I Think We've Been Thinking About Kashrut All Wrong

Ask not what Kashrut can do for you, Ask what kashrut can do for social bonding.

There’s a lot of ink spilled about what the reason might be for kashrut, whether it be self-discipline, health, mystical stuff, what have you. I think I’ve come up with an interesting way of thinking about kashrut, and I think the mistake most approaches make is thinking its supposed to benefit you as an individual. I think that’s a very limited way to think about it. I think it’s primarily about strengthening the bonds of a community.

What do I mean by this? Well, if you observe kashrut, think about how it affects your life and how you use the concept. It limits what you are able to eat, sure, but it is also about who you trust. The measure of someone’s trustworthiness as a member of the community is primarily “would I eat at their home and off their dishes.” Any food you eat has to involve trust of the person who produced it, whether it’s at someone’s home, or food you buy in the supermarket that you need a hechsher for, which is just a symbol informing you that you should trust them that the food has been produced according to rules. When you go to a restaurant, there needs to be someone from your faith community present in the kitchen who you implicitly trust to make sure the rules are being observed. And there’s much discussion about which hechsherim you can trust, which comes with implications of how closely they follow communal norms. And anywhere you travel, you’ll need to find someone who you trust to prepare your food in a way that you are allowed to eat.