A close friend of mine asked me to fire this question at the mi.yodeya community so here goes:

"I came across this rather interesting rendition of "kashrus Explained", not sure who authored it, but I was intrigued.

thought I would fire out a little "Mi Yodeya" challenge to you.

Challenge: can any of you point me to a rishon (point me to the actual source) thats says any of the first three things befeirush (explicitly)?

Kashrut Explained:

The purposes of Kashrut are:

1. to limit the number of animals the Jew is permitted to kill and eat;
2. to render the slaughter of the permitted animals as painless as possible;
3. to cause revulsion at the shedding of blood;
4. to instill self-discipline in the Jew; ( RSRH, Moreh Nevuchim, ...)
5. to help sustain Judaism and the cohesion of the Jewish community;
6. to raise the act of eating from an animal-like level. ( tanya, nefesh hachaim, others....)"

My friend is looking for Rishon-level sources for only 1-3.

(I personally have doubts as far as the veracity of #'s 2 and 3, and challenge anyone to come up with even a mainstream acharon that says such reasons)

(I also challenge the premise of purposes of Kashrus, as opposed to reasons and symbolism, but that is for a different question.)

A close friend of mine asked me to fire this question at the mi.yodeya community so here goes:

"I came across this rather interesting rendition of "kashrus Explained", not sure who authored it, but I was intrigued.

thought I would fire out a little "Mi Yodeya" challenge to you.

Challenge: can any of you point me to a rishon (point me to the actual source) thats says any of the first three things befeirush (explicitly)?

Kashrut Explained:

The purposes of Kashrut are:

1. to limit the number of animals the Jew is permitted to kill and eat;
2. to render the slaughter of the permitted animals as painless as possible;
3. to cause revulsion at the shedding of blood;
4. to instill self-discipline in the Jew; ( RSRH, Moreh Nevuchim, ...)
5. to help sustain Judaism and the cohesion of the Jewish community;
6. to raise the act of eating from an animal-like level. ( tanya, nefesh hachaim, others....)"

My friend is looking for Rishon-level sources for only 1-3.

(I personally have doubts as far as the veracity of #'s 2 and 3, and challenge anyone to come up with even a mainstream acharon that says such reasons)

(I also challenge the premise of purposes of Kashrus, as opposed to reasons and symbolism, but that is for a different question.)

(The list is from

The nine questions people ask about Judaism By Dennis Prager, Joseph Telushkin

http://books.google.com/books?id=gwWGCoopxV0C&pg=PA58&lpg=PA58&dq=Kashrut+Explain+The+main+purposes+of+Kashrut+are:1.+to+limit+the+number+of+animals+the+Jew+is+permitted+to+kill+and+eat%3B2.+to+render+the+slaughter+of+the+permitted+animals+as+painless+as+possible%3B&source=bl&ots=27rczPpuiL&sig=5bDPnze2CHYTCuoI8dTlS2Cy_Z0&hl=en&ei=funqS9nkC8P-8AagiO3hDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CBsQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q&f=false )