Judaism and agrarianism

Elderly Jews and those on a low income are already struggling in large numbers, because a kosher diet that includes traditional meats is generally much more costly than a typical American diet

I just finished reading the Torah, in English and Hebrew (mostly English, but occasionally checking the Hebrew), and it seems to me that just about all the commandments that are connected to the covenant that YHWH makes with the Israelites at Sinai, and again later as part of Moses's last address to them, are connected to dwelling in the land - not just the priestly/Temple commandments (impossible even for Israeli Jews to keep in the absence of the Tabernacle/Temple), but the other ones as well. I.e., failure to keep the commandments and the covenant results in God driving the Israelites out of the land (as well as sending upon them all the plagues and diseases of Egypt and doing a whole bunch of other things that would make being Jewish a lifelong Nightmare on Elm Street, with YHWH playing Freddie Krueger). Call me a Jewish apostate (which I am), but it seems to me that Jews who don't live in Israel have no Torah requirement to keep the food laws.

Hello?

I know this goes against hundreds and perhaps thousands of years of rabbinical teaching, but the context of the text seems to say this.

Shalom, y'all!

too bad she's blind to the starvation of Palestinians in Gaza

Did you bother to read Sharon Astyk's post or are you just being obtuse? She says:

"The deep irony and grief that some Jews are so willing to displace Palestinians by force and justify it with their history seems to me one of the saddest and most troubling results of our disrupted agrarian ties"

If I were Jewish and starving and a nice big ham was all I could get. I would eat the ham. Same goes if I was Muslim. Just don't get why people are still living by rules set down thousands of years ago regarding food.

What if pork were the only food available in that area. Would God still have forbidden it?

Besides Jesus said it was OK. Kosher's not necessary anymore. Paul reinforced that.

Erasmus:

http://www.worldwidewamm.org/takeaction/callins/111408pal.html

displacement is one issue ... deliberate starvation of Palestinians after
displacement is a totally different one. And how come Americans aren't being informed? Why is WAMM the only organization concerned about this?

Does the Israeli government who is behind this deserve the support of American Christians? (they don't even have support of the majority of Israelis, I believe their Olmert (and his ruling party) had about 18% domestic approval ratings, and he's been indicted)...

Until Christians are willing to examine the problem objectively, they are hindering any prospect of peace, denying the values their faith espouses, and risking our domestic security.

While Jews are a comparatively affluent ethnic group, that doesn't mean that there is no Jewish hunger, or that all Jews are rich - that's a stereotype. Many older Jews, for example, were immigrants or Holocaust survivors. Many were disabled in the Holocaust, or arrived with limited educations. My husband's grandparents consisted of a woman with a 7th grade education (holocaust survivor) and a partly disabled war survivor - they sold Fuller Brush products door to door, and eventually my husband's grandmother went to school at night and became an LPN to support her disabled husband. Her peers often had similar stories - and none of them are affluent in their old age. Some have children who can support them, but if they don't, they are often extremely poor, as are many Soviet Jewish immigrants.

In past recessions, observant Jews have often been laid off ahead of their secular or Christian counterparts because they cannot work on the Sabbath, and this is expected to be the case in the coming recession. Observant Jews in general make less money than secular Jews, and endure higher costs of living. In general, secular Jews are considerably richer than observant ones, although obviously there are exceptions.

http://www.metcouncil.org/site/PageServer?pagename=About_Jewish_Poverty_FAQs

The above explores Jewish poverty in New York City and finds that while Jewish poverty is well below Black and Hispanic poverty, that Jews have about the same rate of poverty as non-hispanic whites overall in NYC.

a kosher diet that includes traditional meats is generally much more costly than a typical American diet

Free-range chickens, hormone-free beef, cage-free eggs, and organic produce are also more expensive than the "typical American diet". Many people think they are healthier too, so they make the choice, and if it pinches, they give up something else. Entertainment, sometimes.

Sorry - Biblical Archaeology REVIEW.

Old Moish'ugah had a farm
Oy vay, oy vah, oy
With a *cchhh-cchhh* here
And a *cchhh-cchhh* there...

This comment brought to you by the makers of Eaters’ Digest Condensed Soup; and by Pullet Surprise chicken-flavor cubes: the Gold Standard in bouillon; and by Fill-Up Broth, a Kosher favorite so rich - he’s a doctor, you know - you’ll be loosening your Borscht belt in a Newark minute: you should *be* so full...

The Full Modo: What do you need, my son, and to what extent?
Quasimodo: Sanctuary - much!
TFM: Why, you're welcome my son - take your time...

"a kosher diet that includes traditional meats is generally much more costly than a typical American diet"

"Free-range chickens, hormone-free beef, cage-free eggs, and organic produce are also more expensive than the "typical American diet". Many people think they are healthier too, so they make the choice, and if it pinches, they give up something else. Entertainment, sometimes."

OR
Learn to eat less meat. My mother used to cook for 5 hearty appetites on far less than 1 pound per night by going heavy on the rice, potatoes, pasta, stretching meatloaf and hamburger with old bread soaked in milk and so on. Of course it is better to use the whole grains but meat does not have to be, nor should it be, the bulk of the meal. A few ounces per person is enough. Beans are a great source of protein and incredibly cheap and low in fat too, can often be used in a dish with meat to stretch it further.