As the urgency and tensions regarding the coronavirus increase, aside from being terrified myself, it’s gotten me thinking about a few aspects of it.
More than anything, it’s striking how at the end of the day, as a human species, we are one. As the coronavirus is separating us more and more, creating massive quarantines, it’s ironically highlighting how on a biological, human species level, all of us on planet Earth are actually all so similar and interconnected; more than we might realize, and more than some of us might even want. But it’s there.
What might you have in common with a culture that consumes dog meat, insects or even bat soup? Nothing, absolutely nothing, you might say and recoil. Yet here we are, all shaking from the possibility of being infected by a virus whose origins are from a bat, whose reach has been sweeping the world.
I was so proud when, a few weeks ago, when China was in crisis with tens of thousands of known coronavirus cases, the chief rabbi of Safed, Shmuel Eliyahu, together with the Orthodox Union in Israel, initiated a massive prayer rally on their behalf at the Wailing Wall.
We are one human species. We are one world.
Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu said: “We have an obligation to everyone created in the image of G-d. The job of the Jewish people is to pray for the good of the entire world.”
Coronavirus has also made me wonder about our relationship to animals and consumption.
What are animals that are meant for human consumption? And what are animals that are not meant for human consumption? What are the boundaries that exist within nature? What are the boundaries and limitations of human consumption so that we can protect ourselves?
Is a virus that originates with an animal and is then transmitted to human cells a mutation? Was it a genome that was meant to be kept in the animal kingdom? If so, could the dangerous mutation and its transmission have been prevented?
The pace at which this virus is spreading is staggering. While thinking about its origins might be a case of spilt milk, at the same time I think it’s important to have the awareness about what we put into our bodies.
In a sense, that is what the laws of kashrut enable us to do: to be mindful of what and how we as humans consume our food.
Whether that is the goal of kashrut or is simply an unintended consequence — it’s a good one. Of course one can consume candy and smoked meats all day, all while keeping strictly kosher. But by virtue of kashrut making us pause to think about what we eat, it creates an opportunity for us to use this built-in structure and limitation on our food consumption with intention and mindfulness.
Look, I’m far from perfect! I snacked on a package of wafers last night! But overall, kashrut can be an invitation for us to be mindful in our food consumption.
Unfortunately this culinary aspect of the coronavirus took a racist turn when a proliferation of disparaging food memes reflecting Chinese culinary habits of eating wildlife, such as snakes, alligators, dog meat and, yes, bats, became a game of finger pointing.
But when a crisis as dangerous as a potentially global coronavirus breaks out, it’s wise to think about what the core issues are. One of them is consumption. The conversation about food and the source of the coronavirus need not center around race. And the conversation should not be addressed solely through the prism of the coronavirus.
For example, the consumption of the limbs of living animals, the Torah prohibition of ayver min ha-chai, which is a mainstream practice in some Asian cultures, is a conversation worth having.
It is one of the Noahide laws that is part of the blueprint of how the Torah envisions the world universally; that animals should not be consumed alive. While not directly related to the coronavirus, this non-Western way of eating has been brought to our attention by the outbreak of the virus in China.
The virus has also put the Western way of eating under scrutiny. The foods we digest — all the food available to us in our culture of abundance — should it all be put into our mouths and bodies? Is half the processed stuff out there, which looks like food, even food?
How can we focus on food consumption in a way that can prevent the next disease, the next outbreak?
The link between food and wellness is so strong.
Just as an example, something in our American culture that is ubiquitous is margarine, which is practically akin to poison. It can causes heart problems and cancer. Its molecular structure is one molecule away from being plastic. Dead, lifeless plastic! Apparently, if you placed an open tub of margarine in your garage for a few days, no flies would be seen going toward it and it would not even develop a foul odor. The body can’t even break down margarine because it adheres to the cell walls and causes havoc. Yet we all keep eating it (well, I don’t! Olive oil is delicious in baked goods!).
What and how we consume in Western culture may be qualitatively different from Asian cultures. What might be careless eating, the cultivation of animals that might not be meant for consumption, might incubate and then spread a virus and trigger a a global public health emergency. Yet, something as simple as having too much margarine, which might impact only one’s personal health, not others, is still a conversation worth having, stimulated by the very real concerns raised by the coronavirus.
Copyright © 2020 by the Intermountain Jewish News
Tehilla, I’m very disappointed that you’re using your platform to propagate misinformation and urban myths about nutrition. These “facts” about margarine are patently false, and all are certainly unsourced, since the simple attempt to locate a source for them quickly undermines their veracity; as an educator, would such work be acceptable from one of your students?
The simple truth is that margarine is akin to…well, butter (and oil). There was a time when the ingredients and processes by which margarine was created induced the presence of unhealthy saturated and trans fats, but since those were revealed to have negative health impacts most margarines and “spreads” have done away with them.
More care needs to be taken to educate people in critical thinking about food and nutrition, rather than baseless rumor and fearmongering. Arsenic and cyanide are 100% natural plant products; yum! Water is just one atom of oxygen away from being hydrogen peroxide, but you won’t last very long drinking that. I can turn milk into plastic in the comfort of my kitchen more readily than I could turn it into butter. Literally everything is a chemical.