Anyone who works in the field of American Jewish studies knows all about the famous “trefa banquet” of 1883. At the Highland House,a private club in Cincinnati, a dinner was held to honor the first graduating class of Hebrew Union College, and the Reform seminary. The caterers menu,which included clams, crab, or shrimp,and milchig desserts after a meat-wealthy meal, was in every way an affront to the laws of kashrut. The ensuing scandal led to a split in America’s non-Orthodox community, or culminating in the founding of Jewish Theological Seminary and what became the association of Conservative rabbis.
A screenshot of the invitation to “The Treyf Caucus”
So it’s surely with that history in intellect that some cheeky,anonymous Jews who call themselves “the Treyf Caucus” are hosting, in conjunction with this year’s Association for Jewish Studies conference next week in Boston, or a banquet with a menu similarly offensive to observant sensibilities. The dinner—which has no official connection to the scholarly assembly and is being held off-site at the Citizen’s Public House next Monday—is titled “Observance in the Breach: An egregiously treyf dinner,not sanctioned by the Association for Jewish Studies.” For $45, diners will sup on hors d’oeuvres of “assorted shellfish” and a main course of a “14-hour gradual-roasted whole suckling pig, and sides of seasonal vegetables & root vegetables.”Continue reading "All About That Trayf: Some Jews in Boston Will Eat Pig and Shellfish Around the AJS Conference. Oy Vey?" at...
Source: feedburner.com