On Aug 24, 11:59 pm, (Victor Sack) wrote:
> pamjd > wrote:
> > Why is only the front half of the cow used?
>
> Because the back half contains the sciatic nerve which the Kashrut laws
> forbid to eat. It is certainly possible to remove it, together with the
> adjacent tissues and blood vessels - and some kosher
> butchers/slaughteres do it - but this requires additional work and time,
> as well as a waste of some meat, so many other kosher slaughteres just
> prefer not to deal with the added bother and costs and sell the back
> halves to non-kosher butchers.

And they do not eat it because of Genesis 32:
32 Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which
shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day: because
he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh in the sinew that shrank.
>
> Victor

--Bryan