Our 613 Laws Over 3,300 Years Old Still Followed

 Nadene Goldfoot                                             

Talk about the problems of following the first 10 laws that Moses handed down to his population  of the Exodus!  The first 10 Jewish laws, known as the Ten Commandments (Aseret HaDibrot) or Ten Statements, are found in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5. They are foundational to Jewish law, focusing on1) believing in God, 2) no other gods/idols, 3) not using God's name in vain, 4) keeping the Sabbath, 5) honoring parents, 6) not murdering, 7) not committing adultery, 8) not stealing, 9) not bearing false witness, and 10) not coveting.

There were actually 613 of them!!  They are the base for Judaism.  They are also the base of many a debate !  What does each cover?  

        The 613 laws (mitzvot)  (תרי״ג מצוות)

in Judaism are traditionally believed to have been given by God to Moses (1391-1271 BCE )at Mount Sinai, who handed it down to his charges;  603,550 people they had saved from slavery in Egypt as recorded in the Torah. It took them 40 years to go from the short distance of Egypt to Canaan.  

 However, the specific enumeration of 613 laws was first mentioned by the 3rd-century CE Talmudic sage Rabbi Simlai. The most famous and widely accepted, though not exclusive, listing was compiled by the medieval philosopher Maimonides (Rambam) (1135-1204 CE) in his Sefer Hamitzvot. 

The term, mitzvot, means a good deed.  It is a plural term from mitzvah.The more mitzvot you do a day means you did a lot of good deeds.  Suchan act of visiting your mother in the hospital is a good deed or mitzvah.

There are  (365 negative, 248 positive) laws.  I notice that some of them are obvious ones, things we do every day;  just didn't know they were such good deeds.  

Moses shared these with his 603,550 people about 3,367 years ago.  We are stumbling over a few of the first ten listed in Exodus and Deuteronomy.  These cover some of the other books. Check out Leviticus.  

Love & Brotherhood/Sisterhood

• To love all human beings who are of the covenant (Leviticus 19:18)

• Not to stand by idly when a human life is in danger (Leviticus 19:16)

• Not to wrong anyone in speech (Leviticus 25:17)

• Not to carry tales (Leviticus 19:16)

• Not to cherish hatred in one's heart (Leviticus 19:17)

• Not to take revenge (Leviticus 19:18)

• Not to bear a grudge (Leviticus 19:18)

• Not to put any person to shame (Leviticus 19:17)

• Not to curse any other Israelite (Leviticus 19:14)

• Not to give occasion to the simple-minded to stumble on the road (Leviticus 19:14)

• To rebuke the sinner (Leviticus 19:17)

• To relieve a neighbor of his burden and help to unload his beast (Exodus 23:5)

• To assist in replacing the load upon a neighbor's beast (Deuteronomy 22:4)

• Not to leave a beast, that has fallen down beneath its burden, unaided (Deuteronomy 22:4)

I'm always dieting, watching the Jewish laws of what to eat; a dairy or a  meat meal and not to mix them; calories, so this impresses me.

                                                    

Dietary Laws

• To examine the marks in cattle (so as to distinguish the clean from the unclean) (Leviticus 11:2)

• Not to eat the flesh of unclean beasts (Leviticus 11:4)

• To examine the marks in fishes (so as to distinguish the clean from the unclean) (Leviticus 11:9)

• Not to eat unclean fish (Leviticus 11:11)

• To examine the marks in fowl, so as to distinguish the clean from the unclean (Deuteronomy 14:11)

• Not to eat unclean fowl (Leviticus 11:13)

• To examine the marks in locusts, so as to distinguish the clean from the unclean (Leviticus 11:21)

• Not to eat a worm found in fruit (Leviticus 11:41)

• Not to eat of things that creep upon the earth (Leviticus 11:41-42)

• Not to eat any vermin of the earth (Leviticus 11:44)

• Not to eat things that swarm in the water (Leviticus 11:43 and 46)

• Not to eat of winged insects (Deuteronomy 14:19)

• Not to eat the flesh of a beast that is treifah (literally torn) (Exodus 22:30)

• Not to eat the flesh of a beast that died of itself (Deuteronomy 14:21)

• To slay cattle, deer and fowl according to the laws of shechitah if their flesh is to be eaten (Deuteronomy 12:21)

• Not to eat a limb removed from a living beast (Deuteronomy 12:23)

• Not to slaughter an animal and its young on the same day (Leviticus 22:28)

• Not to take the mother-bird with the young (Deuteronomy 22:6)

• To set the mother-bird free when taking the nest (Deuteronomy 22:6-7)

• Not to eat the flesh of an ox that was condemned to be stoned (Exodus 21:28)

• Not to boil meat with milk (Exodus 23:19)

• Not to eat flesh with milk (Exodus 34:26)

• Not to eat the sinew of the thigh-vein which shrank (Leviticus 32:33)

• Not to eat chelev (tallow-fat) (Leviticus 7:23)

• Not to eat blood (Leviticus 7:26)

• To cover the blood of undomesticated animals (deer, etc.) and of fowl that have been killed (Leviticus 17:13)

• Not to eat or drink like a glutton or a drunkard (not to rebel against father or mother) (Leviticus 19:26; Deuteronomy 21:20)

If people were this aware of others and animals and their surroundings, what in the world happened to them?  Yes, we got smarter but in technical ways, not in living ways.  We still need these reminders of importance and how children grow up as copy-cats in order to live well on this planet earth.  Who knows what our descendants will find themselves in...these rules might come in handy...

https://www.mussar.center/lists/mitzvot?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22926377990&gbraid=0AAAAAphY1TADfls9A-2M-970E8HCFdMOe&gclid=CjwKCAiAzOXMBhASEiwAe14SaSjRHuNG19WrgMWsAYqghGO--XNBkbZLICdFknQDbRiBjvHBOAiY

https://jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-ten-commandments

Living Till 120 In This Day And Age

 Nadene Goldfoot                                             

Moses lived till 120.  Our wish for everyone on their birthday is that they might live till 120.  

Two Jewish grandmothers of the same male child, David,  lived  till  104 years old.  They had different style, diets and hobbies.  They were not alone in breaking the age 100 goal.  One may have been a Conservative Jew and the other Orthodox.  Another lady is known to have lived till 118.  

Ruth Whitman nee Cimmet (11/29/1912--8/13/2017) living for (104 years, 8 months, 15 days) was married for 61 years and had 3 children, 8 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.  She graduated from Hazleton, Pa. High School.  Tiny in stature – never quite reaching 5-feet in height – her interests and talents were immense. In Scranton she was active in numerous community organizations, including Hadassah, Temple Israel, the Bellevue Community Center and the Jewish Community Center, where she was recognized for her achievements with the “Woman of the Year” award. She continued with similar involvements in Miami. She was an avid lifelong reader and learner, and loved to cook and bake, sew, garden and entertain. Her home was always the gathering place for her beloved extended family. By instinct, she was a feminist well before the women’s lib movement, and up until her very last days she was passionately interested in what was happening in politics and world affairs. In her mid-80s, after the death of her husband, Israel,  she met Herman Weingarten in Miami and together they enjoyed a late-life loving relationship.

She was known for her vitality and energy, bright smile, dressed impressively, and had many hobbies such as baking, sewing, gardening, volunteering.  She attended aerobics classes, slept her 8 hrs, enjoyed her carrot juice.

                                                     

Charlotte Hochman (12/20/1900_--8/14/2005)  was 12 years older than Ruth.  She lived till 104 years, 7 months and 25 days.  Cherie was married 51 years.  She had 2 children, 3 grandchildren, 8 great-grandchildren and 2 great-great-grandchildren.  She was born in Russia.  Her husband, Abraham,  had died in 1981, so she was a widow for 24 years.  Her father was a Naiditch and mother a Heiger. 

Cherie may have lost family in the Holocaust.  She probably took it hard.   She was known for her weary expression looking like she'd rather be somewhere else, religious but fearful, had a background full of profound loss, seemed to carry the weight of the world like armor, rarely left her dim apartment.  Charlotte made her own chopped liver which was loaded with chicken fat, snacked on Hershey bars and spent afternoons on her sagging couch watching AS THE WORLD TURNS.  

Neither woman developed dementia, cancer, heart disease or diabetes.  In both cases, the cause of death was listed age "age."

What science has found is that hardship creating resilience, love, strength of faith and conscientiousness are the tickets to long life.  David sees his 2 grandmothers in a different light now, he sees two sides of a complex truth, one that challenges conventional wisdom, and what it takes to not just live long but to live well.  

They also discovered that people over 60 should walk from 6,000 and 8,000 steps daily; that is if you can still walk.  I say, if you are walking with a walker and have heart problems, do as much as you can and yet revive comfortably.  Too much trying and your body will rebel and seem to never recover.  Push it just a wee bit and it will get muscles in the right places.  Try pushing someone in a wheelchair;  I did and it was great fun!  

Resource:

AARP June/July magazine p.50....

Obituaries for both

etimes-tribune.com/obituaries/ruth-cimmet-whitman-syracuse-pa/

https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-times-tribune-obituary-for-charlotte/72554220/

Moses Put Jews on a Diet

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                  

The 5 Books of Moses are the first books in the "Old Testament" or as we call it in Hebrew, the Tanakh.  They are Genesis, Exodus,  Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.  In Leviticus, Chapter 11 and in Deuteronomy, Chapter 14:2-21 are the list of animals that Moses told us we could eat and not eat.  From not getting all we'd like in the 400 years spent in slavery in Egypt, immediately after giving us the 10 Commandments, we were put on this diet.  Our dietary laws are called "Kashrut."  It means the fit and proper foods and being in accordance with our religious law.
                                                                             

Kosher Foods Meats: Only animals that have: the following 2 qualifications, and they must do both. 1. cloven /split hoofs--divided into 2 parts (the foot of the cow or sheep) 2. chew their cud. -this is food brought back up into their mouth from their 1st stomach to be chewed again. We also eat just certain sections of the animal. Those parts with any blood or large veins are not acceptable, like the parts for rib or T Bone steaks unless the large vein is removed. .

No: camel, horse, pig, rabbit or rock badger. Yes: Ox, sheep, cattle (cows), goats, deer.

Fish: Must have: 1. fins 2. scales No: lobsters, oysters, shrimp, clams, crabs (shellfish) Swordfish, sturgeon

Birds: Yes: chicken, turkey, geese, ducks, doves No: birds of prey like the : Eagles, Vultures, ravens, hawks, owls, ostriches, pelicans, storks, herons, etc.

No: Amphibian creatures and insects- no snakes, rats, mice, lizards, eels, snails, ants,

Milk: Only from kosher animals. Goat milk, cows are the usual.

No: eggs from a non Kosher animal

No: milk from a non kosher animal-like camel milk No: oil from a non kosher fish

Yes: honey

Any food known to be harmful to health must not be eaten even if permitted under the kosher law. So if you are allergic to a food, you are not to eat it even if it comes from a kosher animal.

No: an animal that died a natural death No: blood-even if it comes from a kosher animal, except fish blood. Yes: an animal that was slaughtered according to the law-cut the throat to cause instant death.

The directions for the killing of a kosher animal were given to us through the Oral Torah. This does not include fish. Fish of the sea is to be gathered and this is found in Numbers 11:22.  

Meat and fowl are animals kept in flocks and herds, not running around wild. They are to be slaughtered in the most humane way. It's designed to cause the least pain to the animal and to remove as much blood as possible because we are not to eat any blood. To make doubly sure we're not eating blood, meat has to be koshered first by soaking it in water and by salting.

The man whose job it is to do this is called the Shohet, and he knows how to cause unconsciousness immediately, within 2 seconds. This also ensures a complete and rapid draining of the blood from the animal. Part of his requirements is that he must be a pious person who has passed the test about all this which is found in a book called the Shulhan Arukh that has all the rules and regulations in it. He is knowledgeable like a veterinarian about the body of the animal so he can make sure that the animal was healthy. Then he receives a certificate by rabbinic authorities to work as a Shohet. So this goes back to our traditions as told in Deuteronomy 12:21 with details in the Talmud and codified in the Shulhan Arukh.

In 3 separate sections; Exodus 23:19, 34:26; and Deuteronomy 14:21, and the Oral Torah, we are told:

You shall not boil a kid in its mother's milk." A kid is a young goat. It also means the young of the kosher animals that are fit to eat. This is referring to the recipe. It means you do not cook meat and milk together nor do you eat them together. No cheeseburgers. Not one drop of the fat from the meat is to be mixed into any milk dish, either. To make sure we follow this rule, it includes fowl, like chicken, as well. No chicken and milk dishes, and I can think of plenty in our American diets.

Have you ever put some bit of meat and milk on a petri dish and watch the results? That similar event can happen in our stomachs, so we don't let the 2 get together there, either, even if they're not cooked together. So we let a time period go by after eating meat before we eat a dairy product. An acceptable practice is to wait from 3 hours to a 6 hour waiting period. This allows time for the deterioration of the fatty residue which clings to the palate and does not easily rinse out, and the meat particles lodged in the crevices of the teeth must be gone. Considering this, it's a good thing to brush one's teeth after eating, and even better if you have an electric toothbrush.

My Challah, special hand-made bread without milk for a Friday night chicken dinner

But, if you eat a dairy product such as ice cream, you can rinse out your mouth with water, eat a bit of bread such as pita or a bagel and then have your meat meal. This is because dairy products don't have all the fat that meat has nor does it get in between your teeth. If someone is ill, or for small children, the waiting period should be shortened to 1 hour.

Some foods are do not contain meat nor dairy, and they are called parev. This would include vegetables and fruits. We watch how bread is made. If there's some milk in it, it is to be eaten only with a milk meal, or noshed on alone. So we wouldn't serve ice cream for dessert after a steak dinner.

The reasoning for not mixing meat and milk is that we are teaching our people to be sensitive to animals and people's feelings. Cooking goat meat in its mother's milk is just not right. It is an affront to the mother goat. Here she gave us her milk in the milking process and what did we do with it? Kill her baby goat and then cook it in her milk! The picture that looms in my mind is one of shock and sadness. Animals have feelings internally as well as externally, just like we do.

The whole process of keeping kosher and eating this way is to remind us of who we are and what our duties are and how we are not to melt into society and forget. It only takes a generation to do that. We've been maintaining this ritual for over 3,000 years, ever since Moses.

People that would were trying to cause us problems would try to force us to eat meat of a pig as a way make us deny our faith. Many people became unhappy martyrs who suffered death in resistance. It was something the Nazis tried to do to my uncle in Germany in 1939.

These are not laws for health. This is in order to teach our values and moral-ethical sensitivity. Quite often Jews have become vegetarians or even vegans in the process. This diet is to influence the character of a people. I think it's done a pretty good job.

Resource: To Be a Jew, a guide to Jewish Observance in contemporary Life from the chapter, The Dietary Laws: A Diet for the Soul. by Rabbi Hayim Halevy Donin