Rachel B. Gross states that at a time when three-fourths of American Jews say that they do not keep kosher (“Jewish Food Does Not Begin and End with Kosher,” March 2), we should not be surprised when Jews gather together and eat non-kosher food. That is their right in this country. What is surprising is the lack of consideration for others while proclaiming their right to not keep kosher.
When you choose to have a “Trefa Banquet” to show how liberated you can be, you are excluding the people who do keep kosher. How odd that the Illuminoshi can’t “generate personal conversations” unless they are eating treife food.
Crab cakes can be eaten by a Jewish person. This does not make them Jewish food. While eating ethically is to be applauded, it is kosher only if it is in accord with the rules of kashrut. Anything else is just alternative facts. Unfortunately, more and more we are living in a world where people are so concerned with exercising their own rights to explore their own identity that there is no room for anyone else’s needs.
Banquet organizer Alix Wall stated that eating pork reminds her of her mother who had to eat pork as a hidden child during WWII. Couldn’t it be meaningful to eat kosher food because you have the liberty to do so when your mother didn’t have a choice?
The State Department includes in its definition of anti-Semitism having a double standard when it comes to Jews versus non-Jews. I believe a similar double standard exists here.
