Someone knew something
arthra said:
Susma Rio Sep wrote:
"What about this injunction from Exodus 23, 19:
Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk."
Is that an instance of kindness to animals?
Know of any explanation against the practice."
Reply:
I'm not an expert on Torah, but apparently there was a Canaanite practise of seething a kid in it's mother's milk, and this practise was therefore forbidden. So to the extent it is a prohibition, I suppose you could argue it is a "kindness". You will find the same injunction against the practise in Exodus 34:26 and in Deuteronomy 14:21, so it must have been a widespread practise in Canaan that was forbidden in the Torah.
Susma wrote:
"In this connection but not in a religious context, I have never come across any recipe where fish and meat from pork or beef or chicken are cooked together.
Do you know of any explanation for this non-usage?"
My reply:
I'm unsure here to what you are referring as these laws in Torah always by definition have a "religious context".... certain fish, pork were forbidden. There is a site that details what was forbidden in the Torah:
http://www.torah.org/learning/halacha-overview/chapter28.html
I think there were reasons for these prohibitions at the time they were made. Certain meats were disease carriers and methods of sanitization were unknown for centuries so various requirements made sense.
As to "kindness to animals" in the context of these regulations to appreciate them you must also be aware of the context they were given and what kinds of practices were common in thse days, such as the Canaanite practse I mentioned above.
- Art
Milk, anykind of milk should never be boiled (seethed) to begin with. It can be warmed, but boiling releases lactic acids and other toxins that can kill a man outright, let alone cause kidney and renal failure, overtax the liver, and a slew of other biological problems.
Pork of the past carried a varied number of diseases, including Triginosis. (spelling is wrong) Nasty stuff. People tended not to cook the meat of the pig enough.
Seafood. Any fish (true fish) with a vertebrate, that was not a "bottom dweller", was fair for food. Crusteaceans (sea life with exoskeletons), were considered bottom dwellers and scavangers, therefore not safe to eat.
There was also something about cloven hooved animals, carrying more parasites, because they were usually not domestic animals.
Avians. Birds that scavenged carcasses were considered parasite carriers (still are).
I agree that feeding cows processed beef products is stupidity and greed at its finest. We just turned our food animal into a carcass scavenger.
According to Genesis, it is implied that man did not eat meat before the "flood". This makes sense, considering that though we have a combination of teeth in our mouths comparable to an herbavor, and a carnivore, our digestive tract is better suited to that of an herbavor. We do however, need a little bit of flesh, for certain fatty acids, enzymes and proteins, that no plant can provide.
This could explain why the majority of our teeth are designed for chrushing seeds and vegetable fiber, and are quite dominant in their design. Our bicuspids, canines and incisors however, are a bit recessed in their development. They are also in the minority, concerning ratio of types of teeth we possess.
As far as kindness to animals, Scripture states that man was given dominion over the Earth and all animal and plant life. Thus animal Husbandry was invented. Basically, not only are we all our brothers' keepers, we are also the keeper of this biosphere that keeps us alive.
In Michigan a few years back, the deer population grew so large (due in great deal to successful animal rights lobyists, curtailing hunting), that deer populations by the tens of thousands starved to death, and destroyed thousand of acres of winter corn before dying. (deer cannot digest corn, but that was what available, so they were found dead of malnutrition, yet had full stomaches of corn). Was that kindness, to let the herds proliferate to such a large population? No. It was good intentions gone terribly wrong, resulting in damaged crops and dead carcasses everywhere.
This had never happened before in Michigan's history, though the state is well known for being a hunter's paradise. It seems that hunters make the best animal husbandry advocates, and not the animal rights activists. There is strong historical support to back this up, and the State rescinded much of the hunting ban. Hunters have a vested interest in coming back each season and having healthy prey to catch. and in plentiful numbers. Activists have a let it be attitude, which does not work with society encroaching upon wild lands.
It isn't that the hunters are destroying the wildlife, or that the activists are negligent in maintaining a ecological balance. The point is extremism in either direction is cruel to animals.
We live here, we are dominant, I guess that makes us responsible for that which we dominate.
I am a hunter. The bow is my weapon of choice. I live in the woods, by a beautiful river that provides water to the city 15 miles up stream. I am an advocate against any company that attempts to pollute that river. I feed the local deer population throughout the year with wild herbs (like dill), and provide mineral blocks for nutrition. I also ensure their foot paths to the river are kept clear and clean.
I do not hunt the deer near my house, though I have no problem hunting them in the cornfields several miles from home. If I wound a deer, I will track it until I find it (took me two days once). I take the entrails and spread them for other wild life. I grind the antlers and spread that for calcium for other wild life (rodents, polecats, etc.). I ship the hide to my brother who's wife turns it into winter clothing. The bones are ground and put in my garden. Nothing goes to waste.
There is honor between the hunter and hunted. There is a respect. sometimes I lose and the deer wins, sometimes it is the other way.
I think this is kindness.
I'd go nuts if I didn't have meat in my diet, or fish, or poultry, or pork, or wild game. Some folk want trophies, I want to fill my freezer with healthy nutrition. I give back to nature in the way of managing my land and providing food and safety for the wildlife throughout the year. It is a good relationship.
That to me is being kind. Most "hunters" think along the same lines. Some are idiots (but then you can find that kind in all the world's governments as well).
I had to deal with animal rights activist group (about 6 people) who attempted to rig vietnam style booby traps around our hunting area once. They forgot one small detail. There are children living in these woods as well. That is not kind, that is insane. Not all are that way, not even a good number. But they have idiots in their ranks as well.
Human nature. My dad gave me the best advice I've heard to date. KISS (keep it simple, stupid). I like that philosophy.
I'll stop here before I exceed the bandwidth.
