THE JEWISH DIETARY SYSTEM. 
THAT curious code which has so 
long controlled the Israelite in 
the selection of his food, and in its pre- 
paration and use, has been to many 
an interested observer the subject of 
unsatisfied inquiry. There can, in- 
deed, be few whose attention these di- 
etary practices have not at some time 
attracted; who have not obtained sur- 
prised glimpses of a Jewish kitchen; 
who have not wondered at encounter- 
ing Jewish markets, or paused to 
decipher the word kosher inscribed 
in Hebrew characters before Jewish 
restaurants; and the Israelite on his 
travels, carrying his meals with him 
like Sir Moses Montefiore, instead of 
stopping at the inns by the wayside, 
has frequently been the occasion of 
comment and study. Everybody 
knows that the Israelite eats no 
pork, and song and stoi’y have been 
founded on that quaint fact; and all 
have heard of the Passover festival 
and its unleavened bread, and would 
like to know more about them. In 
some European countries, and espe- 
cially in Germany, knowledge of the 
religious practices of the Jews is 
much more detailed, accurate, and 
widely diffused; and it is known, for 
instance, not only that the pig is for- 
bidden food, but that there are few 
quadrupeds which are not. In the Uni- 
ted States only enough is known of this 
and kindred subjects to make the 
general public desirous of learning 
more. 
But if this topic is generally one of 
interest, it should be peculiarly so at 
the present moment. For many cen- 
turies have the dietary regulations 
been observed with extraordinary 
strictness and faithfulness; but at last 
their time has come, and they are hill- 
ing so rapidly into disuse that already 
to-day to a large proportion of even 
the Jewish youth much of what I may 
say will be strange, although twenty 
years ago there was hardly a Jewish 
boy anywhere who was not familiar 
with it all, and with much more that I 
shall have no opportunity to introduce. 
There is a portion of the Jewish peo- 
ple, even in the United States, from 
whom the dietary code still receives 
scrupulous obedience; but from the 
larger number it is meeting with the 
same fate as many other practices that 
have made the same eventful journey 
through history. The present, there- 
fore, is perhaps an especially appro- 
priate time to speak of them. 
The principal dietary laws date 
back in their origin to the days of 
Moses, it being in the Pentateuch that 
the fundamental ordinances are found. 
Some are to-day very nearly in 
their original form, no effort being 
made to extend their application; 
others, however, have received many 
additions, and still others, which in 
the Bible are of doubtful meaning, and 
may never have been designed for 
such a construction as they have re- 
ceived, have been elaborated by the 
rabbins into complex regulations 
which require for their proper observ- 
ance much time and attention, and 
often unnecessary expense. It is thus 
this system has been established. 
The dietary code relates almost en- 
tirely to animal food. None of the pro- 
ducts of the vegetable kingdom are 
under ordinary circumstances forbid- 
den, nor is the manner of their use 
limited. There is, in fact, in refer- 
ence to them no dietary law whatever 
of practical importance, except, as I 
shall presently show, in connection 
with the Passover festival. 
As to animal food, the first ordinance 
requires that the quadruped, fowl, or 
fish shall be, in the Biblical sense, 
“clean.” The law on this point is 
laid down in Leviticus xi., and is par- 
tially reiterated in Deuteronomy xiv.; 1874.] 
THE JEWISH DIETARY SYSTEM. 
671 
and in all the many centuries that 
have since expired it has undergone 
no alteration. There we see that 
quadrupeds, to be fit for food, must 
chew the cud and be cloven-footed; 
and some that are clean and a num- 
ber that are forbidden are particularly 
mentioned. To enlarge a little on 
this list, we may say that among an- 
imals not eaten are, of course, the 
horse, the ass, the squirrel, and the 
rabbit. Those famed delicacies, bears’ 
paws and beavers’ tails, are in the cat- 
alogue of the prohibited. In China 
an orthodox Israelite cannot partake 
of the cat, nox1, in Brazil, of the tapir; 
but on the other hand, if he can have 
it properly slaughtered, there is no 
sufficient reason why, on the western 
prairies, he should not feast on the sa- 
vory hump of the buffalo. 
Of fowls that are unclean, we find 
in the chapters referred to an enu- 
meration of twenty-four. All others 
are regarded as clean; the only diffi- 
culty consists in identifying those that 
are by name forbidden. The trans- 
lations of this list differ widely, and 
among Talmudic commentators there 
is the same uncertainty as with later 
scholars. They have suggested cei- 
tain peculiarities in the formation of 
the feet and stomach* as marking the 
unclean bird; but the possibility of 
mistake notwithstanding has impress- 
ed the rabbins so gravely that they 
have advised the scrupulous Israelite 
after all to eat of no fowl unless he 
is convinced, for reasons beyond these 
suggested peeuliai’ities, that it does not 
belong to the prohibited two dozen. 
It may be stated as a general rule 
that all birds of prey are forbidden, 
and that birds which feed on grains 
are clean. This is, of course, a more 
agreeable classification to the Israel- 
itish epicure than that of quadrupeds. 
In the same chapters we see also 
that things which both creep and fly, 
with the exception of beetles, locusts, 
and gi*asshoppei’s, and things which 
creep only, like the lizard and the tor- 
toise, as well as those which drag 
themselves along after the manner 
of serpents, are all pronounced un- 
clean. 
The prohibition of all marine ani- 
mals, except such as have fins and 
scales, leaves to the Israelite, as we 
know, the enjoyment of the best fish. 
Trout, pickerel, salmon, mackerel—in 
short, every variety that is ordinarily 
used as food, and is deemed worth 
eating, is clean. The eel is among the 
abominations, and the seal and the al- 
ligator are forbidden, whether we class 
them with land or with marine ani- 
mals. Such also is the case with the 
oyster, the clam, the lobster, the crab, 
and the shrimp. To the orthodox Is- 
raelite these are, sad to say, unknown 
subjects of gastronomy, and turtle 
soup and terrapin stew must likewise 
remain impenetrable mysteries. 
For the slaughter of fish there are 
no directions. They may be eaten 
though they die naturally on being 
taken out of their element, and in this 
respect their case is different from that 
of quadrupeds and fowls. The gen- 
eral rule is that an animal must be 
put to death according to certain for- 
mulas. If it die naturally or of acci- 
dent or disease; if it be torn by a beast 
of prey, speared by an Indian, or 
brought down by the bullet of a sports- 
man ; if it be drowned, like the ducks 
that are caught in nets in Great Sliin- 
necock Bay, or robbed of its breath 
by the air pump of an experimental- 
ist—nay, even though it be deprived 
of life in the most humane and scien- 
tific way, according to the latest French 
theory, to the orthodox Israelite it is 
nevertheless in the list of the forbid- 
den. To be proper food for him, the 
animal’s throat must be cut clean to 
such depth that the wind-pipe and gul- 
let are severed, and it must then bleed 
to death. The wound must be inflict- 
ed by a person, known as shochet, 
who has studied the art, and is fami- 
liar with all the regulations relat- 
ing to it, and whom the rabbinical 
authorities have properly authorized 
to discharge this duty. He must uso 
a knife which has been sharpened to 
its highest capacity, and which has a 672 
THE JEWISH DIETARY SYSTEM. 
[Novembek, 
perfect edge. It is also his duty after 
the animal’s death to examine the car- 
cass, and to see that it was in sound 
health: any indications of a disease 
render it unfit for food. Eruptions 
are fatal, and so are foreign substan- 
ces in the vitals which may have en- 
gendered disease. The lungs are ex- 
amined with especial minuteness, and 
almost any malformation or unsound- 
ness there Will cause the whole body 
to be rejected. Such inspection is 
made only with reference to quadru- 
peds. With fowls it is deemed com- 
paratively unnecessary, although even 
in their case the same general rules 
apply as to the effect of foreign mat- 
ter and of symptoms of unsoundness. 
But they must be slaughtered precise- 
ly as the larger animals are, and, as I 
have said, a partridge that is shot on 
the wing may tempt, but it cannot se- 
duce the orthodox Israelite. Flesh 
cut from a living animal, as the Abys- 
sinians were once said to have cut 
their steaks, is likewise prohibited. 
One effect of these multifarious reg- 
ulations is to create a necessity for 
Jewish butchers and Jewish markets, 
and to increase considerably the price 
of meat. The Israelite cannot pur- 
chase at a Gentile market of a Gentile 
butcher, unless the latter has a special 
department, in charge of an Israelite 
of known trustworthiness, for the ac- 
commodation of Jewish purchasers; 
and even then the meat that is kosher* 
is marked by the certificate of the 
shochet. The latter, as I have shown, 
must be a gentleman of special educa- 
tion, and properly requires to be paid 
for the professional use of his knife; 
and this outlay, with the cost of extra 
attention, care, and labor, must ulti- 
mately be paid by the consumer. 
The laws relative to slaughter are 
purely rabbinical creations. The 
Pentateuch proscribes the flesh of an 
animal which is torn by beasts of 
prey or dies of itself, but beyond this 
it is the rabbins who have established 
the prevalent mode of slaughter. It 
is obvious that in prescribing these 
many formalities, they had partly san- 
itary reasons, although it now seems 
to be pretty well settled that there is 
probably no disease of which an ani- 
mal dies wherein the flesh may not be 
rendered innocuous to the consumer 
by cooking. (See “ Medical Gazette ” 
of New York, Yol. iv., No. 7; paper 
by Dr. Rogers ) It is also obvious that 
they wished to avoid inflicting un- 
necessary pain, as in the direction to 
use a well sharpened knife. Of course 
there are other modes of death which 
are still less painful; but this precise 
mode of slaying their beeves is essen- 
tial, and they can only provide that it 
be done as humanely as possible. I 
say essential, for, as is Avell known to 
butchers in general, where cattle are 
thus slaughtered the blood-vessels are 
more speedily and certainly drained; 
and this is an object of the first import- 
ance with the Israelite. Under pen- 
alty of being “cut off from his peo- 
ple” (“perishing”), is he forbidden to 
eat of blood (Leviticus vii. 26). In 
other chapters the prohibition is re- 
peated more at length, and even more 
emphatically. 
Sucli an express command is to be 
obeyed with corresponding fidelity. 
First, therefore, they inflict the linger- 
ing death I have described, and after 
the body is cut up, remove all the 
larger veins and arteries, this being 
done by persons who have studied the 
anatomy of the quadruped, and are 
known to be thoroughly conversant 
with it. The meat is then sold, and 
each purchaser takes his portion home; 
and there he immerses it in water for 
one hour, and afterward buries it in 
salt for another. Not until that pro- 
cess is concluded is it considered ready 
for cooking. But it should be remark- 
ed that it has been determined by 
* Kosher strictly means “ proper,” “correct.” 
It is not the word used in the Pentateuch to in- 
dicate animals that are “ clean,” but it has by 
degrees come to be used even in that sense; 
popularly it now means everything that is sanc- 
tioned by the dietary laws, or is prepared in 
conformity with them. T’refah is an analagous 
word, originally meaning merely “ torn,” as by 
a beast of prey on a field; but it has come pop- 
ularly to mean the reverse of kosher; i. e., every- 
thing that is proscribed by the dietary laws. 1874.] 
THE JEWISH DIETARY SYSTEM. 
673 
good authority that if the meat is 
broiled, so that any blood which re- 
mains in it may have an opportunity 
to run out, the previous salting and 
watering are unnecessary; and many 
a faithful Israelite takes advantage of 
this discrimination, and has his juicy 
steak for breakfast, where otherwise it 
might cause such inconvenience as to 
be impracticable. 
Other rules concerning the prepara- 
tion of the meat are those relating to 
the fat and to the hip sinew. Certain 
parts of the former are forbidden as 
food (Leviticus vii. 24, and elsewhere), 
for the reason that they were used in 
the sacrificial services; the latter is 
proscribed because Jacob happened to 
sprain his hip while wrestling (Gene- 
sis xxxii. 33). The prohibited fat 
(Exodus xix. 13, and elsewhere) is 
that which lies about the kidneys and 
surrounds the entrails (not that be- 
tween the intestines), and it is easily 
removed; but much more troublesome 
and serious in its consequences is the 
abstraction of the forbidden sinew; for 
this, as is well known, runs a devi- 
ous road, and to follow it along its 
whole course necessitates such disfig- 
urement of the hindquarter as ren- 
ders it unsalable to the Gentile pur- 
chaser. The butcher must therefore 
either be able to sell it all to Jews 
(which he can do, so large a 
Jewish custom rarely existing in one 
place, at least in the United States), or 
he cannot afford to have it touched by 
the dissecting knife at all, and conse- 
quently cannot sell any portion of it to 
Jewish purchasers; and thus it comes 
that the orthodox Israelite, already so 
limited in his choice of meats, is also 
debarred, as a general thing, from the 
enjoyment of the noble porterhouse, 
the alluring tenderloin, or even the 
generous sirloin; for, as is well known, 
they all lie within the territory through 
which the forbidden sinew meanders. 
Where the Jewish community is 
large enough to render it necessary, a 
professional dissector comes into re- 
quisition. As a graduated slaughterer 
is demanded, so are there also gentle- 
men who have studied the removal of 
the exasperating hip-cord, and have 
been duly admitted to practise by the 
rabbinical authorities. Conscientious 
treatises are published for their instruc- 
tion, and diagrams and maps are in 
existence which illustrate this branch 
of anatomy with most commendable 
fidelity. 
Having selected and prepared our 
meat, our next inquiry must be into its 
relations with milk. There is in Exo- 
dus xxiii. 19, and repeated elsewhere, 
a mysterious ordinance forbidding the 
seething of the kid in the milk of its 
mother. The purpose and real mean- 
ing of this passage have been the sub- 
ject of much discussion. According 
to a popular opinion, it is a figurative 
prohibition of unnecessary cruelty (like 
the passage forbidding the slaugher of 
a cow and its calf on the same day), 
the cooking of an animal in its own 
mother’s milk being supposed to show 
a barbarous disregard for the ties and 
relations of nature. A more reasona- 
ble explanation, perhaps, is that of 
Maimonides, who thinks that there 
was an ancient idolatrous practice, of 
which the seething of a kid in its mo- 
ther’s milk was a part, and that Moses 
aimed to destroy it by this prohibition. 
It is evident that unless the latter be 
accepted as the true purpose of the 
passage, it cannot receive a literal in- 
terpretation, for that would make it 
unintelligible. The rabbinical schol- 
ars who took up the business of con- 
struing it, clearly did not accept the 
view of Maimonides. Neither did 
they give the passage a strict render- 
ing (nor a liberal one either, for the 
matter of that), but on this extremely 
slight foundation they have construct- 
ed a variety of dietary regulations, 
that give the faithful Israelite a great 
deal of trouble. 
Not only is it forbidden to seethe a 
kid in its" mother’s milk, but it is 
equally improper to put the calf 
through the same process. In fact, to 
be brief, no meat whatever—that is, 
the flesh of quadrupeds and fowls—is 
allowed to be cooked in milk or to be 674 
THE JEWISH DIETARY SYSTEM. 
[November, 
eaten with it; and this applies as well 
to all forms of meat and milk and to 
all preparations containing either. 
If an orthodox Israelite likes his cup 
of coffee after dinner, he must take it 
black. If lie insists on the buckwheat 
cake at breakfast, he must do without 
his steak. Ice cream is a forbidden 
follower of roast beef, mince pie an 
impossible companion of Swiss cheese; 
while in the useful sandwich the dain- 
ty slice of tongue dare never repose 
within covers of buttered bread (un- 
less, perhaps, the butter is made of 
fat—butterine—in the ingenious style 
lately invented; but even then, I sup- 
pose, one must be sure that none of 
the forbidden fat about the kidneys 
and entrails was used in the prepara- 
tion). 
In order to secure the strict observ- 
ance , of these regulations, it is even 
customary for meat food and milk 
food to have distinct kitchen and table 
utensils—pots, pans, dishes, etc.; and 
these are no more allowed to come in 
contact than the food for whose prepa- 
ration they are intended. The knife 
which has carved a duck should not 
touch the butter plate, nor the tea- 
spoon jostle the dinner pepper box. 
How inconvenient this custom of sep- 
arate dishes must be, it is easy to see. 
The greatest vigilance is necessary to 
prevent their intermingling; and where 
the servants are wholly or partly Gen- 
tile, what a task has their mistress in 
making them understand the compli- 
cated ways of such a household. 
In estimating the time that must in- 
tervene between the use of meat and 
milk food, an important distinction is 
taken. Where the latter is eaten first, 
only half an hour at the furthest need 
elapse, but where the former precedes, 
the period should strictly be as much 
as three hours. The reason for this is 
a notion which existed among the eld- 
ers of Israel, that milk food will neces- 
sarily digest much sooner than the 
other; and it is deemed improper to 
mix the two even in the stomach. 
Speaking of a double set of dishes 
brings us to the festival of the Pass- 
over, for which another double set is 
needed. The observance of this festi- 
val is prescribed in Exodus xxiii. (see 
also Leviticus xxiii. and Deuteronomy 
xvi.). It occurs in the Jewish month 
of Abib (Nisan), usually about the lat- 
ter part of March or the beginning 
of April in the calendar year, and 
lasts strictly seven days, although 
the more orthodox observe eight, ow- 
ing to an uncertainty which once arose 
about the almanac, and from which in 
all these many centuries they have not 
recovered. The first day and the last 
are sacred, and are marked by a total 
suspension of work. There are ser- 
vices in the synagogues of unusual 
length and solemnity, at which per- 
sons attend who do not observe a Sab- 
bath in the whole year. They close 
their shops every where; dwellers in 
the country, where there are no Jewish 
communities, repair to the city and 
put up with friends, or at Jewish inns, 
until the week is over, travellers re- 
turn to their homes, and in fine every 
stray orthodox lamb puts in an ap- 
pearance. An unusual amount of 
friendliness and benevolence are prev- 
alent, and the enjoyment is general. 
But after all, these are not the dis- 
tinguishing features of the Passover. 
All the festivals are marked more or 
less in this way. Its real characteris- 
tic is its unleavened food, and the op- 
eration which this peculiar diet has 
upon Jewish tables. All leavened 
food and fermented drink are prohib- 
ited, and everj'thing containing any 
admixture of either, such matter, being 
known by its Hebrew name, clio- 
metz. With respect to this the festi- 
val is observed with extraordinary 
strictness. By noon the day before 
the Passover sets in, every house 
is completely cleaned. All table 
and kitchen utensils, dishes of every 
description, knives, forks, table cov- 
ers, wine glasses—everything, in fine, 
that has even the remotest connection 
with the preparation or consumption 
of food or drink, besides, of course, all 
unconsumed grocei’ies, are removed 
to the attic or some other distant and 1874.] 
THE JEWISH DIETARY SYSTEM. 
675 
unoccupied quarter of the house. In 
place of all this houseware an equally 
complete array, which has never been 
used except for the unleavened food 
of this festival, is brought down from 
the attic, and arrayed for a week’s 
brief service. Each little Israelitish 
lamb has probably its own private 
Passover mug, the gift, perhaps, of 
some friend or relative; and how the 
youngsters rejoice over their familiar 
favorites as they are taken from their 
year’s confinement. While these dishes 
are used the greatest care is taken to 
prevent their contact with chometz. 
Should such collision accidentally hap- 
pen, the contaminated utensil, in thor- 
oughly orthodox households, is sun- 
dered from the rest of the Passover 
ware, and thereafter is doomed to per- 
petual association with the plebeian 
crockery up stairs. 
This may be imagined extremely 
strict observance of the Passover, but 
it is after all a little behind the fash- 
ion the Jews have in some European 
countries. There they not only re- 
move their dishes, provisions, etc., to 
some unoccupied room, but symboli- 
cally they give them away. They 
raise the presumption not only that 
their every-day ware is out of sight, 
but that there is no such thing in the 
house belonging to them. In Deuter- 
onomy the command reads: “No 
leavened bread shall be seen in all thy 
coasts seven dajrs.” So they seek 
some trusty Gentile friend, and give 
him the key of the room in which the 
chometz is stored, and with it make 
over to him all the contents of the 
chamber. This is certainly a good 
symbolical delivery, and fully at ease, 
our Israelitish friend now proceeds to 
the observance and enjoyment of the 
festival. Of course, when the Pass- 
over is ended, his Gentile acquaintance 
makes up his mind he doesn’t care for 
the gift, and returns it. 
Thus it is that kitchen and table 
ware is secured which has not been 
defiled by contact with chometz. To 
have the same assurance of the food 
itself is even more difficult, and ne- 
cessitates even more care. The pro- 
hibition of fermented liquors and 
leavened food of course does not em- 
brace meats, eggs, fish, nor milk, thus 
depriving the faithful Israelite of none 
of the really important items on the 
bill of fare; but even as to those, no 
contact with chometz should have de- 
filed them. The meat is therefore 
slaughtered and prepared with re- 
doubled care, and the milk, wherever 
possible, is taken from the cow under 
the immediate supervision of a trusty 
Israelite. So no article that is ordi- 
narily included under “ groceries and 
provisions ” is used unless it comes 
from some reliable Jewish source, 
with the assurance that it has been 
prepared with proper vigilance. The 
orthodox Israelite has his Passover 
wine, his Passover coffee, his Passover 
spices, and his Passover raisins and 
prunes, all of which he purchases at a 
considerable advance on the general 
market price of similar commodities. 
It is, however, in the preparation of 
pastry that the observance of the Pass- 
over gives most trouble. The place 
of the ordinary bread is supplied by 
a flat cake—the mazoh—which is 
made of wheat flour and water, with- 
out yeast, and baked hard. There are 
probably few Avho read this who have 
not seen the Passover bread. In pre- 
paring other pastry ordinary flour is 
altogether avoided. For their pud- 
dings, pies, cakes, etc., they use a 
flour made either of the potato or 
of the Passover bread itself—the lat- 
ter being ground to fine meal and 
then baked over again, coming out in 
a different shape, in conjunction with 
raisins, sugar, eggs, and the various 
other chemicals that belong to a house- 
wife’s laboratory. 
Take it all in all, the Passover 
week is a very pleasant period. It 
comes but once a year, and is there- 
fore agreeable as a matter of variety. 
The complete renovation of the whole 
household helps to the cheerful im- 
pression; the ingathering of all stray 
sheep, the cessation from work for two 
or three days, the consciousness which 676 
THE JEWISH DIETARY SYSTEM. 
[November, 
the faithful Israelite has of strictly 
obeying what he considers Divine 
commands of much importance, but 
above all, the change in Israelitish 
bills of fare—these things all help to 
make the Passover a real festival. 
During that week the Israelite lives 
well. He more than makes up for the 
absence of the leavened and ferment- 
ed. The table groans beneath the 
best that the pocket of paterfamil- 
ias can afford. The housewife exerts 
all her skill in the art of cookery, and 
numerous are the palatable dishes 
which by degrees have become part 
of this week, and are prepared without 
fail after traditional recipes. The ma- 
zoth pudding, the mazoth dumpling— 
what faithful Israelite knows them not? 
Even the poorest among the children 
of Israel enjoy themselves during this 
week; and if they find it difficult to 
buy Passover luxuries themselves, 
some wealthier son of Israel is usually 
found to provide them. Thus they 
can look back one half the year, and 
forward the other half, to at least one 
unstinted week, and indulge in de- 
lightful reminiscences or sweeter anti- 
cipations. 
The other festivals of the Jewish 
year in no way concern the dietary 
laws, except in that it is the practice 
—and a sound one—to live as much 
better than usual as the pecuniary con- 
dition of the household will permit. 
Good and generous living, I may 
say in passing, is practised also on the 
Sabbath, and meat, fish, and wine are 
all three indispensable to a perfectly 
proper observance of the sacred day. 
(It may here be stated incidentally 
that the good Jewish housewife un- 
derstands the preparation of fish and 
the most palatable sauces thereto better 
than the most ingenious of your artist 
cooks. The more orthodox she is, the 
better are her fish. If she hails from 
Poland, her fish are perfection. There 
is never a Friday evening—the Sabbath 
eve—but fish are on the table; and if 
anybody doubts my assertions, I would 
advise him to secure an invitation to 
supper at such a time.) 
In the preceding exposition I have 
stated the dietary practices as proper- 
ly they are, and as the really orthodox 
Israelite ought to observe them; but, 
as I have already intimated, their day 
is past, and they are swiftly falling 
into neglect. There was a time when 
they received a most implicit observ- 
ance. They were considered not sim- 
ply as sanitary or humanitarian regu- 
lations, but as solemn and important 
religious ordinances. Commentaries 
and treatises were published on them, 
and in expounding them the most sub- 
tle technicalities and frequently the 
most ridiculous were indulged in. The 
stringent directions found in Leviticus 
xi. 32 to 35 were everywhere literal- 
ly followed, and a housewife might 
often be seen to throw to the dogs a 
whole dish of meat because a few 
drops of milk had fallen into it, or 
burying a knife in the ground for days, 
or burning an iron pot to a red heat, 
because the flesh of an unclean animal 
had defiled them. A faithful Israel- 
ite while travelling would carry with 
him food that had been prepared at 
home, or, if the journey were too long 
for that, would live off boiled eggs and 
potatoes cooked in the skin, the theory 
being that the shell of the egg and the 
skin of the potato preserve them from 
contamination when lying in an un- 
clean pot. So Jews who lived in the 
country apart from a community of 
their co-religionists, finding no facili- 
ties for having the larger animals 
properly slaughtered, often abstained 
for extended periods from the use of 
their meat. I have no doubt there 
was and is many an Israelite who, 
were he suddenly so circumstanced 
that for two or three days it would be 
impossible to procure kosher food, 
would starve himself during that peri- 
od rather than eat of the unclean; nor 
was it an unusual thing to hear of an 
Israelite uprooting his business and 
his residence and migrating, solely on 
account of the inconvenience of keep- 
ing a kosher table in the place where 
he was located. 
Such was formerly the invariable 1874.] 
THE JEWISH DIETARY SYSTEM. 
677 
practice of well-nigh all. To-day there 
are still many who may be counted 
among the faithful. In the United 
States they are mostly past middle age, 
and from abroad, comparatively illit- 
erate, and wedded to the customs of 
their younger days. If they have an 
education, it is usually of a religious 
nature—a Hebrew education—which 
is not calculated to hasten the march 
of innovation. By them the dietary 
practices are maintained with unaba- 
ted rigor. In the larger cities they 
furnish support to numerous Jewish 
restaurants where they lunch; and in 
every town in which they are settled 
in sufficient numbers they maintain a 
Jewish inn. In Jewish charitable es- 
tablishments of all kinds the kitchen is 
thoroughly orthodox. Even in the 
city of New York this is the case; 
and to satisfy some of their supporters 
those excellent institutions, the Mount 
Sinai Hospital and the Jewish Orphan 
Asylum, are conducted on a strictly 
kosher system, although many of their 
most generous friends laugh at the 
dietary laws, root and branch. In 
Berlin, where the Jews are in part 
as liberal and in part as orthodox 
as they are in the United States, or- 
thodoxy is even showing enterprise; 
for recently an Israelitish association 
was formed there for the purpose of 
slaughtering cattle in the Jewish fash- 
ion in Australia, or some other section 
of the globe where they are plenty 
and cheap, and exporting the meat, 
salted, smoked, condensed into beef- 
extract, and in other approved forms, 
to Jewish communities all over the 
world. But kosher beef-exti-act is not 
more curious than kosher soap for Is- 
raelitish crockery; and the latter is a 
well-known preparation, over whose 
invention the Jewish housewife re- 
joices. (There are two varieties, one 
made of animal fat, to be used in 
cleaning pots and dishes that are de- 
voted to meat, the other made of but- 
ter and intended for dishes devoted to 
milk food.) Through orthodoxy, too, 
the manufacture of unleavened bread 
for the Passover is made a considera- 
ble industry, extensive bakeries being 
established in some of the larger cit- 
ies, from which, when Passover week 
comes on, the mazoth are shipped all 
over the country. Of some impor- 
tance also is the trade in other Pass- 
over food. 
All this, however, as I have said, is 
rapidly changing. No doubt, there 
are some among the sternly orthodox 
upon whom the spirit of the times can 
have no effect. Grown up, perhaps, 
in lands where there was a wide gulf 
—prejudice and gross civil inequality 
—between them and their Christian 
neighbors, their natures, as a matter 
of course, have become hardened 
against the influences of the Gentile 
world, and over their ways and hab- 
its no change can be expected to come. 
For them to eat buttered bread with 
meat would, I imagine, be more than 
merely improper—more than sin; I 
have no doubt that the habit of a life- 
time would create, beyond the mere 
question of right or wrong, an uncon- 
querable physical aversion. 
These extremely orthodox, how- 
ever, form really but a small number. 
There are others who call themselves 
orthodox, and who still pretend allegi- 
ance, but these are nevertheless daily 
thinking less of the propriety of what 
they eat. They may be old, and for 
that reason alone be disinclined to 
make a radical change in their habits, 
or they may not have the courage; 
otherwise, perhaps, they would open- 
ly profess their indifference. Very 
many, on the other hand, simply de- 
ride the whole dietary sjrstem, and 
these include, I think I may safely say, 
almost the entire younger generation. 
The most conservative in relation to 
this subject, as might be expected, are 
the women. Even they, however, are 
moving with the rest; and what is 
most interesting about this onward 
march is that it is almost impercepti- 
ble if observed for a short period, 3’et 
in the course of years is surprising in 
its results; that it is not publicly ad- 
vocated by anybody—by some is even 
violently deprecated—and neverthe- 678 
THE JEWISH DIETARY SYSTEM. 
find the bill of fare full of Satanic in- 
ventions—oyster soup, trout with 
shrimp sauce, “ aspic ” of lobster, “ or- 
namented ” buffalo tongue, patt de 
foie gras, wild turkey, and to con- 
clude with, ice-cream and other milk 
food. Here is a sweet mixture of the 
clean and the unclean—the kosher and 
the.forbidden—of dishes improper un- 
der any circumstances; of others im- 
properly prepared ; and to cap the cli- 
max, a confusion of meat and milk. 
It was only necessary to set a juicy, 
roasted sucking pig upon the table, to 
complete this insurrection against the 
dietary authorities of Israel. 
It is certainly interesting to note the 
decay of a code which has been elabo- 
rated so carefully, and been observed 
so long and scrupulously as that which 
has controlled the Jewish kitchen ; but 
strange it is not. It is in perfect keep- 
ing with the marked change that is 
coming over all the religious practi- 
ces of the Israelite, as well as over his 
belief. Most distinct is that change in 
the United States and in Germany; 
but in time, no doubt, it will extend to 
all quarters of the globe. Only the 
opportunities offered by free institu- 
tions and general enlightenment are 
required, and it cannot be long before 
the Israelite will discard every reli- 
gious principle that fails to stand the 
test of reason, and all religious practi- 
ces that lie finds unmeaning and incon- 
venient. / 
[November. 
less its progress is as steady as the 
passage of time. 
This may be explained, I think, by 
the fact that the dietary system is the 
result, not of reason, but of authority. 
Not resting on reason, it needs no ar- 
gument to overthrow it, but little by 
little, it fades of itself, as respect for 
authority, both rabbinical and Bibli- 
cal, diminishes, and as the wants and 
conveniences of tire times demand. 
We have good evidence of the views 
entertained by the body of American 
Israelites in the proceedings at the 
banquet given at the Sherman House 
in Chicago, January 28, 1874, to the 
delegates of the B’nai B’rith, assem- 
bled in that city. It was tendered by 
the B’nai B’rith lodges resident in 
Chicago; but the cooking was done by 
Gentiles under a Gentile’s supervision, 
and it was beneath a Gentile roof that 
the table was decked, although there 
were numerous Jewish inns and res- 
taurants in the city. As may be 
known, the order of the B’nai B’rith 
is an organization constituted like the 
Masonic and other secret associations,, 
but exclusively Jewish; and a large 
proportion of its lodges are thorough- 
ly orthodox on many points of belief 
and practise. Yet, if the reports may 
be credited, three hundred members 
of the order sat down to that unhallow- 
ed banquet. The manner of its prepa- 
ration was alone enough to render it 
properly and strictly an abomination 
in all its parts; but, in addition, we 
W. M. Rosenblatt.'