Last Sunday there was the gospel of the ‘prodigal son’? He’s going to herd pigs. But Jews don’t eat pigs anyway, and you shouldn’t do it for the milk or the hair either: Much shouting and little wool, see the farmer and he shaved his pig. Did the Jews eat pork?
Answer
The parable (Lk 15:11-32) speaks of a ‘distant land’ in which the youngest son had to tend pigs. The traditional explanation is that it was a non-Jewish pig breeder who hired him. The story seems to express humiliation: the Jew has to do a work particularly unclean for his faith, and even desired to eat the pig feed – a way of showing the audience how low he had sunk.
The prohibition against eating the flesh of animals that are cloven-hoofed, but not ruminants (pigs and camels), is found in two passages from the Old Testament (Lev. 11:2-4, 7-8 and Deut. 14:8). Marvin Harris, an anthropologist, searched for possible explanations in the 1980s:
- These animal species are food competitors for humans, especially in an arid climate; ruminants, on the other hand, eat less useful desert crops.
- These animal species need a lot of water, pigs also need a lot of shade.
- Camels were too precious as beasts of burden to raise them for meat; pigs were only useful for their meat and very limited derivatives (leather, glue, soft bristles).
- Still, they were grown in the area, as a ban would otherwise be pointless – then as now, not all residents adhered to strict kosher dietary rules.
Answered by
dr. Karl Catteeuw
History of Upbringing and Education, Romanian, Music
Old Market 13 3000 Leuven
https://www.kuleuven.be/
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