KOSHER REVELATION
Part One - Things that no human would have written
The Torah (Leviticus Chapter 11:1) teaches that not all animals are allowed to be eaten.
Some you can eat and some you can not. These constitute the laws of Kashrut.
Let’s assume for now that the Torah was written by humans living in the Near East around 3000 years ago.
The very idea of dietary laws raises two initial questions:
Number One:
What is the rationale behind this? Why should it be that some animals are considered okay to eat and some are not? In the major Eastern paths - Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism - they are vegan or vegetarian.
They believe we should not kill any sentient being. That makes sense.
Secular non-vegetarian philosophies say to eat whatever you like.
Once killing animals is okay, what difference does it make if it is a cow or a pig?
To say we are allowed to eat some animals and not others just doesn’t make any sense.
It’s totally irrational, especially when we see the random criteria given for which ones are allowed and which ones aren’t. (It can’t be for health reasons seeing as we haven’t seen any particular health issues with not kosher food or any evidence of the neighbouring nations also avoiding them).
Number Two:
People making up a philosophy or religion will put things in their system that are of benefit to themselves and their followers. What is the benefit and advantage to be gained from these laws?
What could be the advantage of limiting your food supply?
Why would a tribe in the desert with camels say we can’t drink camel milk?
Why would they forbid themselves from eating pigs like all the neighboring nations?
Added to this is the prohibition of doing business with non-kosher food.
Why limit your trade opportunities? You’re living by the Mediterranean - everyone around you is surviving on and trading in sea-food, but you aren’t allowed to eat or do business with it. Why not?! That’s a terrible plan.
These laws make life much harder. They are detrimental to society, food supply, trade and economy.
The whole idea of Kashrut is irrational and goes against basic human psychology to have as one of the major tenets of your religion. No other religion has dietary laws like this.
(Islam came later and was founded on many Jewish principles).
Part Two - Things no human could have known
Let’s take a look at the criteria for being kosher.
In Leviticus 11:3 it says
“Everything among the animals which has a split hoof which is completely split, and chews the cud
- that may you eat.”
It is very clear. In order for an animal to be kosher, it must have two signs
1. Completely split hooves
2. Chew the cud - ie they are ruminants.
A ruminant is defined by its digestive system. It has three telling factors
a) lateral chewing - the jaw moves from side to side
b) several stomachs
c) it regurgitates and rechews its food.
We see this to be the case in all the kosher animals we are familiar with - cows, sheep, deer, goats (even giraffes!). They all ruminate in exactly the same way.
For some reason, these are the two signs that the author of the Torah chose to qualify an animal as Kosher.
With this one verse I know about every animal in the world. If it has these two signs, it’s kosher; if not, it isn’t.
However, the next verse in the Torah, Leviticus 11:4, goes on to tell us
“But this you shall not eat from those which chew their cud or have split hooves -
the gamal, for it chews its cud but its hoof is not split - it is unclean for you,
the shafan for it chews its cud, but its hoof is not split - it is unclean for you,
the arnevet for it chews its cud, but its hoof is not split - it is unclean for you
and the chazir for its hoof is completely split, but it does not chew the cud - it is unclean for you.”
Firstly: Why do I need this verse? I know that animals with one sign are not kosher.
The Torah just said that. There was no need to tell me this.
That aside, the truly wondrous thing is the claim itself: that there are only four animals in the world that have one sign and not the other!
If a human wrote the Torah, they would never make this claim seeing as it’s something they couldn’t possibly know, serves no purpose and worst of all, makes their book easily falsifiable.
The Talmud (Chullin 59a) tells us that ‘Only the creator of the world could have known this!’
Let’s just take the Chazir, the pig family (Suina). The Torah claims this is the only animal on the face of the planet that has fully split hooves but doesn’t chew the cud.
How could anyone living in the desert 3000 years know that? They knew every animal in Asia, America, Australia? More importantly, seeing as they couldn’t know that, why would they make that claim? It makes the book easily falsifiable! Just find one more animal anywhere on earth for the next 3000 years that has split hooves but doesn’t chew the cud, and you will have proven the book false! A crazy, crazy risk with absolutely no benefit.
Incredibly, no second animal with these criteria has been found.
The Torah also claims that there are only three animals with hooves that are not cloven but do chew the cud -
the Gamal, the Shafan and the Arnevet.
The Gamal is the camel, which ruminates exactly like a cow or goat, but has hooves that are not fully split.
The same is the case for the shafan and arnevet although it’s not clear exactly what these animals are.
Some sources have identified them as the hare and the hyrax (the modern Hebrew for rabbit is arnevet).
However, this obviously isn’t the case, seeing as neither the hare nor the hyrax have hooves at all and neither
of them chew the cud. (Rabbits eat their own feces; this is called Coprophagy).
It is possible these two animals are different types of camel or maybe they are extinct.
Either way, how could a human writing 3000 years ago make the claim that these are the only animals in existence which have uncloven hooves and chew the cud?
Until now, no extra animal has been found.
The Kashrut of Sea Creatures
The Torah goes on to tell us in Leviticus 11: 9 - 10 that:
“Among all [creatures] that are in the water, you may eat these: Any [of the creatures] in the water that has fins and scales, those you may eat, whether [it lives] in the waters, in the seas, or in the rivers.
But any [creature] that does not have fins and scales, whether in the seas or in the rivers, among all the creeping creatures in the water and among all living creatures that [live] in the water, are an abomination for you.”
For an animal which lives under the water it needs two signs to be kosher - fins and scales.
Tuna and salmon have fins and scales.
Sharks and dolphins have fins but no scales.
Lobsters and shrimps have neither.
What about a creature with scales but no fins?
The Mishna (Niddah 51b) teaches that
“Everything that has scales has fins, but there are some things that have fins but no scales.”
The Mishna is making the claim that nothing exists which has scales but not fins.
How could humans have known that 2000 years ago? Why would they make that claim?
They don’t gain anything and it makes the book easily falsifiable.
You just need to find one creature under the sea or in a river or lake which has scales but no fins and the book is proven false. None has ever been found.
We see from these examples that there are things written in the Torah
that no human would have written or could have known.