Penance for Breaking Kosher?

[fisher_queen]

Google Terms: Kosher, Breaking Kosher, Kashrut, Breaking Kashrut, Penance for breaking kosher

Comments

[dragonbat2006]

Scripture prohibits eating pork, not wearing pigskin. If it's needed to save a life (think medication in gelatin capsules), you can even ingest it. Bottom line, your character is doing absolutely nothing wrong. Kosher is not broken. No prayers. No penance. He just needs to wash the residue off his hands before eating.

[fisher_queen]

Excellent! Thanks so much! I can definitely work with this!

[dsgood]

And I believe even eating pork is recommended if the alternative is starvation.

[dragonbat2006]

Yup, that would fall under "needed to save a life".

[seiberwing]

If it's to save a life, you can get away with nearly anything (I think idol worship, murder, and adultery are the holdouts) in Judaism.

[chilperic]

If there is goin to be any reference to the real 1190s, don't forget the appalling pogrom of March 1190 in York. That's still going to be uppermost in the minds of any Jew in England in the 1190s.

[fisher_queen]

This gives me an amazing perspective to address this character's main goal with! He wants to get his mother and little brothers the hell out of England, and it's good to know I have a strong historical event to back that up. I'm much more familiar with the renaissance period and attitudes in it, so I sometimes forget to look for current events that'll make things stronger.

[attimes_bracing]

I asked a friend and this is what she gave me:

With the caveat that I'm really not an expert on this...

As far as I'm aware whilst there is a definite prohibition of eating pig meat, the same doesn't apply to touching it, especially if it's to provide medical aid to a non-Jewish child, so as long as he is sure to clean his hands (granted not necessarily the easiest of feats in an 1190's jail!) before touching anything else and definitely before eating anything there would be no penance.