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Old September 28th, 2014 #1
Karl Radl
The Epitome of Evil
 
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Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: The Unseen University of New York
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Default Steven Hayes and his Kosher Food Problem

Steven Hayes and his Kosher Food Problem


I recently happened to notice a news item about a prison inmate in Connecticut named Steven Hayes who is now suing the Connecticut Department of Corrections due to their 'denial' of kosher food to him. Hayes, who is on death row for murders committed during a home invasion in 2007, (1) alleges that he has lost weight due to his inability to eat most of the food that is provided to him.

The reason for this need on Hayes' part is that he describes himself as an orthodox jew, but was born gentile and has not by any account undergone the formal orthodox conversion process: (2) although he has been spending some amount of time with an orthodox rabbi. (3) This means in jewish terms (and I am sure it will surprise some readers) Hayes cannot be jewish in Judaism: he isn't an Israelite because he wasn't born to a jewish mother and he has not undergone the formal conversion process, which would only render him a convert (i.e. a follower of Judaism) not a jew. (4)

Surprising perhaps but at the same time not, is the fact that Hayes hasn't mentioned the concept of the Noahide where he could be a gentile, observe the dietary laws (i.e. Kashruth as colloquially understood) and invoke jewish help. However as that is a little bit arcane (unless you have studied Judaism in some detail) I rather suspect that Hayes hadn't heard of it when he decided he want to 'convert': although I would be surprised if the orthodox rabbi he has been consulting hasn't mentioned it since.

I have no sympathy for Hayes and in my estimation he should have been strung up from the nearest tree by now, but the statement by the Department of Corrections that they provide 'kosher-like food' is simply absurd. (5) Hayes is quite right to state in his complaint that 'kosher-like isn't kosher' and there is a good reason for that: kashruth (i.e. whether food is kosher [permitted] or treif [not permitted]) is an intricate subject. (6)

For example: for a meal to be kosher then a jew has to prepare or cook that food (or at least have some direct partipation in it) because of the law of bishul nochri (i.e. gentiles cannot be trusted with jewish food, because gentiles are inherently evil and will do bad things to that food to deliberately desecrate the faith of the jews [i.e. their emunah]). That food then has to be from a rabbinically certified origin and any meat has to conform to the rules of Schechita (i.e. jewish ritual slaughter), while vegetables and salads in turn have to kosher certified as well due to the Torah prohibition on ingesting insects (which kashruth scholars agree are common in many forms of edible vegetables, greens and fruits) and so forth. (7)

Therefore we can see that it isn't as simple as making sure you don't serve pork chops on Saturdays: it is a large area of halakhic lore that requires an in-depth understanding to apply.

Food being 'kosher-like' is simply not possible: especially when Hayes is claiming to be an orthodox jew whose rabbinical rulings and precedents on kashruth are extremely strict and getting stricter. (8) However I can also understand the attitude of the Connecticut Department of Corrections on this, because providing two kosher meals to an inmate costs them more than double what it costs for them to provide three non-kosher meals. (9)

The fact is that providing kosher food is very expensive and it is a waste of taxpayers money given that kashruth-certified food is no healthier or better than non-kashruth certified food. This in spite of various claims made by jews who argue it weeds out 'unhealthy livestock' and 'has higher food standards' all of which is nonsense given that, for example, observant orthodox jews should shove nuts in a high temperature oven in order to kill the mites, which then are cooked to crisp and while still present count as 'dust' in halakhic terms and thus the nuts are now 'kosher'. (10)

Or the fact that that the utensils (including the electrical appliances) used have be tovelled (i.e. plonked in a mikvah [a ritual bath] so that they can be 'purified') unless they meet some very specific criteria in order to make the meal kosher. (11)

In effect Hayes could be starving if he is taking kashruth seriously, because in a prison environment in any country that isn't Israel: just about every bit of food that is provided to you would violate the laws of kashruth (even down to the water you are given to drink). (12) However it isn't worth the additional cost to provide Hayes with kosher meals especially when he is on death row and hasn't formally converted to orthodox Judaism.


References


(1) http://www.jta.org/2014/09/14/news-o...or-kosher-food
(2) http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nati...icle-1.1939838
(3) http://www.jta.org/2014/09/14/news-o...or-kosher-food
(4) Hayim Halevy Donin, 1991, [1972], 'To Be A Jew: A Guide to Jewish Observance in Contemporary Life', 1st Edition, Basic Books: New York, pp. 282-284; Some of the (probably deliberate) omissions by Donin (since he is very concerned with intermarriage between jews and non-jews, but then claims Judaism is 'univeralist') on this point are indirectly pointed out in the following article: http://semiticcontroversies.blogspot...law-legal.html
(5) http://www.jta.org/2014/09/14/news-o...r-kosher-food; http://www.courant.com/news/connecti...912-story.html
(6) Donin, Op. Cit., p. 97
(7) Shaul Wagschal, 1991, 'The New Practical Guide to Kashruth', 2nd Edition, Feldheim: Jerusalem, pp. 25-31; 33-36; 95-98
(8) David Kraemer, 2009, 'Jewish Eating and Identity through the Ages', 2nd Edition, Routledge: New York, pp. 160-169
(9) http://www.abajournal.com/news/artic..._cost_worries/
(10) Wagschal, Op. Cit., pp. 29-30
(11) Ibid, pp. 79-89
(12) Kraemer, Op. Cit., pp. 147; 159

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This was originally published at the following address: http://semiticcontroversies.blogspot...d-problem.html
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