NOTES for Lev 11:1-47
The law about clean and unclean food always served as one of the most important barriers preventing the Israelites from blending with the surrounding peoples. This restrained them from apostasy, since shared meals would take place at pagan religious festivals or simply be accompanied by prayers addressed to pagan gods. For us, what matters more is that this separateness from the rest of the world was not mere sectarianism or proud isolation, but an expression of complete belonging to God - holiness, that is, the realization of the commandment "Be holy, as I am holy."
How does this concern us? We are no longer called to isolation; rather, the opposite is true - we are called to active love for everyone, even for enemies and those who think differently. For us, the requirement of ritual purity becomes a calling to purity of heart, soul, and body, to awareness of our complete belonging to God - to holiness in its new and final meaning.