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“They Kept Themselves Apart in the Matter of Food”: The Nature and Significance of Hellenistic Jewish Food Practices

David M. Freidenreich

in Foreigners and Their Food: Constructing Otherness in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Law

The redefinition of Jewish identity that occurs during the period of Hellenistic cultural dominance, which extends well into the beginning of the Common Era, necessitates a reimagining by Hellenistic ... More

The redefinition of Jewish identity that occurs during the period of Hellenistic cultural dominance, which extends well into the beginning of the Common Era, necessitates a reimagining by Hellenistic Jews of the distinction between “us” and “them”, and a parallel revision of the systems of classification that give this distinction meaning. Food restrictions play an important role in the way many of these Jews imagine Jewish identity and mark the otherness of non-Jews; these restrictions do not play such a role during earlier periods of Israelite and Jewish history. This chapter presents a comparison of Alexandrian and Judean works, revealing sharp differences in the ways authors in these two communities envision the proper place of Jews within the broader social order of the Hellenistic world.Less

“How Nice is This Bread!”: Intersections of Talmudic Scholasticism and Foreign Food Restrictions

David M. Freidenreich

in Foreigners and Their Food: Constructing Otherness in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Law

The Talmuds contain a considerable number of passages regarding foreign food restrictions, each with its own set of intricacies and complications. Zvi Arie Steinfeld has analyzed many of these ... More

The Talmuds contain a considerable number of passages regarding foreign food restrictions, each with its own set of intricacies and complications. Zvi Arie Steinfeld has analyzed many of these passages in a series of articles, and this chapter draws on his important studies. It begins with a brief survey of passages that pursue “ivory tower” goals of classification and legal precision with respect to foodstuffs. It then turns to more sustained analysis of passages that reflect efforts to limit social intercourse with gentiles through commensality-oriented restrictions. This analysis devotes particular attention to the ways in which scholastic methods of interpreting and transmitting sources advance a social agenda. The final third of the chapter is devoted to a close reading of Talmudic texts addressing a single foreign food restriction, the prohibition of bread baked by gentiles. This case study illuminates the interplay of various pedagogical and pragmatic concerns within the scholastic environment of rabbinic academies and the Talmuds they produced. Whether oriented toward theoretical or practical matters, however, all of the authorities whose statements are examined in the chapter regard non-Jews as indistinct and mostly nondescript. Talmudic Sages construct the otherness of gentiles in order to serve as a contrasting background against which to define Jewish identity.Less

“How Could Their Food Not Be Impure?”: Jewish Food and the Definition of Christianity

David M. Freidenreich

in Foreigners and Their Food: Constructing Otherness in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Law

This chapter examines foreign food restrictions that are among the thousands of “canons” promulgated in late antiquity and the Middle ages by individual bishops or, more frequently, by councils of ... More

This chapter examines foreign food restrictions that are among the thousands of “canons” promulgated in late antiquity and the Middle ages by individual bishops or, more frequently, by councils of clerics. The high Middle Ages witnessed both increasing papal influence over canon law in the Latin West and the development of canon law as a science in the nascent European universities. Medieval scholars rightly perceived a qualitative difference between the “old law” promulgated before the twelfth century and the “new law” that succeeded it. This chapter focuses on “old law,” especially that of the fourth through ninth centuries. The geographic scope of this chapter extends from Spain to Sasanid Babylonia.Less

The Value of Lightness

Simona Giordano

in Understanding Eating Disorders: Conceptual and Ethical Issues in the Treatment of Anorexia and Bulimia Nervosa

Lightness and fasting are often associated with positive feelings and with beauty. Arts, music, and literature testify the value that is attached to lightness in Western culture. Lightness and food ... More

Lightness and fasting are often associated with positive feelings and with beauty. Arts, music, and literature testify the value that is attached to lightness in Western culture. Lightness and food restriction are also thought to be morally valuable, as an instrument to asceticism and spirituality. This chapter discusses the body-mind split and its repercussions on the value of lightness. It traces the origins of this split in ancient Greece, and looks at how such metaphysics of the human person spreads in the Latin world and in Western religion and philosophy. It shows that food restriction becomes valuable in the light of this metaphysics and of the ethics that follow from it. Food restriction corporealizes self-government, self-discipline, willpower and control, all of which are praised within such an ideology. The body is corrupted and corruptible, and needs to be controlled and transcended. Lightness and slenderness are the emblem of the person’s self-control and discipline. Concomitant denigration of fat reflects the low conception of the body, which is found in all eras in Western culture. Lightness and thinness are normative, moral ideals that reflect the body/mind juxtaposition and the idea that the body is inferior to the spirit or mind.Less

“No Distinction Between Jew and Greek”: The Roles of Food in Defining the Christ-believing Community

David M. Freidenreich

in Foreigners and Their Food: Constructing Otherness in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Law

Many Jewish members of the Christ-believing community, like their ancestors, regarded food restrictions in general and foreign food restrictions in particular as an important means both of marking ... More

Many Jewish members of the Christ-believing community, like their ancestors, regarded food restrictions in general and foreign food restrictions in particular as an important means both of marking the otherness of gentiles and of effecting a separation from them. For that reason, New Testament passages addressing these restrictions provide important insights into the ultimately successful efforts of those who sought to redefine this community and its boundaries. These passages address two separate issues, which are examined in this chapter: the dietary laws incumbent upon gentile as well as Jewish Christ-believers, and the norms governing commensality with fellow Christ-believers.Less

“Eat the Permitted and Good Foods God Has Given You”: Relativizing Communities in the Qur'an

David M. Freidenreich

in Foreigners and Their Food: Constructing Otherness in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Law

The foundations of the Islamic approach to the classification of foreigners may be seen in passages of the Qur'an that address the intertwined themes of meat-related food restrictions, foreign ... More

The foundations of the Islamic approach to the classification of foreigners may be seen in passages of the Qur'an that address the intertwined themes of meat-related food restrictions, foreign dietary practices, and the food of foreigners. Qur'anic discourse about meat-related food restrictions regularly juxtaposes the dietary norms which believers ought to follow with the beliefs and practices of foreigners, demonstrating that adherence to these norms marks believers as distinct from idolaters and Jews. Passages that address these restrictions, however, express three different, albeit overlapping, ideas about the relationship between the Qur'an's audience of believers and members of other religious communities. Surahs ascribed to the Meccan period of Muhammad's prophethood (ca. 610–22) portray these dietary laws as a golden mean between two undesirable sets of food practices: those of idolaters on the one hand and those of Jews on the other. Believers, unlike idolaters, possess accurate knowledge of the divine will with respect to food but, as non-Jews, are not bound by the punitively rigorous laws which God imposed upon the Children of Israel. In contrast, most passages about dietary laws in surahs associated with the Medinan period (622–32) emphasize the distinction between believers and Jews while rhetorically associating the latter with idolaters. Whereas Meccan surahs treat Jews separately from idolaters, Medinan surahs conflate these communities. This chapter examines Meccan and Medinan texts in turn.Less

“only Monotheists May be Entrusted With Slaughter”: The Targets of Shiʿi Foreign Food Restrictions

David M. Freidenreich

in Foreigners and Their Food: Constructing Otherness in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Law

Shi'is face an uphill battle in their efforts to justify prohibitions against nearly all foodstuffs associated with all non-Muslims. The Qur'an, after all, distinguishes People of the Book from ... More

Shi'is face an uphill battle in their efforts to justify prohibitions against nearly all foodstuffs associated with all non-Muslims. The Qur'an, after all, distinguishes People of the Book from idolaters, declaring that “the food of those who were given the Book is permitted to you.” This chapter examines the manner in which Shi'i authorities reconcile their positions with those expressed in the Qur'an. The examination provides the opportunity to reflect on the use of scripture within Jewish and Christian discourse about foreign food restrictions as well. Neither the Hebrew Bible nor the New Testament provides evident support for many of the statements articulated by later interpreters of these works. The chapter's final section analyzes Sunni and Shi'i discourse regarding cheese, a borderline case that reveals the affinities between Islamic authorities at loggerheads with one another.Less

“A People Made Holy to the Lord”: Meals, Meat, and the Nature of Israel's Holiness in the Hebrew Bible

David M. Freidenreich

in Foreigners and Their Food: Constructing Otherness in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Law

This chapter considers the Hebrew Bible's seemingly nonchalant attitude toward the food of foreigners. The Hebrew Bible emphasizes the distinction between “us” and “them”, and the superiority of ... More

This chapter considers the Hebrew Bible's seemingly nonchalant attitude toward the food of foreigners. The Hebrew Bible emphasizes the distinction between “us” and “them”, and the superiority of Israelite religion over all others. Biblical texts that address dietary laws, moreover, consistently associate these regulations with Israel's distinctive identity. Because Israelites are holy, these texts declare, they must adhere to various norms regarding the consumption of flesh from formerly living creatures. Why, then, do these texts fail to prohibit the consumption of meat prepared by non-Israelites or, for that matter, the practice of eating with non-Israelites? The silence of Biblical law in this respect becomes even more perplexing when narrative references to instances in which Israelites consume food associated with foreigners are examined. The chapter surveys such references before turning its attention to the central question. It concludes with a brief discussion of impurity, a concept whose significance to the present study will become apparent in subsequent chapters.Less

Christians “Adhere to God's Book,” but Muslims “Judaize”: Islamic and Christian Classifications of One Another

David M. Freidenreich

in Foreigners and Their Food: Constructing Otherness in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Law

This chapter shows that the different methods by which Christians and Muslims traditionally classify foreigners dictate the different ways in which they interpret information about the religious ... More

This chapter shows that the different methods by which Christians and Muslims traditionally classify foreigners dictate the different ways in which they interpret information about the religious practices of foreigners. Islamic and Christian discourse about one another's food also reflects a fundamental difference between Sunni and Christian conceptions of foreigners: the former ascribe specific significance to Christianity as well as to Judaism, whereas the latter—even in their discussions of Muslims—are concerned primarily about the Jews. Because foreign food restrictions embody conceptions of the relationships between “us” and “them”, they shed light on the different roles which foreigners play in the medieval self-definitions of Sunni Islam and Latin Christianity.Less

“Idolaters Who do not Engage in Idolatry”: Rabbinic Discourse about Muslims, Christians, and Wine

David M. Freidenreich

in Foreigners and Their Food: Constructing Otherness in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Law

This chapter focuses on Jewish conceptions of Muslims and Christians, as reflected in regulations governing wine associated with gentiles. It highlights the importance that medieval authorities ... More

This chapter focuses on Jewish conceptions of Muslims and Christians, as reflected in regulations governing wine associated with gentiles. It highlights the importance that medieval authorities ascribed to their respective approaches to classifying humanity. It shows how distinctively Jewish, Christian, and Islamic styles of thought on this subject result in divergent responses to questions about the application of foreign food restrictions to contemporary foreigners.Less

“Be on Your Guard Against Food Offered to Idols”: Eidōlothuton and Early Christian Identity

David M. Freidenreich

in Foreigners and Their Food: Constructing Otherness in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Law

The earliest advocates of the gentile mission could not have imagined the impact that their outreach would have on the composition of the Christ-believing community, its self-definition, and its ... More

The earliest advocates of the gentile mission could not have imagined the impact that their outreach would have on the composition of the Christ-believing community, its self-definition, and its attitudes toward the Jews and gentiles who remained outside its bounds. Because this mission proved far more successful than efforts to persuade Jews to accept Jesus as the messiah, the Christ-believing community and its leaders increasingly hailed from gentile backgrounds. These individuals rejected the religious traditions of their ancestors, but they did not regard their new religious identity as Jewish either. On the contrary, they understood themselves to be “neither Jew nor Greek,” interpreting Paul's words about faith in God through Christ from a very different perspective than Paul himself had done. They were “Christians,” and over the second and third centuries they created the notion of “Christianity” as a distinct religion. This chapter focuses on the role played in this process by Christian attitudes toward the permissibility of various foodstuffs, especially foodstuffs associated with foreigners. These attitudes reflect the styles in which Christian authorities imagined Jews and idolatrous gentiles, and thus the style in which they defined Christianity as neither the former nor the latter.Less

Metanorm Expectations: If Everybody's Doing It, Does That Make It Right?

in The Rewards of Punishment: A Relational Theory of Norm Enforcement

This chapter explores whether metanorms can cause individuals to punish inconsequential actions. Using food restrictions first as an example, it contends that norms such as those which regulate the ... More

This chapter explores whether metanorms can cause individuals to punish inconsequential actions. Using food restrictions first as an example, it contends that norms such as those which regulate the width of a man's tie or the utensils used at the dinner table raise the question of why people react negatively to inconsequential behavior. The discussion highlights the tendency of individuals to try to figure out of which behaviors others approve or disapprove and, therefore, would like to see punished, although there is no guarantee that their reading of the clues will be correct. There likely are social pressures that reinforce this behavior. People who want to look good to others will criticize atypical behavior in order to establish their own behavior and to attract positive attention.Less