On one level, keeping kosher is a straight obedience of God’s command in the Bible to abstain from certain foods (Exodus 22.30, Leviticus 11. 44-45, Deuteronomy 14.21). The foods that are permitted generally conform to the following rule: meat has to be from animals that are both cloven-hooved and chew the cud (eg cow and sheep); fish have to have both fins and scales (eg cod, plaice); fowl have to been domestic birds (eg chicken and duck). The Bible itself does not given any reason for keeping kosher, but different rabbis have been advanced various justifications. One is the spiritual effect of learning self-discipline in an essential part of one’s life, eating. Another is the hygienic reason, that fish without fins and scales eat the refuse off the sea-bed and pick up diseases, while wild birds often eat dead animals and carry their diseases too. Another is to avoid the customs of pagans in Biblical times (eg boiling a kid in its own mother’s milk). Another is the daily identity value, in that keeping kosher means one’s faith is with you three times a day everyday, not just on formal occasions once a week.
