ETZ Talk - Forbidden: A 3,000-Year History of Jews and the Pig withProfessor Jordan D. Roxenblum Jews do not eat pig. This (not always true) observation has been made by both Jews and non-Jews for three thousand years. Over time, the pig becomes a popular metaphor for Jewish/non-Jewish identity. This talk explores this historical development. Starting in the Hebrew Bible, where the pig is tabooed but not necessarily singled out more than other food prohibitions, we see the emergence of the pig as a symbol of Jewish identity in the Second Temple period and beyond. From the Talmud to modern television shows, we follow the pig as it forages through Jewish history. Bio: Jordan D. Rosenblum is the Belzer Professor of Classical Judaism at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His most recent book, Forbidden: A 3,000-Year History of Jews and the Pig (New York University Press, 2024), won a 2024 National Jewish Book Award. According to The Wall Street Journal, “’Forbidden’ is an engaging and surprisingly cheerful study of that odd couple of the religious imagination, the Jew and the pig.” In addition, he is the author of Rabbinic Drinking: What Beverages Teach Us About Rabbinic Literature (University of California Press, 2020); The Jewish Dietary Laws in the Ancient World (Cambridge University Press, 2016); and Food and Identity in Early Rabbinic Judaism (Cambridge University Press, 2010), as well as the co-editor of four volumes, including Feasting and Fasting: The History and Ethics of Jewish Food (New York University Press, 2019); and Animals and the Law in Antiquity (Brown Judaic Studies, 2021).