Why Orthodox Judaism Is a Cult: Eating With Non-Jews

When I used to attend an Orthodox synagogue, I learned a funny story from some of the congregants. A local pizza shop got in trouble with the city's kashrut commission, who threatened to pull the restaurant's kosher status. When asked why, the rabbis said that the problem is not with the pizza shop's practices. They followed all of the laws and did not dispute the food's kosher status.

The problem, in their opinion, was that Jews and non-Jews were meeting and co-mingling there. When I asked about what the problem was, they said there is a tradition, although not a strict law, that Jews and non-Jews should not fraternize, except in necessary business relationships. This basis is the same principle that produces laws such as Bishul Yisrael, which was summarized by Chabad in the following way:

By forbidding Jews from eating food cooked by non-Jews, our sages intended to create a social barrier between Jews and non-Jews in order to prevent intermarriage.

A reader on Stack Exchange summarizes this well:

There is a prohibition of food cooked by a gentile (bishul Akum) and bread of a gentile (Pas Akum) in order to prevent mingling that can lead to intermarriage. These laws are similar but have differences in the details. Similarly the [prohibition] of wine touched or moved by a gentile (stam yaynam) is similar to these [laws]. The [sages] stated that all of these [laws] are based on the idea that one must not socialize with gentiles in order to prevent the possibility of intermarriage or becoming close to them.

The rabbis long ago created prohibitions to keep Jews and non-Jews socially separated. This is a very clear mark of a cult, which seeks to isolate insiders from the potential influence of outsiders. This allows the cult leaders to better indoctrinate members without interference from the outside.

So what happened to the kosher pizza shop?

The shop decided to make a deal with the kashrut commission. They would make sure that all of their diary products are certified as "cholov yisrael" (milk of Israel), which is an additional stringency for milk (beyond just kosher status), just like Glatt Kosher is for meat.

With the additional restrictions in place, the cost of the pizza went up, and its quality went down. Gentiles stopped going there, and the problem was solved.