Kahane’s Kosher Triumph

Apropos Peter Lance’s investigation into the prosecution of Rabbi Meir Kahane’s killers, Tablet Magazine contributor David E. Y. Sarna writes in,

When Kahane was incarcerated, the Bureau of Prisons refused him kosher food. He sued, and the case came before Judge Jack Weinstein. The issue was whether kosher was an essential part of Judaism. Judge Weinstein, in his decision, quoted from my late father’s Understanding Genesis that following Jacob’s battle with the Angel, from that day forth Jews do not eat from the sciatic nerve, and that this was the origin of the laws of Kashrut, a fundamental tenet of the Jewish faith.



Ever since that decision the BOP has been required to provide kosher food for all Jewish inmates who request it.

Interesting fact. Also, it gives me an excuse to point out that Lance’s article is truly must-read, establishing as it does that the ultra-nationalist Kahane’s 1990 murder in Manhattan was not some small provincial story, but rather an absolute hinge moment in the United States’s war with al-Qaida; and that, in fact, you can trace the success of several al-Qaida operations, including 9/11, to the mishandling of the prosecution of Kahane’s killers. It’s a long piece, but you have a three-day weekend coming up, so print the damn thing out and give it a read.

First Blood [Tablet Magazine]
Related: Understanding Genesis [Amazon]