Cohn, Jacob. The Royal Table - VWC: Faculty/Staff Web

BASES OF THE DIETARY LAWS 13
lineage. The royal table provides fare of an entirely dif-
ferent sort from that to which commoners are accustomed.
God's nobility was provided with an intricate set of rules
as to what it becomes its dignity to eat, and from what it
ought
to refrain.
It is significant that the Torah couples the concept of
holiness with that of prohibited foods. "And a holy peo-
ple shall ye be unto me, and flesh torn in the field shall ye
not eat" (Exodus XXII, 30). "Ye shall not eat an animal
that dieth of itself ... for a holy people are ye
to the
Lord; nor shall ye seethe a kid in its mother's milk" (Deut.
XIV, 21). "For I am the Lord your God and ye shall
Jiallow yourselves and be holy, for I am holy; and ye shall
not defile yourselves with all the creeping things which
creep upon the earth" (Lev. XIX, 44). To get the full
significance of these passages requires a profound under-
Standing of the meaning of holiness. In the very simplest
terms holiness is a word used in describing the ineffable
state of Divinity. By analogy, whatever is like God is
'said to be holy. To hallow oneself means to try to live
in accordance with the will of God. Since God willed that
men refrain from certain foods whatever reason He may
have had for willing this command this restraint becomes
ipso facto a hallowing act. Indeed, some have gone so far
as to suggest that the whole matter of prohibited foods is'
simply a test of faith in God. "Some say that all uncleani
animals of the present world will become clean in the
future," declares a Midrash. "Those which will be cleansed
will be those which were originally permitted to Noah, as
it is written, 'as green herbs I have given you all.' Just
as green herbs were given to all originally, so were the
animals. Why then were some later prohibited (to Israel) ?
In order that He may see who obeys His word and who