From Bubbe's kitchen to survival: The power of Jewish law and tradition

The Torah is direct: eat this, not that; separate milk and meat, based on the verse “Do not cook a kid in its mother’s milk” (Exodus 23:19; 34:26; Deuteronomy 14:21); and remove leaven from the home before Passover. Leviticus and Deuteronomy do not say “to prevent parasites” or “to avoid food poisoning.” Rabbis treated these as chukim — decrees beyond human reasoning. To follow them was to show trust in God’s wisdom. Over the centuries, rabbis of old cautioned against searching for purely practical motives in these laws. They feared that if people thought the laws were only about health or con...