Kosher? Depends what you mean by 'baking'

And you thought baking Pillsbury brownies was a piece of cake.

According to the rabbinic definition of baking, you don't even need the mix.

Last night, David Freidenreich, a fellow at Penn's Center for Advanced Jewish Studies, discussed a taboo against eating foods prepared by people who are not Jewish and how definitions have been changed over time, sometimes in counter-intuitive ways, to get around the custom.

According to Freidenreich, this taboo comes not from religious texts but from a desire to create a distinctive culture and avoid assimilation.

"Culture is expressed in the way food is prepared," he said. In ancient times, for example, "anybody who . partook in Greek culture" was Greek by association, he said.

Over centuries, rabbis struggled to find justification in scripture for the now-traditional practice of not eating food prepared by non-Jews, Freidenreich said.

By redefining terms such as "baking" to relax regulations on food, rabbis created loopholes in the rule. Today, for instance, a loaf of bread can be certified as kosher over the phone in place of being prepared in a certain way.

Freidenreich emphasized that this interpretation takes "legal logic to extremes" in order to permit what "would otherwise be prohibited."

"We've gone 180 degrees from the original rationale for the prohibition," he said, referring to the attempt to create cultural distinctions. Although the tradition was social in origin, "law has a life of its own. Social realities have a limited impact."

Freidenreich said he believes his analysis of the evolution of this particular law is relevant to current issues in American politics.

"Law becomes an end in itself," he said. "Lawyers live in another world."

Freidenreich was invited to speak by the Jewish Law Students Association.

The audience had about a dozen members, and Freidenreich went out of his way to learn every attendee's name before the presentation.

Law student Jennifer Kates, who organized the event, said that the JLSA had looked for a topic relating to Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, which begins tomorrow night.

According to Law student and organizer Doron Kenter, food fits the Rosh Hashana theme perfectly, noting that many Jewish holidays stem from attempts to destroy members of the faith.

"We eat on Holidays: They try to kill us. We run. Let's eat," he said.

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