Are MUSHROOMS Clean or Unclean According to Torah?
Mushrooms are such a beautiful picture of the love and abundant generosity of our Creator YHWH! But are they okay to EAT?
In Genesis 1:29 the word says "And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food."
Since mushrooms do not yield seed, some would say that they are not food. However, in Genesis 9 in talking to Noah this is what Yahweh says...
Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things. But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. Genesis 9:3-4
Then later the Law was given to Moses on Mt. Sinai with more detailed instruction, and that is where I believe we should determine what the Lord intended us to eat and what He intended us to avoid.
You should read the whole chapter of Leviticus 11, it deals with clean and unclean ANIMALS, then here is what it says about PLANTS....
Nevertheless a spring or a cistern, in which there is plenty of water, shall be clean, but whatever touches any such carcass becomes unclean. And if a part of any such carcass falls on any planting seed which is to be sown, it remains clean. But if water is put on the seed, and if a part of any such carcass falls on it, it becomes unclean to you. Leviticus 11:36-38
So, water is clean unless a dead unclean animal touches it. Seeds are clean even if a dead, unclean animal touch them. But if you water the seed, then a dead unclean animal falls on it, it becomes unclean. WOW. What the what? Lol That's a lot of take in and has me questioning compost as fertilizer. Ugh. Since water causes the protective outer barrier of a seed to open, then the dead thing is actually touching what we would eat as the plant, and we then do not want to consume it. That's something to explore at a later date for sure....
Now back to MUSHROOMS, most Rabbi's call mushrooms KOSHER, but some newer Torah keepers today say they are unclean. In my research I found that their stance is either that they compare them to mold/mildew, or that they believe they grow on dead things (my main argument against using fulvic acid from my post on Aug 10th was that it is unclean because of the decomposing animals in it!)
So let's explore.... The FUNGI world consists of three categories, with hundreds of variants within those categories.
MOLD: Some are unclean, like in a house according to Leviticus 14. But some are clean, like the kind used to make cheese, I've never heard anyone call cheese unclean. 🤷♀️
Yeast: Yeast, also in the Fungi family like mold, is what grows and spreads to make bread rise. The word commands us not to eat it during the feast of unleavened bread (Leviticus 23), but other times it is perfectly acceptable and clean to eat. In the new Testament it is used as a metaphor for the kingdom of God, as well as a metaphor for sin, confirming it is both clean and unclean depending on how and when it is used. 😊
FUNGUS/MUSHROOMS: Scripture does not prohibited the eating of Fungi as a whole as we see in the two categories above. They do grow on decomposing wood and plant matter, but NOT animals. If they did, there would be no question, they would be unclean 🤮.
Some consider them a parasite but that is untrue as well. Look at how mushroom expert "The Fun Guy" at awaytogarden .com explains how mushrooms grow....
"That mushroom in your yard, it has its mycelium interconnected with the roots of trees. And so the tree and the fungi are exchanging nutrients in a symbiotic relationship, where the fungi, through its mycelium, is mining nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorous and water, and it’s putting that into the tree in exchange for sugars that the tree is making through photosynthesis.It’s no surprise when those mushrooms come up again and again in those same spots, usually a couple days after it rains, because that mycelium and that tree are always interconnected."
That's TRULY AMAZING and makes me shout praises to Yahweh for His goodness!
Everywhere we look, He has given us gifts of food and medicine for our GOOD.
Not every mushroom is beneficial, nor is every plant,(we would never eat poison ivy, for instance), but so many are not only amazing for food, but our healing as well!
More than 100 medicinal functions are produced by mushrooms and fungi! They are antioxidant, anticancer, antidiabetic, antiallergic, immunomodulating, cardiovascular protector, anticholesterolemic, antiviral, antibacterial, antiparasitic, antifungal, detoxification, and have hepatoprotective effects.
In fact, when my husband was diagnosed with Hodkins Lymphoma just three months after we married and I cried out to the Lord for his healing, He told me to give him MUSHROOMS. I found that cancer cells put a stealth barrier wall around our own white blood cells. Our cells think they are working but they are actually doing nothing because their activity is trapped behind the sinister wall the cancer cells created. (Talk about demonic!) Well, MUSHROOMS dissolve that wall so that our white blood cells are able to FIGHT AND CONQUER the cancer! Oh Praise Yeshua that is INCREDIBLE!!!
When Randy was healed his doctor said he had never seen tumors do what the ones he was fighting did- COMPLETELY DISAPPEAR.
That was more than fifteen years ago and I now take my super greens that include a blend of miracle mushrooms as part of my everyday health regimen, and I praise Adonai as I do! Creator of all the earth and Giver of every good and perfect gift!
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Sources: God's word, awaytogarden .com, realmushrooms .com
