who had come to faith. This is one of the questions that were addressed by the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15.

Clean

Whatever parts the hoof and is cloven-footed and chews the cud, among the animals, you may eat. Lev. 11:3

“These you may eat, of all that are in the waters. Everything in the waters that has fins and scales, whether in the seas or in the rivers, you may eat. Lev. 11:9 

When the temple stood the altar was that which consecrated all things.

Seven days you shall make atonement for the altar, and consecrate it, and the altar shall be most holy; whatever touches the altar shall become holy. Ex. 29:37

But now we are the holy sacrifice.

I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Rom. 12:1 

What ever Messiah touched became clean. Just as anything making contact with the altar in the temple had become clean.

You are already made clean by the word which I have spoken to you. John 15:3

If we are all clean in Messiah? Then there is no reason to fight over food.

Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for any one to make others fall by what he eats; Rom. 14:20

Penalty

But there was a way to become clean after eating these Trefah foods.

24   “And by these you shall become unclean; whoever touches their carcass shall be unclean until the evening, 25 and whoever carries any part of their carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening. 26 Every animal which parts the hoof but is not cloven-footed or does not chew the cud is unclean to you; every one who touches them shall be unclean. 27 And all that go on their paws, among the animals that go on all fours, are unclean to you; whoever touches their carcass shall be unclean until the evening, 28 and he who carries their carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening; they are unclean to you.Lev. 11:24-28

So the penalty is that one is unclean till evening and one will have to go through the ritual bathing before one can go into the temple. Oh wait, there is no temple. We are the temple, and we are clean.