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From: wmartin@brl-tgr.ARPA (Will Martin )
Newsgroups: net.religion,net.religion.jewish
Subject: Re: Noachic laws (disagreeing with Rosen)
Message-ID: <7181@brl-tgr.ARPA>
Date: Thu, 10-Jan-85 14:58:54 EST
Article-I.D.: brl-tgr.7181
Posted: Thu Jan 10 14:58:54 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 13-Jan-85 07:06:21 EST
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Xref: watmath net.religion:5263 net.religion.jewish:1247

Just out of curiosity, in relation to that one of the (net-reported) Noachic
laws relating to eating the flesh of a living animal, would the practice
of the Masai of eating/drinking the blood of their cattle as a standard
part of their diet be considered in violation? 

By the way, I tried explaining and discussing the concept of these "Noachic"
laws with my wife (a widely-read fundamentalistic Protestant) and a friend who
has had extensive Catholic religious training [spent some time as a monastic
novice before deciding against continuing it]; neither knew anything about
them. I tried finding references to them in the passages about Noah in both the
King James Version Bible and a Torah, and found nothing at all. Later net
traffic has referred to them as "Talmudic", which I guess in this case
means they came from other sources. So are they really more than a "folk 
tradition" or do they have any justification in Torah?

One last point -- what should the Jewish attitude be to members of a culture
whose customs violate these laws, or to individuals who do so personally?
(I keep thinking of some famous Chinese banquet dish of a fish which is 
still alive at the head end, but which is fried at the tail... Seems just
what the one law is talking about...) Does not adhering to these laws make
them less than human? Or just people to be avoided as bad influences? Or what?

Will Martin

USENET: seismo!brl-bmd!wmartin     or   ARPA/MILNET: wmartin@almsa-1.ARPA