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UID:MEC-eb97787cc077f0796db8adf7ec307f81@jewishcommunitylibrary.org
DTSTART:20250327T013000Z
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CREATED:20250119
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SUMMARY:For­bid­den: A 3,000-Year His­to­ry of Jews and the Pig, with Jordan Rosenblum
DESCRIPTION:\n\n\n\nClick here to register for this free virtual program.\n\nJews do not eat pig. This (not always true) observation has been made by both Jews and non-Jews for more than three thousand years and is rooted in biblical law. Though the Torah prohibits eating pig meat, it is not singled out more than other food prohibitions. Horses, rabbits, squirrels, and even vultures, while also not kosher, do not inspire the same level of revulsion for Jews as the pig. The pig has become an iconic symbol for people to signal their Jewishness, non-Jewishness, or rebellion from Judaism. There is nothing in the Bible that suggests Jews are meant to embrace this level of pig-phobia.\nStarting with the Hebrew Bible, Jordan D. Rosenblum historicizes the emergence of the pig as a key symbol of Jewish identity, from the Roman persecution of ancient rabbis, to the Spanish Inquisition, when so-called Marranos (“Pigs”) converted to Catholicism, to Shakespeare’s writings, to modern memoirs of those leaving Orthodox Judaism. The pig appears in debates about Jewish emancipation in eighteenth-century England and in vaccine conspiracies; in World War II rallying cries, when many American Jewish soldiers were “eating ham for Uncle Sam;” in conversations about pig sandwiches reportedly consumed by Karl Marx; and in recent deliberations about the kosher status of Impossible Pork.\nAll told, there is a rich and varied story about the associations of Jews and pigs over time, both emerging from within Judaism and imposed on Jews by others. Forbidden, which received a National Jewish Book Award, offers a captivating look into Jewish history and identity through the lens of the pig.\nJordan D. Rosenblum teaches Jewish studies at University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he is also the Belzer Professor of Classical Judaism at the Mosse/Weinstein Center for Jewish Studies. He is the author of Rabbinic Drinking: What Beverages Teach Us About Rabbinic Literature; The Jewish Dietary Laws in the Ancient World; and Food and Identity in Early Rabbinic Judaism; and coeditor of Feasting and Fasting: The History and Ethics of Jewish Food.\nProgram made possible, in part, by Emily Brewer in honor and memory of her father, Dr. Richard Brewer.\n\n\n\n\n
URL:https://jewishcommunitylibrary.org/events-listing/forbidden/
LOCATION:Virtual via Zoom
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://jewishcommunitylibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Jordan-Rosenblum-e1737339011924.jpeg
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