Doug... wrote:

Yeah, that was probably something of the gist of it. Of course, in the
millennia since, we've gotten a lot of really subtle justifications for
the kosher laws, including some that come very close to numerology.
"God made things in ones and twos, and anything that varies from these
are non-Godly. So cloven hooves are bad, since that's one leg and two
hooves, which makes three..." That's not the real argument, but the
Talmudic arguments that I've read are quite similar to that. A lot of
numerology...


Try the Kabbalah sometime; it makes Quantum Physics look simple by
comparison.
The Jews (and later Christians*) had no idea of the logic mess they had
gotten themselves into as soon as they went monotheistic; theologies
with two contending deities- one evil, one good, work like a charm.
Where you only have one good and all-powerful deity, and you still have
evil around.... you have a _lot_ of explaining to do.

*Of course the Christians cheated by giving the Devil a lot of
power...in ancient Judaism, there was an angel (The Satan) who tempted
people so that God could judge them by their response to the temptation,
but this is done with the consent of, and indeed by the will of, God.
According to Jewish apocryphal works, this situation worked well right
up to the infamous Book Of Job Incident, in which poor Job got all sorts
of trouble dumped on his head because "The Satan" had decided to tempt
_God_ toward evil to see just how well _He'd_ respond.
Bad Career Move.
There was a major falling out between God and The Satan at this point;
and he had to exchange his penthouse apartment for quarters in the
furnace room; but he'd still sneak upstairs when nobody was looking and
get it on with Lilith under God's throne, which caused it to rock.
No, I'm not making this up...this really is in the Jewish apocryphal works.

Pat