Rembrandt - Jacob Wrestling with the Angel - Google Art Project

''Gid Hanasheh'' ( he, גִּיד הַנָּשֶׁה ''Gīḏ hanNāše'', literally "forgotten

sinew A tendon or sinew is a tough, high-tensile-strength band of dense fibrous connective tissue that connects muscle to bone. It is able to transmit the mechanical forces of muscle contraction to the skeletal system without sacrificing its ability ...

", often translated as "displaced tendon") is the term for

sciatic nerve The sciatic nerve, also called the ischiadic nerve, is a large nerve in humans and other vertebrate animals which is the largest branch of the sacral plexus and runs alongside the hip joint and down the lower limb. It is the longest and widest ...

in Judaism. It may not be eaten by Jews according to

Halacha ''Halakha'' (; he, הֲלָכָה, ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws which is derived from the written and Oral Torah. Halakha is based on biblical comman ...

(Jewish Law). The laws regarding the prohibition of ''gid hanasheh'' are found in Tractate Chullin, chapter 7.

Biblical Source

The

Torah The Torah (; hbo, ''Tōrā'', "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. In that sense, Torah means the ...

() recounts that

Jacob Jacob (; ; ar, يَعْقُوب, Yaʿqūb; gr, Ἰακώβ, Iakṓb), later given the name Israel, is regarded as a patriarch of the Israelites and is an important figure in Abrahamic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. ...

fought with an

angel In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God. Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles ...

(according to

Rashi Shlomo Yitzchaki ( he, רבי שלמה יצחקי; la, Salomon Isaacides; french: Salomon de Troyes, 22 February 1040 – 13 July 1105), today generally known by the acronym Rashi (see below), was a medieval French rabbi and author of a compre ...

, this was

Esau Esau ''Ēsaû''; la, Hesau, Esau; ar, عِيسَوْ ''‘Īsaw''; meaning "hairy"Easton, M. ''Illustrated Bible Dictionary'', (, , 2006, p. 236 or "rough".Mandel, D. ''The Ultimate Who's Who in the Bible'', (.), 2007, p. 175 is the elder son o ...

's guardian angel) who could not beat him. At the end of the fight, the angel strikes a nerve in Jacob's leg, causing him to limp. The verse then states: "Therefore the Israelites do not eat the displaced nerve (''gid ha-nasheh'') on the hip joint to this very day." ()

Interpretations

The

Zohar The ''Zohar'' ( he, , ''Zōhar'', lit. "Splendor" or "Radiance") is a foundational work in the literature of Jewish mystical thought known as Kabbalah. It is a group of books including commentary on the mystical aspects of the Torah (the five ...

explains that the thigh is the root location of sexual desire. While most evil urges can be overcome, there is one lust that is so strong that it overpowers even great men - the ''gid ha-nasheh''. Its very name ''nasheh'' means “forgetting” (cf. ), because once this desire has been aroused, we forget all rational thinking and moral scruples. The only way to win this battle is to completely distance ourselves from it. For this reason, the ''gid ha-nasheh'' is not eaten at all but entirely avoided. Rabbi

Abraham Isaac Kook Abraham Isaac Kook (; 7 September 1865 – 1 September 1935), known as Rav Kook, and also known by the acronym HaRaAYaH (), was an Orthodox rabbi, and the first Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of British Mandatory Palestine. He is considered to be one o ...

explained that the prohibition of eating ''gid ha-nasheh'' demonstrates that, while we may need to slaughter animals for our physical needs, we do not seek to subjugate others, whether man or beast. For this reason, we make great efforts to avoid eating the sciatic nerve - a nerve that allows the body to stand upright.

Removal

The removal of the ''gid hanasheh'' and

chelev Chelev ( he, חֵלֶב, ''kheylev'' or ''ẖelev''), or what is also known as "suet", is the animal fats that the Torah prohibits Jews and Israelites from eating (). Only the ''chelev'' of animals that are of the sort from which offerings can be ...

(forbidden fats) is called nikkur. Since it is labor-intensive to remove all the forbidden parts of the hindquarters of an animal, the entire hindquarters are usually sold to the non-kosher market outside of

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

and a few other markets with sufficient Jewish populations to justify the expense. In the situation of a

ben pekuah In Jewish law, a ''ben pekuah'' ( he, בֵּן פּקוּעָה) is an animal fetus removed alive from its mother, shortly after the mother was slaughtered in conformance with the rules of ''shechita'' (kosher slaughter). According to Jewish law, ...

the nerve is permitted to be eaten. This potential reduction in expense is part of a project that began in Melbourne to create a herd of ben pekuah animals.

References

External links

* {{Kashrut Kashrut Negative Mitzvoth Judaism terminology Hebrew words and phrases in the Hebrew Bible Hebrew words and phrases in Jewish law

Biblical Source

Interpretations

Removal

See also

References

External links