Jordan Rosenblum, as an academic, is publishing a new book, Forbidden, which is a complete history and exegesis of the Hebrew people and pigs. Rosenblum provides an all-encompassing journey of the relationship between Jews and the pig, looking into scripture, comparative cultures and then how the pig became weaponized against the Jews. He goes right up to the point of modern-acceptable practices (like eating Chinese food but not Impossible Pork(tm)). The writing is flowing and often reads like a story. Because of the various points and themes, this may be best suited in an academic endeavor than a reading for curiosity sake.
Reading some parts of the history, it can be shocking just how cruel our forebears have been and off-putting on how some traditions were started (ham dinner on Easter Sunday, e.g.). Still it’s worthwhile to know why the pig was singled out as the delineating non-kosher animal that separates Jews from Gentiles—not the camel, hyrax, hare, oyster, etc. —not even that Gentiles used the ubiquitous livestock animal as a symbol but Jews did too. This prohibition against eating pork was picked up by Islam as well, much to my chagrin one time when I inadvertently ordered an omelette with ham while dining with Muslim friends. Knowing now more of the history Jordan Rosenblum has provided, I will be more aware of just how the pig’s meat has been used against our neighbors.
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