ABSTRACT
Prominent among the means designed to hallow the daily life is the group of prescriptions commonly known as the Dietary Laws. The Pentateuch lays much stress upon the regulation of the bodily appetites. Not content with insisting upon inner and spiritual purity, it demands outward and physical holiness also. The Dietary Laws did more than suggest moral purity; they promoted it. These Dietary Laws are still capable of accomplishing the three purposes: they may help to maintain Jewish separateness; they may preserve the idea of Israel's consecration; and they may exert a powerful influence upon personal purity. To maintain the identity of Judaism is the Jew’s first duty, which is the same as saying that his first duty is to maintain Jewish separateness. That a law or an observance tends to keep up Jewish separateness is by itself no valid argument for its retention.
