When others think about living under “The Law,” Jewish Law that is, they think of oppression. This is the trick modern Christianity has played on the world, convincing them that the law was oppressive but Christianity offers grace. In fact, Jewish law was meant to protect its people, and because we don’t follow Jewish law today we see many problems occurring within our health and world.
In a time when their neighboring tribes had a life expectancy of 30ish, Jewish people were regularly living to much older ages. Why? Jewish law protected them from many of the things that plagued there neighbors.
Dietary Law
Shellfish was forbidden which often led to deaths. Even today, we still have people with horrific shellfish allergies. However in that time, when the fish were being brought into a desert area and sold at open market, the potential for death was even greater.
The Jewish people did not eat meat and dairy together. One of the first and most amazing things I learned in college health class was from a Guest speaker who was a doctor. Eating meat and dairy together actually can lead to diabetes, where as eating them at least 30 minutes apart gives the body a better chance of properly digesting and using the nutrients. Today, when we have convinced ourselves we don’t need the law, diabetes is an epidemic.
Dietary laws also forbid the eating of pork. Pork often contains parasites and preparation in the desert would have been difficult, with no refrigeration and cooking over open flames. Thus, the eating of pork posed a significant risk for illness.
Hygiene
Jewish people were required to practice regular bathing and full submersion in water. This hygiene helped them defeat many of the diseases that plagued other civilizations. Still, we know people who practice better hygiene have better health.
Jewish law required that the people not wear mixed fabrics. Living in the desert, such fabrics would have caused heat rashes and skin infections which were not easily treated in that time. If you’re a bigger person, you know this all to well. You’re much less likely to get that painful heat rash between your thighs, if you wear cotton instead of denim in the heat.
Community Law
Hospitality was important under Jewish law. You had a duty to care for the stranger in your land, feed the hungry, and shelter the homeless. Can you imagine how much less poverty and violence we’d have in the world today if we lived by these laws?
Poorer quality crops were left for the poor and the hungry to harvest and take without payment. People were not starving while their rich neighbor was feasting.
Every 50 years was a day of Jubilee in which all debts were erased. Wouldn’t it be nice to get a fresh start? How would it feel to know you wouldn’t leave your offspring with any debt when you died?
Rest
Jewish law required that Jews do no work on Saturdays. Thus they always had a day of rest. How stressed are we in today’s world which never stops? Even on our days off from work we have work to do. Stress is a major contributing factor to, heart diseases, strokes, and diabetes, the top causes of death in the US.
Jewish law kept the people alive and deserves our respect and honor. If we obeyed Jewish law today we’d have less diabetes, less stress, less deaths from shellfish allergies, less poverty, less violence, and less skin infections. We think it’s medically impossible to live to the ages listed in the Bible, but is it? What if we followed the law like those people did? Jewish law was never about oppression. It is about giving and sustaining life. It is about physical health and mental wellness. Jewish law is Jewish blessing.
If you want to read more about Jewish Laws click here.
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