Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
That does not really support your argument, does it? Or are you claiming that Europe's plagues were caused by eating tainted pork? And that the Jews not eating pork somehow protected them from plague?
The reason that Jews were less affected than Christians by the various European plagues was not that Jews did not eat pork: the Jewish custom was to clean the house on Friday afternoon in preparation for Shabbat (Sabbath) and washing hands immediately prior to evening, morning and afternoon prayers.
Rather than doing what the Jews were doing, the Christians attacked the Jews for not getting as sick as the Christians.
The washing of the hands prior to praying, thereby reducing bacterial infections, plus adherence to the Mitzvah (Commandment) prohibiting murder, is also why Jewish doctors were preferred by the upper classes over Christian doctors.
The reason that Jews were less affected than Christians by the various European plagues was not that Jews did not eat pork: the Jewish custom was to clean the house on Friday afternoon in preparation for Shabbat (Sabbath) and washing hands immediately prior to evening, morning and afternoon prayers.
Rather than doing what the Jews were doing, the Christians attacked the Jews for not getting as sick as the Christians.
The washing of the hands prior to praying, thereby reducing bacterial infections, plus adherence to the Mitzvah (Commandment) prohibiting murder, is also why Jewish doctors were preferred by the upper classes over Christian doctors.
May I see your evidence for all this? Or any of it?
That does not really support your argument, does it? Or are you claiming that Europe's plagues were caused by eating tainted pork? And that the Jews not eating pork somehow protected them from plague?
I'm claiming that the laws being discussed extend beyond what the jews did with pork.
Quote:
Which is more likely, that somehow a small group of ancients figured out the relationship between health and pork consumption,
All in all... yes. Such continues to happen.
Quote:
The former requires you to embrace a great leap forward in science
nope; mostly it's just observation.
Much the same way they figured out that creating invisible beings that would watch over all that everyone did did was a lot simpler way to keep the group behaving well than hiring 10,000 cops to watch everyone.
...the Jewish custom was to clean the house on Friday afternoon in preparation for Shabbat (Sabbath)
and washing hands immediately prior to evening, morning and afternoon prayers.
The washing of the hands prior to praying, thereby reducing bacterial infections...
Don't forget where that water came from...
and in general just not using wells that were contaminated.
Last edited by MrRational; 11-02-2011 at 09:03 AM..
You have that backwards.
The religious separation (where it happened) was at best incidental
to the very reasonable common sense approach of to cleanliness in general.
In later years, like during the plagues of Europe, the Jews were thought to be devils because
they didn't get infected anywhere near as much as their neighbors who lived in foul and filthy conditions.
hth
So, what's the practical reason for the prohibition on mixing two kinds of fibers when weaving cloth? What's the practical reason for not clipping the edges of the beard? What's the practical reason for a woman being unclean longer after giving birth to a girl than to a boy?
The Bible doesn't say that unless you avoid pork, you're going to die, or have the trots for a week. It doesn't say that you're going to get fat and lazy, that you're going to have heart disease, etc. It does, however, refer back to ritual cleanliness. It doesn't make any sense that the Hebrews managed to have an unmentioned practical dietary reason behind their food prohibitions that almost nobody else in the ancient world had. That's not to say that ritual cleanliness didn't in some cases lead to a reduction in disease, but that still doesn't mean that the root of ritual cleanliness was disease prevention. After all, there are plenty of ways to contract foodborne disease from foods that are clean according to Levitican laws.
I'm claiming that the laws being discussed extend beyond what the jews did with pork.
All in all... yes. Such continues to happen.
nope; mostly it's just observation.
Much the same way they figured out that creating invisible beings that would watch over all that everyone did did was a lot simpler way to keep the group behaving well than hiring 10,000 cops to watch everyone.
hth
The above fails to explain why these observations eluded everyone but the Jews and the Islamics.
Last edited by MrRational; 11-02-2011 at 11:06 AM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
