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Eat, Pray, Live

Should kashrut be more about health?

by
Hadara Graubart
July 01, 2009
(Farmers’ Market by Natalie Maynor; some rights reserved)
(Farmers’ Market by Natalie Maynor; some rights reserved)

“The food we have today is a result of life in exile, a life of cold and suffering. But this is not true Judaism,” says Miriam Glazer, a rabbi who spoke at a recent study day held by The Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies on the subject of “Jewish Women Maintaining a Healthy Soul,” along with her sister, cookbook author Phyllis Glazer. “Meat comes only after the flood. We today need to return to the Garden of Eden within and be vegetarians,” she continues. While the appeal of finding paradise within is obvious, and there are more than enough reasons to be vegetarian even without factoring in Original Sin, this idea flies in the face of the way a lot of Jews today live. Although Ynet described the conference as catering to “traditional” women, this designation apparently does not include the ultra-Orthodox, who, according to Miriam, “aren’t even remotely part of this world.” Truly, we all might want to reconsider a diet that includes this.

Hadara Graubart was formerly a writer and editor for Tablet Magazine.