There was a time, not long ago, that folks would snicker when they heard that I was a practicing traditional Jew. They would refer to my lifestyle as primitive or medieval. I imagine they viewed me as somewhere between a misguided soul and a fanatical fundamentalist. But something happened on the way to the 90's. They're not laughing at me anymore. I feel vindicated. In fact, people, lots of people, are beginning to ask me about my "unusual" lifestyle.

They're intrigued by the fact that we don't answer the phone on Shabbat, and fascinated by the modest dress of our men and women. They'd like to know how we've managed to keep our sons off drugs, and our teenage daughters out of the abortion clinics. They're puzzled by the fact that they don't see kids with yarmulkes drunk or "wilding", and that even our little children seem to play less aggressively.

Each day, I'm more and more impressed by the way the ancient Jewish traditions prove their relevance in the 20th century. Even more impressive is how traditional families, given the unstable nature of society today, communicate and maintain these ancient values. Frankly, it's not easy, and the struggle is never ending. One way traditional Jews attempt to create a sense of sanctity in their lives, is by dumping the television set. Some of us have no idea what "Melrose Place" is, let alone "The X Files". Those traditional homes which do allow television, are quite rigorous in controlling its use. And wonder of wonders -- despite this terrible deprivation, our children manage to graduate from many of the top colleges, gain graduate degrees at some of the finest schools, more often than average placing in the top 10% of the class. The fact that they missed "E.R." and the "glove" at the O.J. Simpson trial, does not seem to have resulted in any great cultural lacuna.

Society today seems hell bent on decadence. Eliminate sex and violence, and you've eliminated most contemporary entertainment. Most Americans have few alternatives to the trashy offerings of the day. But, traditional Jews have an abundance of alternatives, many of them home or community centered. You'd be surprised to learn how popular and stimulating the intense discussions at the Shabbat table are; how scintillating the experience of studying Bible, Talmud, or philosophy together can be; and how moving singing Shabbat songs are for a family. Communal celebrations are popular and frequent among traditionalists. Holiday parties and wedding celebrations are feasts of unmitigated joy and ecstasy, absent the hangover. I often hear myself saying that the world never needed Shabbat more than today. Shabbat is something almost everyone can appreciate. Jewish tradition teaches that "quality time" is impossible unless there's "quantity time," and that's exactly what the 25 hour period from Friday evening to Saturday evening is for us. And I mean real quality time! No telephone, no TV, no Power Rangers or Nintendo 64. We eat together, even talk to one another face to face (when was the last time your family did that?) and celebrate as a family every week. We hug our children and bless them, something we'd like to do every day, but don't always get around to. Shabbat assures that it happens at least once a week.

Someone should suggest to our President that if he really wants to solve the ills of American society, he should get Congress to legislate Shabbat for all Americans. Not necessarily Friday and Saturday. But let's get families together again, so we can begin to rebuild society's crumbling infrastructure.

One of the basic Jewish traditions, not often observed by non-traditional Jews, is kashruth. The neglect of kashruth is unfortunate since these rituals have great meaning to contemporary life. Especially since most American Jews today live in urban settings, far away from the farms and from the people who produce the food, we tend to take both the environment and food production for granted. Jewish tradition regards food as a sacred gift of the Divine, to be acknowledged with blessings before and after partaking. For the practicing Jew, it is almost impossible to eat without bringing to mind a entire retinue of those involved in the food cycle: the earth, the farmer, those who maybe hungry (both human and beast), those with whom we may be dining, and even those who serve the food, whether host, hostess, maid, or waiter. It's absolutely startling to see how finely tuned the traditions of kashruth are to contemporary sensitivities!

Although the rapid spread of AIDS is a serious concern for all citizens, this dread disease is not, thank G-d, a major problem in traditional Jewish circles. This is largely due to the almost universal practice of abstinence before marriage. In fact, not only is the practice of pre-marital abstinence being vindicated lately, but even the traditional dating and courting customs are resonating triumphantly. Some of our friends are shocked to hear that most traditional young Jews are married by their early mid-20's, and that it is not uncommon for some of our children to have children of their own by their early twenties. Yes, teenage sex can be good, especially for those who are mentally prepared for it -- and married! And traditional living often has unexpected benefits for its practitioners. Recent reports from medical professionals regarding the efficacy of having children early and frequently, and its positive effect on women's health, have brought more than a twinkle to traditional Jewish eyes.

Perhaps the most harshly derided traditional Jewish custom is the practice of matchmaker-arranged marriages. Yet, young people who come from traditional homes often prefer this method to the dating scene and the "meat market" environment. To be sure, this one is not easy to swallow. But, you've got to admit that utilizing a third party consultant to provide a young person with a more honest and objective picture of a prospective mate, reflects a certain compelling logic. After all, Americans call upon consultants for many important needs: Their businesses, their plumbing, and their health. Why not their marital happiness? And if divorce statistics are any indication, the matchmaker method surely beats the heck out of the romantic Hollywood-inspired courting system, which is wreaking havoc in our society. Of course, there are unhappily married traditional Jews, and some marriages end in divorce. Others often choose to stick it out, rather than terminate. But, isn't it interesting that "sticking it out and working it through" has suddenly become a more frequently recommended approach in counseling circles. Charity is frequently a high profile feature of many religious communities, but traditional Jews focus on charity with a special passion. Our communities sponsor free ambulance services, free medical referrals, free soup kitchens, food and clothes distribution, and generous scholarships for schooling for those who cannot afford. It's been estimated that the traditional Jewish community alone, some 450,000 Jews, contributes well over $1 billion(!) annually to charity and Jewish education.

Happily, many young Jews from secular backgrounds have begun adopting more traditional lifestyles. It is as if they've discovered that career is not the sole reason for living, and that Jewish tradition has, once again, proven to be right on the money. After all, have you ever heard a dying man complain, "Why didn't I spend more time in the office?!" I don't care what you call it -- back to basics, family values. It makes sense! For Jew and non-Jew alike.

So remember the words of that great Jewish sage, Steven Spielberg, and "Phone Home!". It's warm, wonderful, and truly meaningful.

[If you'd like to "phone home" and personally experience the very special traditions which can be found in your own Jewish heritage, call us at 1-800-44-TORAH.]

Ephraim Buchwald is the Director of the National Jewish Outreach Program. He is the Founding President of the Association for Jewish Outreach Professionals, and rabbi of the Beginners Service at Lincoln Square Synagogue in New York City.

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The recent growth in the observance of kashruth--Jewish dietary laws, despite their great antiquity, is rather unexpected. At a time when many Americans have distanced themselves from tradition, the rise in demand for kosher food is particularly surprising. Certainly, much of the increase in kosher food consumption is attributable to the high reproductive rate of the very observant Jewish community who have many mouths to feed in their frequently large families. But more remarkably, we today are witnessing a return to kashruth observance among second and third generation American Jews whose parents or grandparents abandoned Jewish dietary observance along with other ritual observances, as they secularized and integrated into the American mainstream.

KASHRUTH IN JEWISH HISTORY

Throughout the millennia of Jewish history, kashruth has been a major rallying point for Jewish identification. Oppressive enemies who wished to challenge the Jewish peoples' right to their own customs and identity, soon focused on kashruth as a point of major confrontation. It was not uncommon for the oppressor, whether Greek, Roman, Ukrainian or Nazi, to relish the opportunity to prohibit the observance of kashruth altogether, or to even force-feed the Jews non-kosher foodstuff. Too numerous are the Jewish victims who chose to give up their lives for the principle of the sanctity of G-d's name rather than transgress this sacred covenant.

Ironically, the past struggles of the Jewish people to maintain their dietary practices in increasingly hostile environments, became even more painful when contrasted with the wholesale abandonment of kashruth observance among younger Jews in times of freedom and enlightenment and the breakdown of the ghetto walls and traditions.

WHAT IS KOSHER
The Jewish dietary laws define food as either "kosher" (right, proper, fit) or "treifah" (torn, unclean and therefore forbidden). Only the flesh of "pure or clean" animals that have totally cloven hooves and chew their cud may be eaten. Fish must have fins and easily removable scales. Only fowl that are traditionally known as "kosher" may be consumed. Creeping creatures and most winged animals that creep are forbidden, as are certain parts of the bodies of kosher animals that contain non-permissible fats and/or sinews. Also forbidden are non-kosher wines and cheeses, and the milk, eggs and roe of non-kosher animals, birds and fish.
In order to qualify for kosher consumption, animals and fowl must be slaughtered according to Jewish ritual law, inspected for disease or deformity and drained of blood. All mixtures of milk and meat or their derivatives are forbidden. In fact, two sets of dishes, utensils and silverware are the rule in the kosher household, one for meat, the other for dairy.

Neutral foods, such as fruits, vegetables and their derivatives are neither meat nor dairy. They are known as "pareve," and may be served with either dairy or meat. Fish, which is also "pareve" may be eaten at the same meal, but not together with meat.

Special dietary laws that govern the Passover holiday prohibit the use of any product that may contain leaven or anything made of fermented dough.

REASONS FOR KASHRUTH
To be sure, the Torah, the source for the laws and philosophy of Judaism, offers no definitive reason for the observance of kashruth, or for most commandments for that matter. The single definitive statement the Torah makes regarding kashruth is that by observing these laws the nation of Israel becomes an "Am Kadosh"--a "Holy people," (Exodus 22:31). Holiness is often defined by religious commentators as separate and/or different. The laws of kashruth certainly emphasize those two characteristics, and if the Jews have not yet achieved the anticipated levels of holiness, the laws of kashruth have certainly succeeded in making the Jewish people "a breed apart."

While no official reason for the observance of kashruth exists, many commentators and philosophers have sought to offer a rationale for the observances of the kashruth laws, often to draw those who had abandoned the practices back to observance.

HEALTH REASONS
The medieval philosopher, halakhist and physician, Maimonides, (1135-1204), suggested that the laws of kashruth were a means of enhancing human health (Guide for the Perplexed, Part III, Chap. 48). For this he was roundly taken to task by the famed Don Isaac Abarbanel,(1437-1508): "G-d forbid that I should believe that the reasons for forbidden foods are medicinal! For were it so, the Book of G-d's law should be in the same class as any of the minor brief medical books... Furthermore, our own eyes see that the people who eat pork and insects and such... are well and alive and healthy at this very day..." (Abarbanel, Commentary to Leviticus, Shemini).

SPIRITUAL REASONS
Abarbanel, R. Isaac Arama (Akeidat Yitzchak) and Nachmanides, (1194-1270), suggest that the dietary laws were given not for the good of the body, but for the benefit of the soul. They maintain that animals that are permitted to be eaten are of a higher spiritual nature, resulting in a higher spiritual health and a more saintly character for humans who consume them.

SELF DISCIPLINE
The Midrash Tadshe and Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzato,(1707-1746), see self-discipline as the primary reason for kashruth observance. Kashruth laws allow the Jew to be in control of his food rather than have the food control the Jew. Thus each Jew is led to acknowledge the yoke of his Maker, and to remember G-d and His Providence that act "as a restraining factor on our passions and implants in us the fear of G-d that we should not sin," (Luzzato).

CONSEQUENCE OF SEPARATION
As indicated at the outset, there are many who maintain that the dietary laws were designed to serve as a barrier to separate the Jews from the nations of the world. Rabbi David Zvi Hoffman,(1843-1921) in his commentary to Leviticus, takes issue with that formulation, positing that the separation of the Jewish people from the other nations has already been performed by G-d, and as a result Jews are obligated to observe the Divine precepts. To Hoffman, kashruth is not a vehicle for separation but a consequence of it.


TO DISCOURAGE MEAT CONSUMPTION
Contemporary commentators have found new meaning in the kashruth laws and rituals. Some point out that until the time of Noah, early man was vegetarian, and meat was permitted only as a concession to man's base nature, suggesting that vegetarianism is a more spiritually uplifting diet. Certainly, the regulations governing the preparation of kosher meat make life more difficult and expensive for the observant Jew, thus insuring that meat consumption is likely reduced or held to a minimum. Certainly, the kosher meat consumer will pause to consider whether to eat a casual snack of meat at all in light of the fact that according to kashruth regulations there must be a considerable wait after eating meat before a dairy product may be consumed.

MORAL AND ETHICAL VALUES
Many commentators emphasize the moral and ethical values of the kosher diet--viewing all food as a Divine gift. Any flesh that was produced in a process that caused undue pain to the animal may not be consumed. Nor may milk and meat be eaten at the same meal, suggesting that if a human can be so callous as to take the life of an animal in order to satiate one's appetite, the least such a person must do is to be certain not to drink milk, a substance that nurtures animal life, with the meat, that represents the destruction of animal life.

JEWISH IDENTITY
Whatever the reasons for its observance, Kashruth for the contemporary Jew has become a rallying point for Jewish identity. So much so that even non-observant Soviet prisonsers of Zion refused to consume non-kosher food in their prison cells in order to affirm their identification with the Jewish people past, present and future. Some Soviet Jewish heroes and heroines have subsisted on diets of tea and crackers for years rather than let a non-kosher morsel pass through their mouths.

The question of the moment then becomes this. We who are able in short order to convene 1/4 million Jews on the Washington elipse to rally on behalf of freedom for Jews behind the iron curtain, who spare no expense to celebrate Bar Mitzvahs with our co-religionists in Poland, who are free to practice our religious rites and rituals---should we not feel the obligation to identify with our people past, present and future by freely adopting the customs and practices which have kept us together? Dare we say to Joseph Mendelovich you are a hero for practicing under incredible adversity -- but your observance, to those of us who are free is meaningless? Dare we announce to the young Maccabees who refused to eat the sacrifice of the swine -- what you did was suitable or your time but is irrelevant for us today?

Kashruth in the 21th century is far more than a religious ritual, it is a bond which unites Jew to Jew, it is a tether which secures an individual to a nation, it is the energy which connects a people, and a nation, to its very roots.

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