RE: wake for Jerry Williams

[Donna Halper <dlh@donnahalper.com>]

>Joe wrote--
>Not eating pork has nothing to do with trichinosis.  The Torah doesn't
>give reasons. It just says that you are permitted to eat those land
>animals that chew a cud and have a cloven hoof.  A pig has a cloven hoof
>but does not chew a cud and is therefore not kosher.

Archaeologists and historians who study religion have theorised that the 
pig, which was worshipped as a deity, would have been forbidden because the 
Hebrews were ethical monotheists.  Also, the pig eats its own excrement, 
and I don't know about you-- but I've never found that terribly 
appealing... All kosher animals are vegetarians, by the way...I'm sure that 
means something.