Is Kosher Biblical?

You are probably intrigued. Why would anyone suggest that Kosher is not biblical? Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14 articulates what should be eaten and what should not be eaten by Israelites without ambiguity. However, the terminology of Kosher vs. Unkosher is indeed not biblical. It does not appear in the Bible. Torah uses the terms טָהוֹר (tahor) “clean” and טָמֵא (tameh) “unclean”. By bringing non-biblical terminology into our modern conversations about ancient Jewish texts we bring a lot of confusion.