How Kosher?

In the time of Yeshua, a major issue between the Zaddoki (Sadducees), the Farsi (Pharisees) and the Nazori (Essenes)was the issue of how to put the Torah Mitzvot (Ordinances) into practice. The Zaddoki said that the Mitzvot should be read literally and put into practice as the Torah commanded. The Pharisees said that the Mitzvot must be made to fit practice and so they prescribed rules, traditions of practicing the Mitzvot so as to fulfill the Torah. The Nazori stood in the middle. They believed that the Mitzvot had to be interpreted to fully understand the meaning between ever ordinance, but they objected to the so-called "fence" around the Torah that would further legislate how a Mitzvot was to be carried out in practice.

Today, thanks to the Nazori, Karaism continues the Zaddoki tradition. The rabbinical Jews have continued the Farsi tradition. We, the Nasorean Orthodox Qahal seek to continue the Nazori tradition.

In the restatement and codification of the Mitzvot that we call Deuteronomy, we find this overriding principle:

"In your observance of the Mitzvot of YHVH, your G-d, which I enjoin upon you, you shall not add to what I command you nor subtract from it." Deut. 4:2.

This overriding principle is the essence of the difference between the Jewish sects. The Nasoreans teach that all regulations of any sort must be interpreted to put them into practice. On that point, we agree with the Rabbinical Jews. But, we believe that we must interpret the regulations with the help of the Voice. So, we oppose the codification of the methods that each individual person or congregation uses to carry out the Mitzvot. The Voice interprets the Torah in such a way as to make it meaningful to every believer. It is inherently wrong to force the method that seems right to one on another who likewise hears the Voice. Let us see how that affects the practice.

Deuteronomy 14:21 says: "You shall not boil a kid in its mother's milk." The passage is self-explanatory. It involves boiling a goat in milk from its mother. It does not involve boiling a calf in its mother's milk. It does not involve putting cheese on meat. It does not involve gravy in general. Yet the passage is mentioned three times in the Torah and must have been important to the Divine One. The Zaddoki would forbid the boiling of a kid in its mother's milk, nothing more. The Pharisees have constructed an entire legal system based upon separation of milk and meat. Neither is correct. One, by failing to ask the Voice why such a law exists, fails to understand the regulation. The other by building an entire legal system has firmly sentenced rabbinical orthodoxy to eventual death.

We, Nasoreans, teach that there is a spiritual bond that exists between a child and its mother. In Leviticus 22:28 it says: "You shall not slaughter an ox or a sheep on the same day with its young." The principle of boiling a kid in its mother's milk and of killing the child and the mother on the same day imply a spiritual bond between the animals based upon blood. We reject the separation of milk and meat, but we support investigation into the spiritual bond between a child and its mother. We think it is that bond that is spoken of in Torah.

Another passage that gives concern is Deuteronomy 6:8-9 which says: "Bind them (meaning the Mitzvot) at your wrist as a sign and let them be as a pendant on your forehead. Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates." The Farsi would have us put on tefellin each morning with prescribed prayers and much effort. They prescribe that a phylactery must be put on the wrist and on the forehead and the leather strap which holds them must be from a kosher animal and wrapped a certain way around the arm and the head. The passage does not require such specification. The Nasoreans say a simple prayer each morning and don a mezuzah. The point is the same, the mezuzah rests on the breast over the head and arm. How is that any different from the intent of the passage.

All in all, the Nasoreans reject the simple literalism of the Zaddoki and the complicated codifications of the Farsi in favor of a recognition of the Mitzvot and a declaration from the Voice as how to keep it.

Ultimately, it is not the act but the spirit of the act that makes any act holy. Many of the Mitzvot of the Torah are no longer important nor relevant. One has to specifically wear a robe upon which tallits or tassels may be added. But the tassels should remind us of the Mitzvot and the G-d who gave them. Are people any less observant in the simplicity of our ways than in the formalism of the Farsi ways. I would argue that we have the same spirit as they do in our concern for the Mitzvot if not in the much expanded practice. So is wrong to do what the Farsi do. There the passage is undeniable. Declaring that it is sin to eat a hamburger with cheese on it is heresy. It violates the letter of the overriding principle that one may not add to the law. How Kosher? That is for you to decide.