'A 3,000-Year History of Jews and the Pig': A Hebrew, Talmud, rabbinic expert goes ‘whole hog’

At the beginning of the Second Temple period, in the Persian era of the 4th to 5th centuries BCE, pigs did not have a unique status; other animals were viewed as equally non-kosher.

Wild boars cross a road in a residential area after the government ordered residents to stay home to fight the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Haifa, northern Israel April 16, 2020.

(photo credit: RONEN ZVULUN/REUTERS)

ByARI ZIVOTOFSKY

NOVEMBER 30, 2025 02:34

'A 3,000-Year History of Jews and the Pig': A Hebrew, Talmud, rabbinic expert goes ‘whole hog’

At the beginning of the Second Temple period, in the Persian era of the 4th to 5th centuries BCE, pigs did not have a unique status; other animals were viewed as equally non-kosher.

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'A 3,000-Year History of Jews and the Pig': A Hebrew, Talmud, rabbinic expert goes ‘whole hog’

At the beginning of the Second Temple period, in the Persian era of the 4th to 5th centuries BCE, pigs did not have a unique status; other animals were viewed as equally non-kosher.

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