First of all, thank you all for the links! Both fascinating. One learns
something new every day.

Second, I think my point was that we 'modern' people tend to superimpose
interpretations and evaluations on all sorts of things that the ancients
would not have.
I am not Jewish either, but did sit Seder with a close friend of ours
recently. A rabbi was in attendance and the question of food came up. He was
quite emphatic about the fact that there were very real reasons for many of
the dietary rules, as well as some ceremonial ones.

I did NOT ask him about eating bee larvae or any other larvae for that
matter, but the general sense I got was that God showed His people how to
choose foods that would not harm them or endanger them by forbidding them
outright.

This makes perfect sense. In hot climates any organic material can become
rancid quickly. Part transport issue, part storage issue, part actual
poisoning issue (perhaps bee larvae had toxic effects on folks with
allergies or on young children, just as honey can today ...i.e. do not give
honey to a child under two years of age). As to transport and storage, there
was no ice in those days if you recall.

My guess is that we have forgotten many of the dangers of foods since we no
longer grow and prepare them ourselves and that there were good reasons for
the 'real' rules, and not so good reasons for interpretations of the rules
over time as we grew further from the source.

Remember, honey was used to preserve and ship foods in large urns all over
the Mediterranean. Archaeologist have found meats cured and preserved in
honey which could still be safely eaten today. Jews would have traded and
eaten these items also.

As to the hindquarter of a cow and cheeseburgers....cows were probably not
usually on the Israeli diet...need pasture land...perhaps a) beef was
spoiled unless properly dried and cured when it got to them, b) anything
near the rear end is 'impure' or c) a modern rabbi just doesn't want his
kids hitting McDonalds.

We know that both Arabs and Jews still keep hives in mud urns today ... my
personal feeling is that keeping it simple is probably the best approach
here.....if it was okay during Abraham's time, its probably okay today.

Just FYI and to really stir the pot (no pun intended) in *Dinner with a
Cannibal*, which traces the history of cannibalism across the globe from
ancient times into today, almost ALL peoples, including the Jews (at least
three historically and biblically recorded times) ate human flesh during
times of famine. Babies were particularly sought after.
If that isn't unclean, I don't know what is, but God still 'forgave' them,
even though I doubt humans are kosher.

I WILL, however, keep this email in mind and ask the next rabbi I talk to
about honey and its kosher-ness.

Thanks, though, for a really interesting diversion and discussion. Have a
great 4th!
:)A


-- 
"When the well runs dry, we learn the worth of water" - Benjamin Franklin

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