I just found out there is medicine made from pigs, like insulin and some others. Is this kosher, coming from a pig and being medicine and not food? And on the other hand, there are also organ transplant components made from parts of a pig (like skin, and some internal organs). Is this kosher? The pig is not being eaten, it is just the source of the transplant component. If we can use human transplant components (which certainly aren't kosher to eat!), can we use pig transplant components? Thanks!
The question of medicine and its necessary level of being kosher is not nearly as simple as it might seem-- for one discussion, see www.kashrut.com/articles/med/. The basic questions are: how sick is the person taking the medicine, how easy is it to find a fully kosher option, and does this medicine really count as food? The article I pointed you to is just one rabbi's opinion, although R. Heinemann is a noted kashrut authority.
As for organ transplantation, I don't know of a reason that it should be a problem, since, as you pointed out, we are not eating the pig. There are situations where all benefit from a prohibited substance is forbidden, not just eating, and there we might get into the same questions as for the medication above-- whether transplantation is the usual form of benefit, whether the person is ill enough to allow ignoring those rules, etc.
As so often in Jewish law, then, these questions would have to be addressed by individual case, with only the broadest general outlines.
I just found out there is medicine made from pigs, like insulin and some others. Is this kosher, coming from a pig and being medicine and not food? And on the other hand, there are also organ transplant components made from parts of a pig (like skin, and some internal organs). Is this kosher? The pig is not being eaten, it is just the source of the transplant component. If we can use human transplant components (which certainly aren't kosher to eat!), can we use pig transplant components? Thanks!
In Judaism, saving a life is a supreme value. There are only three mitzvot (Jewish religious obligations) that cannot be violated in pursuit of saving a life. One may not kill another human being, one may not violate the traditional sexual prohibitions and one may not desecrate God’s name. Therefore, even if we were speaking of the actual eating of non-kosher flesh (such as pork) which the laws of kashrut forbid, if one’s doctor prescribed it in order to safeguard one's life, and one’s purpose in treatment was to keep oneself alive and healthy -- rather than to desecrate God’s name --, there would be no objection.
There is a passage in the Mishnah that conveys this principle vividly: Regarding Yom Kippur, a solemn fast day in the Jewish calendar, the text reads, “If a pregnant woman smelled food [and grew faint] -- they feed her until her spirits are restored. A sick person – they feed him on the instruction of experts. If there are no experts available, they feed him on his own instructions, until he says, ‘Enough.’ If one is seized by a ravenous hunger, they feed him, even unclean things, until his eyes are enlightened. …” (M.Yoma 8:5-6)
On the other hand, the use of organ transplant components from animals poses no objection whatsoever. The laws of kashrut only apply to the eating of flesh, not its use, even to repair or replace parts in the human body.
Regarding medicines from non-kosher sources which are ingested, if one’s malady is not life-threatening, or if equally effective medicines from kosher sources are available, then one should pursue kosher medicines.
There is a general principle as to healing and the materials used for healing which, on the face of it, is so general as to make all further discussion of this problem unnecessary. The Talmud says (Pesachim 25a): 'We may use any material for healing except that which is connected with idolatry, immorality, and bloodshed." These are the three cardinal sins which a person must avoid, even if it would lead to martyrdom. But aside from three such sources of healing methods or materials, any material or any method would be permitted. Maimonides, himself a great physician, makes this Talmudic statement even clearer. He says (Hilchot Yesodei Torah 5.6): "He who is sick and in danger of death, and the physician tells him that he can be cured by a certain object or material which is forbidden by the Torah, must obey the physician and be cured." This is codified as a law in the Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De-a 155.3.
Copyright 2020 all rights reserved. Jewish Values Online
N O T I C E
THE VIEWS EXPRESSED IN ANSWERS PROVIDED HEREIN ARE THOSE OF THE INDIVIDUAL JVO PANEL MEMBERS, AND DO NOT
NECESSARILY REFLECT OR REPRESENT THE VIEWS OF THE ORTHODOX, CONSERVATIVE OR REFORM MOVEMENTS, RESPECTIVELY.
