And much like some other superstitions/religious beliefs, we now see the practicality of putting a line of salt across thresholds to your house! The first time I considered food safety in conjunction with a desert people in 4000 bc, I realized the Talmudic prohibition on consuming shellfish and pork was pretty logical.
To be clear, they aren’t all reasonable (for example: black cats and the ban on mixed fiber textiles), but I’m always excited to find another prescientific belief with a scientifically grounded benefit.
the ban on mixed fiber textiles was about banning practices common to competing religions in the local area during the bronze age. it makes sense as a way to increase group identity. you can easily see the same thing today, whenever Group A has an enemy, Group B, and vilifies things they see as emblematic of Group B, even if they’re objectively pretty neutral.
In that vein, any dietary restrictions that those around you don’t have, have a logical basis of furthering your in group cohesion and distancing yourself from your neighbors, just because sharing meals with people generally deepens relationships (or honestly, any restrictions of any type that differ from those around you serve to other you from them, thereby driving you together as a group). That is a scientifically substantiated benefit, but it’s not quite what I was getting at, because it’s not inherent to the rule itself, but rather how it applied in that specific context.
That said, I didn’t realize that about the textiles and it’s super interesting!
And much like some other superstitions/religious beliefs, we now see the practicality of putting a line of salt across thresholds to your house! The first time I considered food safety in conjunction with a desert people in 4000 bc, I realized the Talmudic prohibition on consuming shellfish and pork was pretty logical.
To be clear, they aren’t all reasonable (for example: black cats and the ban on mixed fiber textiles), but I’m always excited to find another prescientific belief with a scientifically grounded benefit.
the ban on mixed fiber textiles was about banning practices common to competing religions in the local area during the bronze age. it makes sense as a way to increase group identity. you can easily see the same thing today, whenever Group A has an enemy, Group B, and vilifies things they see as emblematic of Group B, even if they’re objectively pretty neutral.
In that vein, any dietary restrictions that those around you don’t have, have a logical basis of furthering your in group cohesion and distancing yourself from your neighbors, just because sharing meals with people generally deepens relationships (or honestly, any restrictions of any type that differ from those around you serve to other you from them, thereby driving you together as a group). That is a scientifically substantiated benefit, but it’s not quite what I was getting at, because it’s not inherent to the rule itself, but rather how it applied in that specific context.
That said, I didn’t realize that about the textiles and it’s super interesting!