Forbidden

A 3,000-Year History of Jews and the Pig

Jordan D. Rosenblum

• Publisher: NYU Press
• Year: 2024
• eBook ISBN: 9781479831500
• Topic: Art
• Subtopic: Agricultural Public Policy

Winner of the 74th National Jewish Book Award: The Jane and Stu­art Weitz­man Fam­i­ly Award for Food Writ­ing and Cook­books

A surprising history of how the pig has influenced Jewish identity

Jews 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.

Starting 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.

All 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. Expansive yet accessible, Forbidden offers a captivating look into Jewish history and identity through the lens of the pig.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Introduction: “My Mother Made Great Pork Chops”: The More-than-3,000-Year History of Jews and the Pig
• 1. “All Who Eat It Agree”: The Signifying Swine in the Second Temple Period
• 2. “A Jew May Not Raise Pigs Anywhere”: Euphemism and Stigma in the Classical Rabbinic Period
• 3. “The Piggish Talmud”: From Metaphor to Mockery in the Medieval Period
• 4. “Sav’d His Bacon”: Pig and Persecution in the Early Modern Period
• 5. “Pigs Represent for Us a New Problem”: Pig Polemics across the Globe in the Modern Period
• 6. “No Jew Ever Died Refusing to Eat Shrimp”: Pig Polemics in the United States in the Modern Period
• Conclusion: “Thank You Very Much. I Am a ”: Arriving at the Tail of Our Tale
• Acknowledgments
• Notes
• References
• Index
• About the Author