Kashrut, by Ya'acov Wolfaardt
In years, months and weeks
gone by I have noticed a complete lack of Kashrut
observance among the Messianic believers. This I observed among both American
and other believers we came across.
What does Kashrut observance entail? It means the
observance of kosher according to the Torah. The Torah is complete in the
observance or adhering to kosher, but it is also useful to read in the Prophets
(Nevi'im) and Writings (Kethuvim)
on this most important subject.
We profess to be Israel, and is correct in doing so,
for YHWH only have one people, and that is Israel. He does not have two peoples
or two sets of commandments or two sets of laws for the Jews and the gentiles.
Israel is His people, and what is expected of the Jew is also expected of the
gentile. The gentile cannot be saved other than becoming part of Israel. This
however is a teaching to be studied in depth on its own. You are encouraged to
read other materials available from us on this subject, "Who is Yisra'el?". If we therefore
profess to be part of Israel, we should also behave as Israelites to observe
the Torah.
The Torah is the foundation of teaching, and in essence means
"teaching". Our walk before YHWH should be in strict adherence to the
Torah. We cannot pick and choose from the Torah what we wish to and what we
wish not to observe or keep. One of the teachings of the Torah is the
observance of Kashrut.
Most Messianic believers have come to the point of not eating pork (swine,
hog). This is good. Why don't we eat pork? Because the Torah says we should not
eat pork (Way. / Lev. 11:7; Devarim / Deut. 14:8). We
also read in Yesh. / Isa. 66:16-17 that judgement will come upon those who eat
pigs. Those who eat pigs flesh will be destroyed by fire!
Kosher foods consist of much more that not eating pigs however. If you have not
read it before, seriously study Wayyiqra / Leviticus
11 and Devarim / Deuteronomy 14. In these two
chapters YHWH tells us in detail which of the animals of the land, sky and sea
we are allowed to eat, and which not. Even of which insects we may and may not
eat. YHWH had very good reason for this. The unclean animals are normally of a
type that carry disease and are used by the Almighty as scavengers, cleaners or
"dustbins" to prevent disease from spreading. However, if we eat of
these unclean animals, we will become like them - unclean and not acceptable to
YHWH. The purpose of YHWH giving us the Torah on clean and unclean animals is
to set us apart, as He is set-apart. He did not eat any unclean animal, and if
we wish to become like Him; set-apart, we should also do likewise.
For the purpose of this study I will assume that you all have come to the point
of accepting that the entire Scripture (Bereshith / Genesis to Revelation)
"
..is inspired by YHWH and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for
correction, for training in righteousness." 2 Tim. 3:16. Once we have come
to this point of understanding, we should not have any problem in adhering to
the entire Word of YHWH.
If you are observant not to eat any unclean animal, you are doing well; you are
obeying the Torah of YHWH, and doing as the prophets and apostles did.
There is however more to Kashrut than not eating
unclean animals. According to the same Torah that forbids us to eat unclean
animals, we are also not allowed to eat animals not slaughtered according to
the instructions that YHWH gave us in the Torah. We cannot simply walk into the
butchery and buy any beef, sheep or lamb. That beef, sheep or lamb, although
being of clean animals, are not kosher for a Messianic believer unless
slaughtered according to the Torah.
What does the Torah teach on this? When Israel, our fathers who came out of
Mitsrayim, were in the wilderness, YHWH gave them specific instructions as to
how they were to slaughter animals for food. Read Wayyiqra
/ Leviticus 17 intensely. Why did YHWH tell them to bring whatever they
slaughtered to the Dwelling Place? It was to teach them how to slaughter it -
unto YHWH. Unto no one else is Israel allowed to slaughter an animal. If they
did not bring the animals to the Dwelling Place, they had bloodguilt on their
hands. What does bloodguilt mean? It means the same as killing an innocent
animal without reason. Killing any animal not unto YHWH is an abomination! It
is equal to murder. While in the wilderness, if any person killed an animal
other than at the Dwelling Place, he was cut off from Israel (v. 4). They were
to bring their slaughtering to YHWH, and YHWH was only at one place - the
Dwelling Place (Temple).
Why did He institute this practice? We read in verse 7, "And let them no
longer slaughter their slaughterings to demons, after
whom they whored. THIS IS A LAW FOREVER FOR THEM THROUGHOUT THEIR
GENERATIONS." So, even today, we are not allowed to slaughter an animal to
a demon. We will come back to this later. YHWH wanted to teach Israel that when
they slaughtered an animal, it must always be unto Him. Read verses 8 and 9
again.
(Please do yourself a favour - read the Scriptures
that I refer to in this teaching. Without them you will not be able to grasp
the fullness of this very important message.)
When Israel came to the Land, YHWH already taught them for 40 years that when
they slaughtered an animal, they had to do it unto Him, and the place of doing
it, was at the Dwelling Place (the Tabernacle). That is the place where YHWH
stayed among them. When they entered the Land, the Land was much bigger than
their camp however. The land was divided into the portions of each tribe, and
each man had his own piece of land on which he lived. It is then that YHWH
brought them to additional teaching of how to slaughter animals for the purpose
of eating. The Dwelling Place was very far for them to travel to, and later the
Temple, which was in Yerushalayim, was very far for
them to travel to for the sake of slaughtering an animal to eat meat. So, what
YHWH did, was to tell them that if they desire to eat meat, they were allowed
to slaughter an animal where they lived, of both the gazelle and the deer. They
just had to make sure not to eat the blood (Dev. / Deut. 12:16). It had to be
poured out on the ground. We will discuss this later in more detail.
If they desired to eat meat, they could therefore slaughter an animal there
where they lived, as long as they did it according to the "method"
YHWH proclaimed to them before. Dev. / Deut. 12:21 reads, "When the place
where YHWH your Elohim chooses to put His Name is too far from you, then you
shall slaughter from your herd and from your flock which YHWH has given you, AS
I HAVE COMMANDED YOU, and you shall eat within your gates as much as your being
desires." How did YHWH command them to slaughter? "Any man of the
house of Yisra'el, or of the stranger who sojourn among you, who offers a burnt offering or
slaughtering, and does not bring it to the door of the tent of Meeting, TO DO IT
TO YHWH, that man shall be CUT OFF from among his people." Killing an animal for food MUST BE DONE UNTO YHWH. Why?
For a number of reasons we must make sure that the slaughtering of an animal is
unto YHWH.
The first is that we are not allowed to kill an animal for any other reason
than for meat to eat. It is an abomination in the eyes of YHWH to kill an
animal for our own pleasure.
We may not eat meat offered to idols / demons / nothing.
We are not allowed to eat its blood.
We are not allowed to eat the fat of any animal.
EATING MEAT OFFERED TO IDOLS / DEMONS
When the early gentile believers came to the faith,
the apostles had a dilemma with the customs of the gentiles. They Counciled and decided to put a few minimum requirements
before these gentiles who came to the faith. Three of these requirements had to
do with kosher eating. To abstain from what is offered to idols; blood, and
what is strangled.
You may say to yourself that if you eat meat that comes from the butcher around
the corner, "
. That meat was not offered to an idol." Think again. Sha'ul also teaches and says, "Look at Yisra'el after the flesh: Are not those who eat of the
offerings sharers in the altar?" In other words, if you eat of the meat
that was slaughtered, you share in that which happened at the place of
slaughter the altar. "What then do I say? That an idol is of any value? Or
that which is offered to idols is of any value? No, BUT what the gentiles offer
(or slaughter) they offer (slaughter) to demons and not to Elohim, and I do not
wish you to become sharers with demons. You are not able to drink the cup of
the Master and the cup of demons, you are not able to
partake of the table of the Master and the table of the demons. Do not provoke
the Master to jealousy?" 1 Cor. 10:18-22.
Very clear, an idol is nothing, of any value. If an animal is therefore
slaughtered to something of no value, it is still slaughtered to a demon. Why?
Because all animals that are slaughtered for the sake of eating must be
slaughtered unto YHWH, otherwise, the one who slaughtered it has bloodguilt. He
is therefore guilty of murder. Remember verse 18, he that partakes of the meat
is also guilty of the altar the place and manner of slaughtering the animal. If
you eat of meat not slaughtered unto YHWH, you also partake of the offering to
an idol or demon even if you were not present.
The Torah forbids us to eat meat offered to idols or demons. Way. / Lev. 17:7.
The Torah forbids us to slaughter to any mighty one other than to Him. Shem. /
Exod. 22:20. Sha'ul says that an idol is nothing, and
does not exist. He says that we know that there is no other mighty one but
YHWH. He also teaches that if we have come to the knowledge of food offered to
idols, and yet eat of it, we will cause many weaker brethren to stumble. Rather
than letting brethren stumble, he would then abstain from eating meat. Read all
about it in 1 Cor. 8. What he teaches here is nothing other than what has
already been given in the Torah for our edification. The Torah is very clear on
this don't eat meat offered (slaughtered) to idols, even though we know that an
idol is nothing.
One of Moshe's confessions in his Song was that Israel slaughtered to demons,
and not to YHWH. Dev. 32:17.
NOT ALLOWED TO EAT BLOOD
Why are we not allowed to eat blood? Besides the very
clear instructions in the Torah not to eat blood, YHWH had very good reason for
it, besides the benefits of health. The blood belongs to YHWH. The life which
YHWH gave to an animal belongs to YHWH, and we are not allowed to take that
life. The life is in the blood. Eating the blood is robbing YHWH of the life He
gave. "Do not eat flesh with its life, its blood." Ber. /
Gen. 9:4. When we slaughter an animal. The blood flows
on the ground (altar), that blood makes atonement for us killing the animal.
This may sound strange to you, but that is how YHWH ordained the life (blood)
that is shed. If one man kills (murder) another, the only way to atone for the
innocent blood of the killed, is that the killer must also die. Even so with an
animal killed for food, the blood (life) of that animal must be made good
(atoned for) by flowing into the ground. If not, we rob YHWH of the life he
gave, and is guilty of the blood. Also read Dev. / Deut. 12:23-25; Way./ Lev. 7:26-27.
One of the requirements set to the gentiles in Acts 15 was that they were not
allowed to eat meat that was strangled. We also read this in 21:25. An animal
that is strangled retains its blood. The blood coagulates within its veins and
flesh. Such meat is not suitable for eating. Eating the meat with the blood is
a sin. 1 Shem. / Sam. 14:33. The process of killing
animals at the abattoirs of today is nothing other than strangling the animals.
The animals are either shot in the head or they are shocked to death. In both
cases the animal dies. After several minutes or even hours
the animals are skinned and the throats being slit. By that time the
blood coagulated in the meat and whoever then eats of that meat, eats it with
the blood, transgressing YHWH's Torah. The same applies to the killing of
chickens and turkeys. They are either shot in the pallet with a sharp needle to
paralyze them, or they are shocked to death. By the time the heads are chopped,
the blood of those birds coagulated within the meat, making it unfit to eat. It
is unkosher.
NOT ALLOWED TO EAT FAT
From a health point of view we all know by now that
fat is causing heart decease and failure. Eat enough fat and you will surely
end up with some kind of heart decease. This is not the only reason that YHWH
forbids us to eat fat. The fat of the offering were burnt unto YHWH as a sweet
fragrance (Way. / Lev. 17:6). YHWH forbids us to eat ANY fat. "An
everlasting law throughout your generations in all your dwellings: you do not
eat any fat or any blood. " Way. / Lev. 3:17.
Also read Way. / Lev. 7:23.24.
WHERE DOES THIS LEAVE THE MESSIANIC BELIEVER OF TODAY
When Daniel was in exile in Babylon, he saw the food of the king (Nebukadnetstsar) to be unfit for him to eat. The food that
the king ate was either unclean or slaughtered unto an idol or the blood was
not poured out. If Daniel ate of that meat or drank of the wine, he would have
defiled himself. He was a man walking perfect before YHWH. He chose not to
transgress the Torah and defile himself.
The prophet Yehezqel walked undefiled before YHWH.
What defiles as far as food is concerned? In chapter 4:14 he says, "
.I
have never defiled myself from my youth till now. I have never eaten what died
of itself or was torn by beasts, nor has unclean meat ever come into my mouth."
The apostle Kepha said the same. Acts
10:14.
If we profess to be YHWH's people, we should do YHWH's Word. The Word of YHWH
forbids us the following:
Eating unclean animals
Eating meat slaughtered to idols / demons / nothing
Eating animals that were strangled (shot dead / paralyzed / shocked to death)
Eating the meat with its blood or the blood
Eating the fat
What are the idols of today? The only religious people of today who slaughter
their meat in a religious fashion are the Jews and the Muslims. The Muslims
pray to Allah. Allah is not YHWH, Allah is an idol. For further proof on this,
read more about Islam, the Kabbah and Allah worship.
Christians don't offer their meat to anyone. They sin and transgress YHWH's
Torah, for all animals that are slaughtered, must be slaughtered unto YHWH.
Way. / Lev. 17:4, 9 ; Shem. / Exod. 20:24. That leaves
us with two options. The animals slaughtered by Jews, and animals slaughtered
by ourselves. The Jewish people (Yehudim) are YHWH's
people. They are one of the tribes of Yisra'el. They
slaughter their animals unto YHWH. The intention of their
hearts are to observe the Torah of Kashrut
according to all that we have studied. However, be aware that some of the
Jewish groups DO NOT observe the abstinence from fat. Make sure that you ask
the Shachet (butcher) to remove all fat from your
meat.
SET YOURSELVES APART
Can a Messianic believer keep on buying meat from any butcher? The answer is a
very clear NO. That meat is defiled - not slaughtered unto YHWH; the blood has
not been drained; the animal was strangled; the meat could be defiled by the
meat of an unclean animal by touching it.
Can a Messianic believer eat at McDonalds, Burger King, Taco Bell, Nando's or wherever? No, their food are the same or worse
than that of King Nebukadnetstsar. It is defiled by
either of the above, or all of them.
Are you a witness to the non-Messianic observant Jew who would not dare to eat unkosher food, or are you a stumbling block to him? Is your
light not suppose to shine bright before the world?
If you profess to be an Israelite, then do what is require of ALL Israel to
keep YHWH's Torah OF KASHRUT.
Stay away from the restaurants of the heathen. Stay away from their food. Be
set-apart as YHWH is set-apart.
I appeal to all Messianic believers to return to the observance of the Torah.
You will reap the blessing as promised in the Torah. If you don't do them, you
will also reap the curses promised in the Torah.
May the love for YHWH and His Torah grow in your hearts.
How can His Torah be written in our hearts if we exclude it from our minds?