Prof. A. Barak, in his article "The Interpretation of the Basic Laws" [28], emphasizes that the values on which the Basic Laws are based are not personal values of the interpreter:
"Rather, it is the national values of the nation: 'It is a well-known axiom that the law of a people must be studied from the perspective of its national life system' (the words of Justice Agranat in the High Court of Justice case 73/53 Kol Ha'am v. Minister of the Interior, IsrSC 7 871.
The 'system of national life' is a source of the values and principles that the constitution seeks to realize... They are drawn in part from the historical experience of a people, its social and religious views, its tradition and its heritage."
What are the social, religious, and historical experiences that forbade eating pork in Jewish tradition?
The source of the prohibition is in Parashat Shemini, in the book of Vayikra 11:7 [1] (as well as in Parashat Re'eh, Deuteronomy 14:8 [2]), where it is written:
"And the pig, for it is a hoof, and it is a hoof, and it is unclean for you."
In Parashat Shemini and See, the Torah lists the names and types of animals (cattle, winged animals, and fish) that are forbidden to eat. Some animals are remembered by their names and some by their characteristics. We are dealing with hundreds, if not thousands, of types of animals, but in Jewish tradition the prohibition of eating pork is of paramount importance, and why is it so important? One who eats pork is liable to the punishment of "only" lashes – Talmudic Encyclopedia (vol. 14), p. 1969, envisaged "The Obligations of Lashes" [31], but the punishment for eating pork is not similar, for example, to that of one who eats blood. In the book of Leviticus 17:14 [1] it is stated: "... The blood of all flesh shall not be shallow.Eat, for the soul of all flesh is all flesh.His vessels shall be cut off."
Why, then, despite the fact that eating blood is punished in Crete – and eating pork is not expected to be punished so severely – has tradition treated pork eaters so harshly? The answer to this is found on the national level – and its foundations in the history of the Jewish people – to the event that he related to in 167 BCE.