#lieutenxntcxstle

[writingwithcolor]

hi, im a gentile writing an ashkenazi jewish character in a zombie apocalypse rpg and i have some questions about keeping kosher in such a setting, specifically with regards to properly slaughtering animals. from my understanding, the slaughtering must be performed by a trained shochet. in situations where such a person is unavailable, would my character realistically decide to do the slaughtering himself or would he just abstain from meat?

Kashrut in the Apocalypse

Probably just go vegetarian like some of the people I’m around if they’re in a situation where kosher meat is unavailable.

--Shira

Oh interesting! Maybe one of the character's parents was a shochet? It would be possible for the character to have been learning from them, at least enough to feel comfortable giving it a go in the Zombie Apocalypse.

Going vegetarian is a very real possibility, and it's likely they would do that first. I imagine as food got more scarce, they would be making more allowances. For instance, in the early days they would be eating carefully, trying to pick through cans of food to find things that are kosher certified, then later they are eating a vegetarian diet with whatever they can find. There may come a time when they try shechting themselves, simply because finding plant protein has become too difficult.

The preservation of life comes before most things, so doing your best in the extremity of that situation would be reasonable. Just avoid having them eat pork for the reader, it might encourage a more vicious, voyeuristic pleasure in watching people break laws, rather than the cool thing you are setting up: watching people do their best to keep their own traditions, in the worst circumstances.

-- Dierdra

Agree with all of Dierdra's great points -- and I want to add that point at the end about pork is very important. Pork seems to take a special role in the minds of Christians/culturally-Christian and ex-Christian atheists in terms of how much brain space seems to be spent on remembering that a lot of us don't eat it. I have a feeling watching someone eating non-ritually-slaughtered chicken would be a lot less voyeuristically weird than pork. Even another form of treyf like a crawdad wouldn't have the same semiotics, the same feeling of "Ha, got you."

--Shira

OP might find it cool to read about real-life situations where kosher-observant Jews have found themselves stuck in odd places without certified food. There’s even one in the musical Come From Away (in fact, I know someone who is related to the real rabbi that character is based on), so you don’t have to look as far as you might think – certainly not as far as the apocalypse!

--Shoshi

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