A blog post by Adam. We were just in Eilat. It's a resort town on Israel's sliver of the Dead Sea. The snorkeling was great and as we mentioned in a previous blog post, prices weren't too crazy. These facts, however, we're not as surprising as the abundance of shellfish at the various restaurants. Shellfish is not kosher, and I sort of had the expectation that treyf (not kosher) food would be hard to come by in Israel. Not in Eilat.
In the USA, I choose to avoid treyf food, in order to remind myself of my Jewish identity even when it appears that I'm barely conscious that I'm eating (in some circles I have a reputation of eating so quickly that it is unclear if I chew or swallow-whole). I also choose to eat kosher-style because I can, whereas so many Jews who wanted to in the past could not (i.e. those living during the Holocaust).
In Israel, however, I don't really need to remind myself of my Jewish identity, since it's pretty much all around me. And in many ways Israel is the response to the Holocaust so merely being here memorializes those who are not. So, if not for religious reasons, why be kosher in Israel?
Still, I couldn't do it. It just didn't feel right and maybe at the end of the day that's what it is more about. Rather than my rational reasons for not eating treyf, it just feels wrong to eat pig and shrimp when you're Jewish. Plus, I don't like shellfish and the smell of bacon makes me want to hurl. Double plus, the shrimp dishes were more expensive than the chicken ones. Now there's a Jewish value we can all get behind.
And shrimp farming is bad for the environment as you pointed out to me one time.
ReplyDelete