JERUSALEM (VINnews) — Did Jews living in the First Temple period scrupulously maintain the laws of kashrus? The prophet Yeshayahu already decries those “who eat the flesh of the swine and the detestable thing and the rodent, they shall perish together says the Lord.” (66:12) This implies that there were many who did not adhere to Torah rules regarding kosher food.
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However a new study by Ariel University archaeologist Dr. Yonatan Adler regarding fish consumption during the biblical period claims that non-kosher finless and scaleless fish were widely eaten in ancient Israel by all peoples, regardless of ethnic and religious affiliation.
In “The Pentateuchal Dietary Proscription against Finless and Scaleless Aquatic Species in Light of Ancient Fish Remains,” published in the peer-reviewed Tel Aviv archaeological journal on Tuesday, co-authors Dr. Yonatan Adler of Ariel University and Prof. Omri Lernau, present evidence from some 56 fishbone assemblages from 30 sites spanning from 1550 BCE to 640 CE, to establish whether biblical Jews adhered to this Torah prohibition.
In all, some 21,646 skeletal elements were studied, revealing that, at most of the sites there was a preponderance of non-kosher fish, mostly catfish, but also shark, eel, and ray remains, alongside the kosher fish bones.
It should be noted that Adler and Lernau do not refer to the possibility that all of the non-kosher fish found in these sites may have been eaten by Canaanite slaves and proselytes who accepted the Noachide laws but continued to eat non-kosher food. These denominations are widely mentioned in halachic literature and may have been the main consumers of non-kosher fish. Moreover it is also possible that Jews were cognizant of dietary laws but chose to ignore them, as implied by Yeshayahu’s criticism of their dietary behavior.
The authors however presuppose that the large number of sites in which non-kosher fish can be found demonstrate that broad sectors of the populace were consuming such fish. During the Iron Age II, for example, “at over three-quarters of the sites with available evidence, scaleless fish remains are present in modest to moderate amounts: 13% on average (excluding outliers below 5% and above 30%).”
Adler even found evidence of non-kosher fish in Jerusalem and maintains that not all Jews were familiar with the ban on catfish during the First Temple period. Adler’s fish study was sparked by a lecture he heard in 2017 from fellow author Lernau, a retired medical doctor whose hobby is the study of ancient fishbones. Lernau mention the evidence of catfish remains in ancient Jerusalem.
The authors compared the proliferation of non-kosher fish remains with the absence of pig evidence during the same eras and concluded that even before the biblical prohibitions, pigs were not being eaten in ancient Canaan. Already in the Bronze Age,” there are “many sites where we don’t find pig remains and only a limited number of sites where we do find pig remains,” Adler said.
However even he admits that the absence of archaeological evidence does not necessarily prove that people did not eat such animals but the contrast between the lack of pig evidence and the large amount of non-kosher fish remains indicates that these fish were more widely consumed.
I thought they only ate gefilta
This guy’s research conclusions sound a bit “fishy” to me.
It is not a reasonable conclusion, given that it is an issur d’oraisa, which we have always strictly kept.
There is also the absence of any copper wiring found which may attest to the lack of telephone landlines and the widespread use of cellular
Ridiculous. Based on a mere 13% he makes scurrilous claims. More likely that about 13% of the population were not required to eat kosher fish.
Maybe the non-kosher fish came from the whole fish on the fish platters at brissim which are not touched anyway.
The sin of the Eigel is considered a calamitous event for all of Klal Yisroel, for which there is remnants that are included in every tragic punishment throughout the generations. We mark the event with fasting on 17 Tammuz. We have frequent reference to it, even in daily davening, although it is most often alluded to in an indirect manner. According to the posuk, the dead following the Eigel is tallied as 3000. Considering that Klal Yisroel is estimated as being around 3,000,000, that’s a tiny percentage, and it makes you wonder why we attribute the sin of the Eigel to all of the Klal. A commonly reported answer is that the rest of the Klal, while not participating in the worship of the Eigel, was tolerant of it. And that’s enough to be recognized as something terrible for which we are all liable.
I suggest that the navi Yeshaya might not have been accusing this consumption of chazzer and non-kosher fish as a transgression of all or even most. But rather that there was a wide tendency to be indifferent to it. And such tolerance is still a liability.
The first issue is 1550 BCE was way before Matan Torah and yitziyas mitzrayim. All this proves is the immoral kinanim ate what was not even commanded for them to abstain from.
remember the kinanim never left the land completely either. And throughout the shoftI’m there were completely non Jewish towns
It was only during the second Temple that Yidden started following the Torah Laws. Anyone studying Naach can clearly see it. Just learn Naach.