I
Need to be Heard?
TORAH PORT
RED THRE
Parshat Shmini: Leviticus 9:1-11:47;
11 Samuel 6:1-7:17.
invites you to join the discussion.
Come to our April coffee klatch at
A
few years ago, my wife, Lori,
and I jointly decided to go on
the Atkins diet. Our clearly
defined goals (as the program prom-
ised): "To lose weight! Increase energy!
Look great!"
The first year we were farbrent
(zealous) Atkins dieters, and carbohy-
drates were basically declared "treif"
in our house. We strictly did without
pastas, cookies, breads (except for
Shabbat challah, of course, which we
decided must have no carbs if eaten on
Shabbat) and other high-carb foods.
The diet was a success.
Our goals were met, weight
was lost and we did indeed
feel like we had increased
energy.
At the same time that
we were following the new
Atkins diet, we were main-
taining our old, long-stand-
ing diet of keeping kosher.
Our clearly defined goals
for this old diet ... well, to
tell you the truth, were not
as clearly defined. It was
something that we decided
to do when we were first
married and had maintained for the
following 30 years.
In this week's Torah portion, Parshat
Shmini, God speaks to Moses and
Aaron and introduces them to the
basic dietary laws that will form the
foundation for keeping kosher. "Speak
to the children of Israel, saying: These
are the living things which you may eat
among all of the beasts that are on the
earth." (Lev.11:2).
God then lists clean and unclean
animals, fish and fowl that may or
may not be eaten. Rather than carbs,
this diet takes into account cloven feet,
chewing cud, fins, scales, birds of prey
and things that swarm.
The goal of this diet, as declared by
God: "For I am the Lord that brought
Border's Books
34300 Woodward Ave, Birmingham
Wednesday, April 6
from 9:30-11 a.m.
No Pressure + No Cost =
Good Times!
Iwo
UMAN TRAFFICKING:
Why We Must Know and
by We Must Care -
Are Our Children at Risk?
Bridgette Carr
Professor of Law, University of Michigan
Director of the Human Trafficking Law Clinic at the university
APRIL 14, 201 1
9:30 A.M. - NOON
Max M. Fisher Federation Building
6735Telegraph Road
Bloomfield Hills, MI 48301
$25
Seating is limited • Pre-registration is required
Register online at www.jewishdetroitorgriwf
or by phone : Pat Mayer, (248) 642-4260, ext 224
Students with valid I.D. and employees of non-profit organizations
please call for special ticket price consideration
FOUNDATION
Ismumnimmil
Inez of k--11.% Wan.
JcAda
Jewish
>toalitiOn4
DOMESTIC ABUSE
4
of J.wi hwom<n
"
Jeffrey Lasday became director of
Federation's Alliance for Jewish Education
in August. He looks forward to selling his
house in New Jersey so Lori can join him
and bring the fleshig dishes.
Cgc.1 0, f oic Scas,,
• Jews are called Am Kadosh, a holy people. What does it mean to be holy?
• The mitzvot, the commandments to keep kosher are considered to be
chukim, laws to be obeyed from God which have no rational explanation.
If there is no rational reason to keep kosher, why should we?
• If you were to develop your own rules for keeping kosher, what foods
would you include or exclude?
Jewish
Yak. Community
AIWA Relations
Council
U OF M DEARBORN
1682420
March 24 2011
you out of the land of Egypt to be your
God; you shall therefore be holy, for I
am holy." (Lev. 11:45).
Dieting to loose weight, to gain
energy, to look great are all very con-
crete, understandable reasons to fol-
low a diet. However, dieting to be holy,
just what does this mean to follow the
kosher diet in order to be holy? What
does not eating a Big Mac have to do
with being holy?
Kadosh in Hebrew, which is trans-
lated as holy, can also be understood
conceptually as meaning distinct,
separate, unique. Keeping
kosher then becomes a sign,
a daily reminder to strive to
be Godlike.
Every time we open our
= mouths for a meal or for a
snack we are reminded of
who we are and whom we
represent. We are reminded
not to take our food, our
world, our blessings for
granted. Eating becomes, like
the string tied around our
finger or the task app on our
smart phone, a daily remind-
er of who we are and what
we have to do and be in this world.
It has been said that for the non-Jew,
going into McDonald's is about having
a Big Mac. For the Jew, it's about mak-
ing a theological statement of belief.
For Jews, we define ourselves as being
you are what you eat."
Since that first year on Atkins we
have, unfortunately, backslid in our
anti-carb campaign, though we still try
to be (somewhat) mindful of our over-
all carb intake. Our original diet, the
kosher one, is still going strong.
Conversations
NCJ
SUPPORTED BY HONIGMAN, MILLER, SCHWARTZ & COHN, LLP
34
ON
No Carbs, No Treif
magazine
JEWISH
WOMEN'S
Sprituality
i