Ghost of a flea: Nothing is true, everything is permitted

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March 30, 2006

Nothing is true, everything is permitted

Thanks to "molecular genetics, cloning, and good old American know-how" we are faced with the grim prospect of heart-healthy bacon rich in omega-3 fatty acids. It should be obvious that undermining such a basic tenet of natural law as the bacon taboo is profoundly dangerous; with no transgressions we have nothing left to live for.* Yet it turns out heart-healthy bacon is only a minor antinomian gesture compared with the shape of pigs to come. Radosh asks if genetically-engineered pigs could clear the way for kosher bacon.

OK, here's the relevant part of the Torah: "Do not mate different kinds of animals. Do not plant your field with two kinds of seed. Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material." The first decree would seem pretty definitive. Yet, so does the third, and nobody follows that any more. I bet the second is pretty widely dismissed too. I suspect it might be possible to find a rabbi somewhere who would OK kosher bacon. Maybe.

*Such as the illicit thrill of ending a sentence with a preposition.

Posted by Ghost of a flea at March 30, 2006 06:41 AM

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