With Apologies To All My Jewish Friends
Jun. 5th, 2004 07:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ladyspriteSo one of the news stories that I have heard a lot about recently, in between issues of national and international politics, is the unkosherity of New York tap water. Apparently, the water supply contains near-microscopic crustaceans called copepods. This makes it entirely undrinkable to anyone following Kosher law, not to mention just generally unpleasant - while I know that my drinking water will contain living organisms, it's creepy on an entirely different level to think of it containing things complex enough to have an exoskeleton.
Anyway, debates continue on how to solve this problem. Some authorities have suggested having Kosher households filter the water, but apparently there is some concern that, even once the copepods have been removed, their presence will have contaminated the water such that it will continue to be non-Kosher in their absence. And while I understand that this is a serious concern, and not something to take lightly, my mind can't help but occasionally go to bad places....
If the copepods' powers of un-Kosherity are such that they continue to contaminate water after they're gone.... why, then they're functioning in a homeopathic fashion. Homeopathy supposedly works by adding a substance to water, then diluting it to a level where no actual substance remains, stating that the substance has left a "molecular impression" on the water, much like the copepods' resonance of crustacean-ness. And the theory of homeopathy states that one cures a problem by treating it with the same substance that would cause that problem - for example, you treat pain with a homeopathic remedy that contains the resonance of something that would cause pain. It's sympathetic magic, as far as I can tell.
So..... by extension, could we use the New York tap water to make non-Kosher substances Kosher. It would solve so many problems - having a brunch for a group of mixed religion? Just rinse your bacon in copepod water! Use it to wash your dishes, sprinkle it over your pepperoni pizza, keep some in your purse when you go out to dinner, and never have any doubts about religious safety again....
(Just a note again - I sincerely respect my Jewish friends, and understand the importance of your beliefs, and I would never intend to belittle them in any way. I know that they're far more serious than this, and no offense or harm is meant. This was honestly just an image that got carried away. I make no such claims, however, about respecting the sincerity and importance of homeopathy.)
Anyway, debates continue on how to solve this problem. Some authorities have suggested having Kosher households filter the water, but apparently there is some concern that, even once the copepods have been removed, their presence will have contaminated the water such that it will continue to be non-Kosher in their absence. And while I understand that this is a serious concern, and not something to take lightly, my mind can't help but occasionally go to bad places....
If the copepods' powers of un-Kosherity are such that they continue to contaminate water after they're gone.... why, then they're functioning in a homeopathic fashion. Homeopathy supposedly works by adding a substance to water, then diluting it to a level where no actual substance remains, stating that the substance has left a "molecular impression" on the water, much like the copepods' resonance of crustacean-ness. And the theory of homeopathy states that one cures a problem by treating it with the same substance that would cause that problem - for example, you treat pain with a homeopathic remedy that contains the resonance of something that would cause pain. It's sympathetic magic, as far as I can tell.
So..... by extension, could we use the New York tap water to make non-Kosher substances Kosher. It would solve so many problems - having a brunch for a group of mixed religion? Just rinse your bacon in copepod water! Use it to wash your dishes, sprinkle it over your pepperoni pizza, keep some in your purse when you go out to dinner, and never have any doubts about religious safety again....
(Just a note again - I sincerely respect my Jewish friends, and understand the importance of your beliefs, and I would never intend to belittle them in any way. I know that they're far more serious than this, and no offense or harm is meant. This was honestly just an image that got carried away. I make no such claims, however, about respecting the sincerity and importance of homeopathy.)
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no subject
Date: 2004-06-05 05:32 pm (UTC)h.
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Date: 2004-06-06 08:15 pm (UTC)If it's any consolation, the outing wasn't intended as an Expotition, really - just a couple of people, a rather tame movie trip....
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Date: 2004-06-05 05:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-06-05 10:29 pm (UTC)(The story is that he ingested too much quinine and had symptoms not unlike malaria, and decided that this meant that "just enough" quinine made the body fight against malarial symptoms.)
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Date: 2004-06-05 11:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-06-06 08:16 am (UTC)I don't meant to be flip here - I'm quite serious. I will ask my allergist about this the next time I see him.