Don’t Be a Pig
In Parshat Shemini, the rudiments of the laws of kashrut, the Jewish dietary system, are introduced, particularly the animals that are off limits. The Torah outlines several basic rules governing which animals may be eaten and which may not: land animals must both chew their cud and have split hooves. After establishing these principles, the Torah provides examples of animals that fail to meet the standard. The most well-known on this list is the pig, which, over time, became the “poster animal” for all that is not kosher or fit for consumption.
Why the pig, and not the camel or the rabbit? In Greco-Roman times, the pig likely stood out because it was the most popular meat in the ancient world; abstaining from it marked the Jew as distinct and resistant to assimilation. This distinction became especially pronounced during Hasmonean times, when the Greeks attempted to impose both the sacrifice and consumption of pigs upon the Jewish population. Swine consumption remained widespread in Roman culture as well, and Jews were even mocked in Roman “stand-up” routines for their refusal to partake.
The anthropologist Mary Douglas sought to uncover the deeper logic behind the biblical prohibition. She argued that pigs were forbidden because they possess only one of the two required סימנים (signs): they have split hooves but do not chew their cud. As such, they defy neat classification. Biblical society, she suggested, was deeply uncomfortable with such ambiguity and therefore excluded it.
The sages appear to have recognized this very quality in the pig, but they transformed its ambiguous status into both a critique of their Roman adversaries and a moral lesson. “Why is Rome compared to a pig?” they asked. “Because just as a pig, when it lies down, stretches out its hooves and says, ‘Look, I am pure’ (since it has split hooves, even though it does not chew its cud), so too does the wicked kingdom of Rome present itself as righteous and benevolent, while robbing and extorting under the guise of justice.”
The midrash continues with an anecdote to illustrate the point:
There was a certain government official in Caesarea who, after sentencing thieves, adulterers, and sorcerers to death, leaned over to a colleague and remarked, ‘I myself committed all three of those acts in a single night.’ (adapted from Vayikra Rabbah 13:5, Margoliot ed. pp. 391-2)
In this midrash, the pig becomes a symbol of duplicity. It presents itself as kosher, while in truth it is not. The sages coined an idiom for such behavior: ein tokho k’varo – “one’s inner self does not match one’s outer self.”
While the critique in the midrash is directed at Rome, its message is universal, especially for those who wield power. None of us is perfect, but a life of Torah demands that we strive for integrity and consistency, that our outward behavior reflect the values we claim to uphold. In other words: Don’t be a pig!
