Cross-Over Diseases and Constructions of Difference: Pigs and Pandemics in Jewish Sources

Abstract

Concerns about zoonotic diseases and efforts to differentiate between groups intertwine at the intersection of critical animal studies, biomobility and epidemic discourses, and religious studies. Using the case in rabbinic literature of pandemics moving from pigs to humans, this study unfolds in historical stages. Period I, “Flesh” (3rd C to 12th C), considers the issues at hand: a pandemic, pigs, the question of what to do and why. Period II, “Metaphor” (12th C to 16th C), turns pigs into metaphors for sociopolitical concerns, to make strong distinctions between sets of humans. Period III, “Science” (16th C to 20th C), argues that evidence should help inform decisions of what to do in the face of a zoonotic pandemic. The conclusion, “Directions,” considers first the possibility of reverse-zoonosis, of human infecting animals, before offering reflections for several fields of study.