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The Torah, in Leviticus 19:16, states:
לֹא-תֵלֵךְ רָכִיל בְּעַמֶּיךָ
“Do not go around spreading slander among your people…”
This verse has always been understood to deal with the prohibition of spreading gossip inside the covenantal community of Torah. Unfortunately, throughout the years there has been a massive abuse of this law, reaching a point where people would use the claim that something is “lashon hara” (literally meaning “evil tongue” or “evil speech”) as a tool to silence people when their statements are uncomfortable for the listener. This, unfortunately, is an incorrect interpretation of the law and is, in truth, a demagogy.
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“Is The Chicken Kosher” is a look into what we know about the consumption of the fowl in history. Does it appear in the Tanakh? When did people start eating it? Who were they? Where did the chicken come from and does it appear in the list of forbidden birds? And in overall, how do we determine what is clean and unclean in a list of names which can change in meaning through time?
Unfortunately, people write very long posts on subjects which are more of a dictionary entry when written by an expert. This is the case for this subject, which has been presented in a very obscure and incorrect way by quasi-Hebrew scholars. I am not going to speak about anyone in particular, but I do want to set the record straight about one specific word.
The debate is up regarding Leviticus 18 and the context it is in. Due to the request of many for me to speak on this matter, I will be dealing with material that some might find offensive. However, we need to remember that we are dealing with an aspect of life, and nothing which is said here is outside of this scope.
An interesting question that comes up when reading Isaiah 58:13 where it says:
אִם–תָּשִׁיב מִשַּׁבָּת רַגְלֶךָ, עֲשׂוֹת חֲפָצֶךָ בְּיוֹם קָדְשִׁי; וְקָרָאתָ לַשַּׁבָּת עֹנֶג, לִקְדוֹשׁ יְהוָה מְכֻבָּד, וְכִבַּדְתּוֹ מֵעֲשׂוֹת דְּרָכֶיךָ, מִמְּצוֹא חֶפְצְךָ וְדַבֵּר דָּבָר.
“If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and YHWH’s holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words”
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