So when their jurists observed that the Torah contains no prohibition against eating the food of other nations except that of idol-worshippers, and that the Torah itself makes it plain that the ban on dining or socialising with them was only to prevent such contact from leading to intermarriage—and intermarriage might then draw a person away from his own faith into their religions (1) and into the worship of idols—and when they found all of this clearly stated in the Torah, they invented a book which they called Hilkat Sheḥitah (2), meaning “The Science of Slaughter.” In that treatise they laid upon their followers fetters and shackles that kept them so busy they forgot the humiliation, abasement, and disgrace in which they lived.

In it they ordered them (3) to inflate the animal’s lung until it was full of air and then to examine it (4) to see whether any air escaped through a tiny hole. If air did escape, they declared the meat forbidden; and if any parts of the lung were found stuck together, they would not eat it either.

They further commanded the inspector of the carcass to insert his hand into the animal’s belly and feel with his fingers; if he discovered the heart attached to the spine or to either side—even if the attachment were by a sinew as fine as a hair—they pronounced the meat unlawful, refused to eat it, and called it ṭurayfā.

In their usage this word means “impure and forbidden.” Yet this designation is an act of aggression on their part, for in their own language it signifies only an animal mauled by a beast of prey and has no other meaning. Likewise (5), in their Torah, when Joseph’s brothers brought his tunic stained with blood, Jacob said, in the course of his speech: “tārof …”