What would happen to an Orthodox jew if they ate pork?

Question

Would they be banned/ cast out or would there be a cleansing ritual? Any difference if it's accidental?

Answer 1

Ok- you eat non-kosher food, you have sinned. And it makes no difference if it is pork or unkosher beef. Contrary to popular belief, all non-kosher food is equally non-kosher and forbidden!

Anyways- if you commit a sin accidently the correct action is to repent and to try not to do it again. If it were a sin with a punishment of karess (spiritual excission) or a death sentence, then, in the days of the Temple, you were required to make a Korban Chatas (sin sacrifice) in the temple. Nowadays- in such a situation it is considered exemplary to make a donation to charity in lieu of the sacrifice.

If you did it deliberately, then you can still repent- but it would be through prayer and undertaking to not repeat the same action. There is no compulsory sacrifice for a person who has deliberately sinned- but when they repent, it was considered the correct action for them tp bring a Korban Orlah (upliftment sacrifice- a sacrifice in whihc the entire animal was burned on the altar, unlike in other sacrifices where the majority of the animal was eaten by the person who dedicated it to the sacrifice. A Lorban Orlah was often given by people who wanted to make a specific dedication or statement of belief in God) and a Korban Chagigah (literally a festive sacrifice, this was also a thanksgiving sacrifice and in this case indicated that the person was thankful they had reached a point at which they had moved away from their deliberate transgresison and back into obeying God's will). Nowadays, once again charity is recommended as a replacement of the sacrifice.

In terms of "cherem": This is used rarely, but is still used. Generally, a Beis Din (Rabbinical court) uses it when somebody refuses to comply with a ruling from a case before them or refuse to do something they should. Thus it is used to pressurise husbands into giving a Get (divorce document) if they refuse without good reason or refuse to pay maintenance (a recent case here in Johannesburg- a man insisted on the Beis Din arbitrating his mantenance discussion- he then refused to abide by the ruling and he was placed in Cherem until such time as he complied and adhered to the ruling of the Beis Din).

And to he who wished it- while the Neturei Karta movement has not got a blanket cherem upon it, specific people in it have been put into Cherem and the Satmar Chassidim have stated that any person from Satmar who joins Neturei Karta is automatically in Cherem.

Answer 2

Eating pork is such an accepted no-no that often even Jews who aren't religious and don't pretend to keep kosher will avoid it like the plague.

There's absolutely no chance that someone who called him/herself an Orthodox Jew would eat pork, unless they were deliberately leaving orthodoxy. Even then, I don't see that as being the thing that would tempt them. I suppose it's possible that a former Orthodox Jew, having gone well off the path, would end up eating pork. By then, though, I suspect they'd have done so many other 'traif' (unclean) things that pork would just be one more.

And it would be hard for an Orthodox Jew to 'accidentally' eat pork. We keep kosher, which means that every bite of food we put into our mouth has gone through a process of rabbinical supervision. We even go through a process of soaking and washing our fruits and vegetables carefully to make sure we don't eat insects--which are as traif as pork.

So it's hard to eat something traif inadvertently, and when it happens, it's a warning to be more careful. Still, it happens--most commonly when it comes to eating milk and meat together. There've been times when I've truly forgotten and had a glass of milk too close to the time when I'd eaten meat. As far as I know, there's no cleansing ritual--I just realize I've done something wrong, ask forgiveness, and go on. It was, after all, an honest mistake.

The Christian idea that Jews must keep every bit of the Law or be doomed to hell is just wrong. First of all--there is no hell in Jewish thought, so that's not an issue. And although we ARE supposed to keep the Law meticulously, each of us messes up. The nice thing about Judaism is that it's not an all-or-nothing proposition; it's a matter of growing more holy. The rabbis I know even caution people who are becoming religious not to take on too much at once. They recognize the fact that if we expect ourselves to be perfect, we set ourselves up for failure. One rabbi I know says that "The perfect is the enemy of the good." So we work toward keeping the mitzvot, but we know that sometimes we'll fail.

But yes, a formerly-Orthodox Jew who suddenly began to eat McDonald's cheeseburgers would be considered to have gone off the path. In my community, that wouldn't mean that they were banned--in fact, they'd be inundated with love and attention, and hopefully brought back to the place where they should be. That would include 'doing tshuvah'--repentance. That's not a cleansing ritual--it's a matter of recognizing and repenting of having done wrong, asking G-d for forgiveness, and vowing never to do it again.

By the way, we consider un-kosher food to literally be spiritually poisonous for a Jew. We believe that it affects a person for years--so even a casual violation, like sneaking a non-kosher cookie, isn't something most Orthodox Jews would be tempted by.

Answer 3

OK, let me try to give you a reasonable answer. First, there is no such thing as "banned" or "casting out" in Judaism. That just doesn't exist. No, there isn't a cleansing ritual for the person either. This is breaking a commandment which is between the person and G-d, as opposed to between two people (like stealing). So in this case you are expected to repent your sin, try not to do it again, and ask for forgiveness from G-d at Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement).

An Orthodox Jew would not eat pork deliberately, so it would be accidental. But accidental or deliberate, the process of repentance is the same.

Having said that, the utensils involved would be ritually unclean and would either have to be made clean (some types of utensils, like steel or glass, can be heated in an oven to above a particular temperature) or thrown out (for porous things like crockery).

Answer 4

When a Jew eats pork, he is immediately struck by lightning - duh, everybody knows that!

Well, since there is no Sanhedrin (Jewish High Court) to enforce Torah law anymore, flogging is kind of out. And since the Temple isn't currently standing, he can't bring a sin offering.

The difference between an intentional sin and an accidental transgression is calculated in how we are judged. Obviously, violating a commandment deliberately is worse than doing so out of carelessness, and being careless is worse than being careful but still making a mistake. Back in the days of the Temple, this would have a practical impact as to what kind of sacrifice one would bring. Nowadays, the bottom line is that one needs to make tshuvah (lit. "return," as in repentance) for all transgressions, and resolve to make greater efforts to do good and avoid wrongdoing (an orthodox Jew makes no distinction between a ritual commandment and an ethical imperative - they're all equally binding because they all eminate from the same source). There is no excommunication (the Hebrew equivalent is called "cherem") for eating non-kosher food. Also, no lightning. That would kind of take away the crucial Free Will aspect of our existence.

I hope you find this information helpful.

EDIT to Mark S:

Hey man, I usually dig your answers, but I'm going to have to disagree with you on one point here. No casting out? What about cherem? Granted, it's very rare that someone is put into cherem, but it does happen, doesn't it? I know I'm not the only one who wishes the gedolei hador would put those Neturei Kartaniks in cherem.

Answer 5

No, the rabbi doesn't chant mystical kabbalistic texts that invoke the wrath of God upon all pork-eaters.
If it because known that a "religious" Jew regularly ate non-kosher (and it doesn't matter if it's pork or a bag of chips without proper certification; it's all the same in Jewish law), my guess is that some of his (or her) friends would start avoiding him, and no one would be willing to eat in his house. And he probably wouldn't be called up to the Torah, or given any other public honors until he shaped up. But there's no ritual shunning of a private sinner.
If it was an accident, he'd probably call up his rabbi in a panic and ask what to do. He might start practicing certain safeguards so that it doesn't happen again, or go to lectures on the seriousness of kosher. And if he ate the pork on his own dishes, he'd have to ritually immerse his plates and silverware.

There IS a concept of excommunication, or "cherem". A bunch of rabbis officially decree that no one is to have contact with a certain individual for a certain period of time, or until he repents. But this was only done once in three blue moons, for big public sins like heresy, or for people who refused to submit to rabbinic authority. It's almost never practiced today, probably because the global village has made it impractical.

Answer 6

There's a cleansing ritual. It would also involve getting rid of all of the kitchen and dinnerware that was contaminated. It can get pretty expensive.

Answer 7

What do you think of people think of of him? If his kinfolk cares approximately their background they probable do no longer basically like the reality he's relationship a gentile. eating crimson meat? it could no longer rely if he's Reform. does not paintings on maximum trip journeys? which of them? What do different persons think of of him for cheating? properly... what does every person think of of cheaters?

Answer 8

Well; when I was in college, we had a study group. Someone ordered sausage on the pizza without telling me. My first bite, I puked it up. Didn't even have a chance to swallow it.

Answer 9

Hardening of the arteries, heart disease, high cholesterol etc..... same thing that happens to all people that eat the stuff God warned us about.

Answer 10

They either have to drink the mikvah water or convert to Celtic catholicism.....