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Genesis 32:32-33
Therefore to this day the Israelites do not eat the tendon attached to the socket of the hip, because the socket of Jacob’s hip was touched near the tendon.

Is this still practiced by Jews today? If not, when did it stop?

Dov
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Tony Chan
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2 Answers2

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Yes this is still practised today and codified in Halacha.

Rambam writes in his sefer hamitzvos, mitzvah 183:

הזהיר מאכול גיד הנשה, והוא אמרו על כן לא יאכלו בני ישראל את גיד הנשה, ומי שאכלו כלו לוקה ואפילו היה קטן מאד או שאכל ממנו כזית. וכבר התבארו משפטי מצוה זו בפרק ז' מחולין. (וישלח יעקב, שם פ"ו):

He prohibited [us] from eating the sciatic nerve. And that is His saying, "Therefore, the Children of Israel do not eat the sciatic nerve" (Genesis 32:33). And one who ate all of it - even if it was very small - or ate a kazayit of it is lashed. And the regulations of this commandment have already been explained in Chapter 7 of Chullin. (See Parashat Vayishlach; Mishneh Torah, Forbidden Foods 6.) (Sefaria translation).

and then in his list of negative mitzvos he also brings the verse you noted:

שלא לאכול גיד הנשה, שנאמר "על כן לא יאכלו בני ישראל את גיד הנשה" (בראשית לב,לג).

Not to eat the sinew of the thigh-vein which shrank, as it is said, “….the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank” (Gen. 32:33).

This commandment is also recorded in the Sefer HaChinuch 3:1:

Not to eat the sciatic nerve: [Parshat] Vayishlach has one negative commandment, and it is the prohibition of [eating] the sciatic nerve; as it is stated (Genesis 32:33), "Therefore the Children of Israel shall not eat the sciatic nerve." And this [phrase] "they shall not eat" is not to be taken as part of the story, to mean that because this event occurred to [our] forefather, [we, his] descendants refrain from eating that nerve. Rather, it is a warning (prohibition) of God that they shall not eat it. (Sefaria translation)

Also refer to the Semag, Negative commandment 139, Smak, remez 203 and Sefer Mitzvos HaKatzar, Negative commandments 1 for more of the same.

Dov
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Yes, and in fact, most Jews don't eat from any of the shank as it takes special expertise to remove the tendon.

diyImma
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  • I don't know, whether it is true for most Jews in general, but in Israel they do nikkur on almost all kosher slaughtered (tetrapod) animals. – Kazi bácsi Aug 24 '21 at 12:12
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  • Yes but in chutz la'aretz most shechitah places sell the entire rear end to gentile butchers as nikur takes too much labor and they are able to sell the full cuts of meat rather than the cuts (mainly hamburger) that are left after nikur for a better price. It is only in Eretz Yisrael that they need to do nikur. – sabbahillel Aug 24 '21 at 15:47
  • @Kazibácsi Actually as I understand the Jewish Population By Country 2021 shows that of the estimated 14 million Jews in the world we have Israel 6,738,500 United States 5,700,000 No other country has even a million Jews. – sabbahillel Aug 24 '21 at 22:03
  • @Kazibácsi Quite possibly. Then again if kosher slaughtered animals are imported from places like Argentina, that it might be easier to cut into appropriate sections without nikur. Also the price of cuts like TBone or other major sections of the rear might be enough higher than the results of nikur to make it better to sell to gentiles. In any case, it does not matter for the answer to this question. – sabbahillel Aug 25 '21 at 16:17
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    @sabbahillel ive heard that ashkenazi jews have an ancient custom not to eat the hind section in order to "distance themselves from the forbidden" and since they are the majority in America but not in Israel, maybe that is how the different practices developed – Derdeer Aug 26 '21 at 02:27
  • https://www.yeshiva.org.il/midrash/40303 – Derdeer Aug 26 '21 at 02:34