Pesachim 83 a, b

We are told that we should not break the bones of the Paschal lamb.  And after the offering is finished, and after the lamb has been eaten by each member registered in a given group, the bones, and the sinews, and the leftovers must be burned, preferably on the 16th of Nissan (but not on Shabbat due to rules regarding positive and negative mitzvot on Festivals).  

If we cannot break the bones, we cannot eat all of the meat.  The marrow will be left untouched.  If the marrow is not permitted and thus touching it imparts ritual impurity, the bone itself might be considered impure as well, imparting ritual impurity to one's hands when touched.  The rabbis debate about these ideas and their application.

Sinews, other than those in the neck of an animal, are considered to be meat.  But sinews have been singled out in the mishna as something that should be burned.  Why?  Of course we do not eat the sciatic nerve, as Joseph wrestled with an angel and his right hip was 'touched' or damaged in that struggle.  The rabbis suggest that there are actually two sinews that are affected by the prohibition to eat the sciatic nerve; an inner and an outer sinew.  Perhaps one of those could be eaten.  Or perhaps we are stringent because we might not know the right from the left sinew after they have been removed from the lamb, thus eating the prohibited sinew.  The rabbis suggest many reasons that would account for this possible difficulty.

Did people eat the sinews? How valuable was meat?  What did people eat on a regular basis?  Did they eat as much as we do?  Perhaps the food that we learn about was special, for religious rituals only, and not at all like the daily diets of our ancestors.

And again, this notion of ritual impurity sits with me.  It sometimes feels like "cooties"; somewhat arbitrary but very powerful.  Which isn't a problem until someone has cooties and can't get rid of them and thus suffers as an outsider for months or years.  I understand that there are rituals that nullify the impurity, but even those rituals seem to lack substance, particularly when the ritual impurity is actually gonorrhea.  

Then again, I see the beauty of 'changing states'.  After a miscarriage, for example, or at another time when we want to have a physical representation of our spiritual shifting.  The process of immersion is powerful without doubt.  But does it justify the maintenance of categories of inclusion and exclusion? I am hopeful that my continued learning with help as I grapple with these concepts.