The GPS ad is an AD. They are marketing to everyone so of course they're not going to get specific with the holiday. Television ads aren't trying to mimic real life, they're trying to get you to buy their stuff.

Leviticus 11:9-12 says:
9 These shall ye eat of all that are in the waters: whatsoever hath fins and scales in the waters, in the seas, and in the rivers, them shall ye eat.
10 And all that have not fins and scales in the seas, and in the rivers, of all that move in the waters, and of any living thing which is in the waters, they shall be an abomination unto you:
11 They shall be even an abomination unto you; ye shall not eat of their flesh, but ye shall have their carcases in abomination.
12 Whatsoever hath no fins nor scales in the waters, that shall be an abomination unto you.

Deuteronomy 14:9-10 says:
9 These ye shall eat of all that are in the waters: all that have fins and scales shall ye eat:
10 And whatsoever hath not fins and scales ye may not eat; it is unclean unto you.

But then again there is this:
[skepticsannotatedbible.com]

It's based on rules, not science.

All this effort to be politically correct now has us over-doing it by putting "Great for Chanukah on pork products.

Just like I'm pissed off at TomTom's GPS ad where this couple is stuck in traffic and the woman goes into a store alongside the road to buy a TomTom and gets back in the car and says "consider it an early holiday gift."

Holiday gift? WTF? Does anybody this year say that they're giving their loved-ones a holiday gift? I consider myself a whacky agnostic, but this "must be PC in december" business just pisses me off.

@kimsama: I love Marvin Harris, there is also a chapter on pork taboo in Good to eat

A catholic priest and a rabbi are on a train.

The priest turns to the rabbi and says "Rabbi, can I ask you a personal question?"

The rabbi says "Ask. Perhaps I'll answer."

The priest asks "Rabbi, have you ever had ham?"

The rabbi turns red and says "I had it once."

The priest says "Did you like it?"

The rabbi says "It was ok"

Later on, the rabbi turns to the priest and says "Father can I ask you a personal question?"

The priest says "Rabbi, you were kind enough to answer my question, I will gladly do the same."

The rabbi says "Father, have you ever had sex?"

The priest turns red and says "I had it once."

The rabbi says "It's better than ham, isn't it?"

Actually, when you look at a culture that is primarily nomadic, and has no access to refridgeration (you know people in the middle east when these rules were written) the rules for kosher and halal food preparation make quite a bit of sense. As much sense as using a seperate cutting boards for meat, and keeping food stored below 40 or above 140 F does now.

@SpenceMan01: I already had a Turkey marinating in a nice brine when I got the card. SO I got a Ham my sister in law is super weird. She doesen't like turkey or beef but will eat hamburger and loves pork...mmmm bacon. Of course the smell of seafood , any kind of seafood makes her sick.

WE HATE PORK SO LETS FORK OUT A PEACE DEAL.

I just realized that Jews and Muslims have one thing in common, they both hate swine.

Maybe we can use this common hatred to start the peace process back on track.

PEACE ON EARTH..DA DE DA DA da

@Eyebrows McGee: Maybe in places where there is no water that anything can live in the poor don't eat fish, but I would think that any food item you can catch with a net would certainly be up for grabs for the poor.

@Toast442: of course he would, he knows that he is safe for that one.

@cde: and @ret3: I'm not kosher but I don't eat pork and frankly, pork rinds and chitlins are revolting.

@Nemesis_Enforcer: Yes. You should've bought a TURKEY for Thanksgiving; not a ham.

Ain't no MEAT, let alone bacon, in Bac-O's...

...for which this vegetarian is very grateful.

Our ARA is having a ham dinner for the holidays. I told our prez it'll make us a bunch of cannibals.

73.

@cde: chit·ter·lings also chit·lins or chit·lings (chĭt'lĭnz)
pl.n.
The small intestines of pigs, especially when cooked and eaten as food.

There's also the old but interesting Cows, Pigs, Wars and Witches, which explains in some detail the possible causes for dietary restrictions in a number of cultures.

There's been a big debate in American Catholicism over the last few years about Lenten Fridays, when Catholics are forbidden from meat but allowed fish. The religious inspiration for Fish Fridays is to eat what Jesus ate, which was what the poor in his time ate, which was fish. But in much of the U.S., the poor eat McBurgers and fish are a luxury. So while the religious logic of the situation would suggest we eat either the food of the local poor or a vegetarian meal (in solidarity with the global poor), the logic of group identification holds very strongly to the Fish Fridays idea, regardless of the fact that "Fish-as-solidarity-with-poor" has little meaning today. It has a LOT of meaning in terms of a group identifier, and that may, in the end, simply be more important.

@Buran: Hawks and falcons taste like Chicken *Yum*

@hexychick: Pork Rinds and Chitlins (Fried pork snout), fried and non-kosher.

@DSaddict: Aptly enough, I started snort-laughing when I read that :D

@pyloff: [www.godhatesshrimp.com]

@aishel: Actually, Sharks do have scales. Just super fine ones. You can cut yourself running your hand the wrong way on a shark.

@Toast442: You mean like Chikafi's? The anti-cow-eating chicken fast food place that has cows with eat chikn signs? :D

@Myron: This is great!

With mammals, the animal has to have both fully split hooves AND chew its cud (i.e. deer, sheep, cows, etc.) Pigs have split hooves but do not chew their cud and is therefore NOT kosher. Camels chew their cud but do not have fully split hooves and are therefore NOT kosher.

With fish, it has to have both fins and scales. Shellfish don't have either, so they're not kosher. Sharks have fins but no scales, so they're not kosher.

Birds are kosher on a case-by-case basis, as the Torah (Old Testament) specifically lists which birds are not kosher.

Any other questions?

I'm not sure why I thought the bird rule had something to do with feet but then I don't eat a bird other than chicken so it's not like I've ever had to use it.

I think I just found the image for my Hannukah cards next year.

G-d: And remember Moses, in the laws of keeping Kosher, never cook a calf in its mother's milk. It is cruel.
Moses: Ohhhhhh! So you are saying we should never eat milk and meat together.

G-d: No, what I'm saying is, never cook a calf in its mother's milk.
Moses: Oh, Lord forgive my ignorance! What you are really saying is we should wait six hours after eating meat to eat milk so the two are not in our stomachs.

G-d: No, Moses, what I'm saying is, never cook a calf in it's mother's milk!!!
Moses: Oh, Lord! Please don't strike me down for my stupidity! What you mean is we should have a separate set of dishes for milk and a separate set for meat and if we make a mistake we have to bury that dish outside...

G-d: Moses, do whatever you want....

There was a place near Boston that advertised Pork Ribs as perfect for Passover.

ARBY- you're right, its actually considered a "minor" holiday but gets a lot more hype because of its proximity to X-mas.

@Nemesis_Enforcer: The problem is that the sign says "Delicious for Chanukah" not just delicious. Someone like Buran (well before someone answered the question) might buy this for a Hannukah party or for someone they know is Jewish.

It's just silly to target advertising for a product or service at a group of people who can't or won't use it. It'd be like Comcast sending salespeople just to Amish people's houses or Burger King ads for the Whopper targeted at Hindu people.

It's slightly unrelated....

A few years ago in Montreal, the Quebec government got uppity about special products imported for hannukah (or whatever the jewish holiday was). The products had English-only labels which was a no-no in Quebec where everything must be labelled 50/50 French/English (or more than 50% French).

This happened despite the fact that nearly all the jews in Montreal only speak English, and not French....

This is a real dilema for Jews. On one hand, it's not kosher, but on the other hand, it's a great deal.

@Jaysyn: Ain't no MEAT, let alone bacon, in Bac-O's...

@Jaysyn: Bacos are actually Kosher-they are made out of soy and contain no meat products or flavor.

14:8 And the swine, because it divideth the hoof, yet cheweth not the
cud, it is unclean unto you: ye shall not eat of their flesh, nor
touch their dead carcase.

Well it still IS delicious Hanukkah or not. I mean it doesen't say only jews eat ham or anything. I used the gift card my Jewish boss gave me on thanksgiving to buy a ham..is that wrong?

Are orthodox Jew's allowed to be ham radio operators?

My fiancee refers to himself as "second generation bacon."

I'm still pretty sure you're not going to find a HAM on the Hanukkah table.

A hebrew I grew up with used to stash Bac-O's under her bed. I kid you not.

@hexychick: Howzabout some BBQ pork rinds then?

@Chongo:

you just made my day. happy Hanukkah.

i killed myself laughing when he said that!

"oy gevalt" (A yiddish term meaning "Oh goodness!" An expression of utmost anxiety or shock).

This just shows that marketing departments really do not have a clue.

Last I checked (and it's been a while since hebrew school so I'm rusty), Hanukkah is all about the miracle of the oil burning for 8 days so traditionally you cook all your foods in oil or eat fried items. Ham doesn't fall into this category nor is it kosher. Hanukkah is more about those delightful latkes anyway! We also used to enjoy brisket and little puffed honey donut things. If you're totally reform, not kosher, and don't care about tradition then sure, this is a great idea. Otherwise, I find it mildly insulting, but mostly it's just a stupidity leak.

Well, theres always those like my friend...

"During passover, I keep to my normal diet but with the additional passover restrictions"

"So that's a bacon cheeseburger on Matza?"

"yeup"

Jules Winfield: "Sewer rat may taste like pumpkin pie but I'll never know cause I'll never eat the filthy mothafucka."

BURAN- orthodox Jews do not eat pig (FYI- neither to Muslims). Old Testament (which is part of Torah).

As an analogy: For Catholics it would be a picture of ground beef and the sign would say, "Great for Fridays during Lent"

A Jewish buddy of mine said it best, "A gentle loving God wants to be happy so he wants me to eat bacon."

Oy Veh!

not kidding

Well, to be fair, I know plenty of Jews who observe Hannukah but don't keep kosher. Still, I don't know if they're planning on serving swine.

It complements the Ramadan Pork nicely.

Mmmmm... forbidden Gentile ham...

MMM haaam... well maybe you can invite some non Jewish friends for dinner and feed it to them! :D