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Shemini: Time to Eat · A Thought for the Week

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to a Thought for the Week, a Torah in
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  Speaker 1: Motion podcast. I'm Jake Hellman, founding director of Torah in Motion,
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  Speaker 1: and it's a pleasure to have you here with us.
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  Speaker 1: This week's partshap podcast is sponsored by Malka and Elliott
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  Speaker 1: Spiegel in memory of their son Avramyrhskol ben Azrioshishun. May
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  Speaker 1: we celebrate Lenni Smahat in non leap years twelve out
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  Speaker 1: of nineteen years. Parsha Shmeni has always read on the
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  Speaker 1: Shabbat after Passak, but there's no reason to look for
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  Speaker 1: connection between the parsha and pessak. You know, the parsha
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  Speaker 1: of Chavu are really unrelated to what's going on in
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  Speaker 1: the Jewish calendar. We have for advents in the Jewish calendar,
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  Speaker 1: we have spect readings, but it's not Parsha Hashavua. But
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  Speaker 1: what I do want to discuss is the connection in
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  Speaker 1: the Parsha of Kashrut. The main laws of Kashrut appear here,
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  Speaker 1: which animals and fish and birds are kosher. And the
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  Speaker 1: question is what in the world are they doing in
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  Speaker 1: the middle or the last forty seven verses of Parsha Shmini.
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  Speaker 1: This is especially true because these laws are repeated in
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  Speaker 1: parshad ree with always with slight, with slight differences that
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  Speaker 1: need not interest us. Now, So the why didn't the
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  Speaker 1: door just have them in safe environment? In partori, what
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  Speaker 1: in the world are they're doing here in Shmedi? So
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  Speaker 1: the book of Aikra begins with the laws of the sacrifices.
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  Speaker 1: Va jikran Sa basically discussed the five types of sacrifices
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  Speaker 1: that were brought by the kohaning and what the us
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  Speaker 1: of kusture are as we move from the sacrifices of
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  Speaker 1: the Kohanim to the sacrifices of the people at large.
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  Speaker 1: No longer bringing sacrifices in the temple, but three times
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  Speaker 1: a day, we're bringing sacrifices in our own home. A
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  Speaker 1: safer bykra may be known as taret Kohanim. And we
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  Speaker 1: often think that the kohaniman the descendants of Erin people
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  Speaker 1: of the priestly cat class. But as we were told
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  Speaker 1: that Mount Sinai, the entire Jewish people is a mamleka konim,
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  Speaker 1: the goy am kadosh we're in. We're all priest to
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  Speaker 1: the lords, so to speak. The Kohanim, the the Kohanim,
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  Speaker 1: the descendants of Ara, the biological Kohanim, serve God in
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  Speaker 1: the temple via the temple, but the temple is only
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  Speaker 1: one very small way to serve God. We the entire
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  Speaker 1: Jewish people, as I mentioned, serve God three times a
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  Speaker 1: day via the laws of cush root, and we serve
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  Speaker 1: God in all their activities that we do. That's really
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  Speaker 1: a beautiful idea in Judaism that not only we can,
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  Speaker 1: we must. We're obligated to serve God through our physical selves,
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  Speaker 1: not to deny them, but to ennoble them and to
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  Speaker 1: sanctify them. We're in the middle. I mean, I'm recording
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  Speaker 1: this on Pessach, you know, food and so that Mitzvan
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  Speaker 1: and say there, it's so integral. Eating is so integral
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  Speaker 1: to our religion, ain't siemcalaba bus are behind. There's no
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  Speaker 1: joy without wine and meat. And we know, we know
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  Speaker 1: through many of them, it's what it's the elevation of
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  Speaker 1: our physical and that's of course what the loss of
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  Speaker 1: cushroot are sort of, I would say, are the primary
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  Speaker 1: example of this. We don't need a temple to serve God,
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  Speaker 1: and our shools and our home are the temples. We've
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  Speaker 1: spoken about this on other occasions. The basic idea in
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  Speaker 1: Judaism that was the brilliance of our rabbis really who
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  Speaker 1: after the destruction of a temple managed to a create
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  Speaker 1: rabbinic Judaism as we call it, but also to take
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  Speaker 1: those aspects of the temple and truant to them to
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  Speaker 1: our home. Those many sects of Judaism that were so
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  Speaker 1: beholden and their whole religion revolved around the sacrifices in
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  Speaker 1: the temple, they all all disappeared. But what we do
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  Speaker 1: is we made our temple our home. So that's why
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  Speaker 1: we washed before our eat, we pour salt on our food, etc.
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  Speaker 1: Now it's all very nice, and I think this is
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  Speaker 1: pretty base. I would call it even in many ways
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  Speaker 1: Judaism one on one, But if you take a look
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  Speaker 1: a little bit more closely at the loss of cushwit
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  Speaker 1: as they are presented, they're not really focused on eating. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: a little bit, you can't eat non kosher food. But
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  Speaker 1: the main focus of the Torah seems to be tuma vitara,
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  Speaker 1: what we call it English purity and impurity. These are
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  Speaker 1: concepts that really only have relevance in the Temple when
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  Speaker 1: one is tammy when one is impure, one is not
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  Speaker 1: allowed to enter the temple. There's nothing wrong with being tombay.
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  Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, it's off in a mitzvah.
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  Speaker 1: It's an obligation to become to made to go to
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  Speaker 1: a funeral. That's how we become tamey through contact with death.
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  Speaker 1: So there's nothing wrong with that. Just means you can't
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  Speaker 1: go in the temple. And especially on Pessa, we know
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  Speaker 1: that those people who were tamay, the tour gives them
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  Speaker 1: a second opportunity to bring the corbon Pessa if they
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  Speaker 1: don't want to miss out through no fault of their own.
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  Speaker 1: They did something very nice. Let's say they went to funeral,
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  Speaker 1: why should they miss out on Pessa. So the tour,
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  Speaker 1: if you if you look through the psuchim the doras,
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  Speaker 1: I would say Maine, it seems to me the main
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  Speaker 1: focus is not so much what we can and can't eat,
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  Speaker 1: but the fact that these foods make us impure, not
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  Speaker 1: just the foods, if touching the dead carcass of certain animals,
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  Speaker 1: and that makes us tamay. And the question is, of course,
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  Speaker 1: what is the relationship between tuma and eating, impurity and
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  Speaker 1: eating and why specifically these animals are matamay, and it's
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  Speaker 1: not that's a much longer conversation. It's not at all
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  Speaker 1: clear necessarily why that is so, but let's try to
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  Speaker 1: look at it from at least one one angle. As
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  Speaker 1: I mentioned, death is matamae. Judaism is a religion that
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  Speaker 1: loves life, so death brings impurity the avia the center
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  Speaker 1: of impurity is a dead body. And then depending on
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  Speaker 1: where sort of one is a relationship, how close they
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  Speaker 1: got to a dead body and sometimes a dead animal,
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  Speaker 1: the person becomes tamay. And of course that's why tahara
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  Speaker 1: purity is when one goes to a mikvah into a
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  Speaker 1: body of water, because water, of course is the necessary
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  Speaker 1: ingredient for life. Many of the commentaries note that the
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  Speaker 1: an Kosher animals are basically predators, or at least carnivorous,
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  Speaker 1: we want to say, causing death to others. So in
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  Speaker 1: a certain sense that aspect, being a predator means you're
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  Speaker 1: going to impart tu ma. On the flip side, perhaps
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  Speaker 1: this idea can explain a very controversial view that the
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  Speaker 1: laws of kush Root, which we really don't know the
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  Speaker 1: reason for. It's a classic example of a meet spell
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  Speaker 1: where the reason is very unclear, and we would never
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  Speaker 1: have come up with these laws on our own, unlike
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  Speaker 1: let's say, don't steal on your parents, which we would
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  Speaker 1: come up with on our own, hopefully even without Atorah.
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  Speaker 1: So the commentaries who discuss it, one of the reasons given,
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  Speaker 1: and this was very much the reform movement gave this
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  Speaker 1: idea that caush root is a healthsure and it's no
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  Speaker 1: longer applicable. In the days before refrigeration it was very important.
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  Speaker 1: But as a health measure. Therefore, we don't neat these
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  Speaker 1: suits to prevent death. In other words, they're mitamay because
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  Speaker 1: if you eat them, they're harmful for you. Now, as
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  Speaker 1: much as this idea may sound strange to people, almost
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  Speaker 1: heretical on a sense, I think it's important to note
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  Speaker 1: that no less an authority than the Rumbum focuses on
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  Speaker 1: the health aspects of cuts shut. It's a fascinating discussion.
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  Speaker 1: You can think about it at another time. But these
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  Speaker 1: two angles both the animals cause death and maybe by
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  Speaker 1: eating the animals we cause our own death. That may
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  Speaker 1: lead to the idea that could be a way to
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  Speaker 1: understand the reason of why these animals are tame. Now,
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  Speaker 1: even an animal that is tamey okay may very good,
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  Speaker 1: we're not allowed to eat it. But they too, of course,
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  Speaker 1: are parts of God, of God's creation. We must care
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  Speaker 1: for these animals. If you're you're a pet, let's say,
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  Speaker 1: a donkey or something, you have to you have to
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  Speaker 1: feed them, you have to take care of them. You're
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  Speaker 1: not allowed to cause pain to any of these animals unnecessarily.
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  Speaker 1: A matter of fact, one of the readings on colonoid
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  Speaker 1: pessa is takes a mentioned to meets fah not to
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  Speaker 1: ensure that if ahamor a donkey is too much of
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  Speaker 1: a bringer, to relieve the burden from the donkey. If
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  Speaker 1: the donkey is lost, there to return it to its owner.
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  Speaker 1: So it's not that, oh it's tom it's something terrible. No,
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  Speaker 1: it's a specific idea that we can't eat it, and
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  Speaker 1: somehow it imparts impurity. I just want to mention two
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  Speaker 1: of our animals, two of the quote unquote impure animals
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  Speaker 1: that are many ways wonderful animals. We'll start with the
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  Speaker 1: Gamal the camel. Camel is one of the animals one
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  Speaker 1: of the few animals that choose its cut but doesn't
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  Speaker 1: have split hooves. And therefore it is not kosher. But
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  Speaker 1: the camel is a great and we you know, we
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  Speaker 1: live in modern society, we're not so attuned to this.
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  Speaker 1: But in the ancient world, camels are very important and
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  Speaker 1: it's a very prestigious animal. But it's a very helpful animal.
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  Speaker 1: It allows you to travel long distances in these very
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  Speaker 1: few supplies. It you know, it chooses cut, it doesn't
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  Speaker 1: need a lot of water. It is the epitome of kindness.
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  Speaker 1: That's why it's called a gamal, gimilut Hasadin acts of
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  Speaker 1: kindness and gamal it's the same route. And of course
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  Speaker 1: it's interesting that Rifka sort of the paradigm of kindness.
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  Speaker 1: Yitkag's wife. How did she? How was she chosen to
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  Speaker 1: be wife? Because she was kind? She did gimiluke gamal
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  Speaker 1: to the gamlim, to the the camels. That's one, you know,
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  Speaker 1: just one thing we to think about. And this second
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  Speaker 1: animal we can talk about is Cassida, a stork. And
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  Speaker 1: the Kamara says, well, it's called because it's it's a hasid.
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  Speaker 1: It's it's pious. It does acts of piety with its colleagues,
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  Speaker 1: so to speak. It shares its food. And I was
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  Speaker 1: looking up a little bit. Storks are known to be
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  Speaker 1: social creatures that congregate in large flock. I think that's
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  Speaker 1: also an important idea. You know, the Jewish community comes together,
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  Speaker 1: not to be alone. Many of them. Many of the
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  Speaker 1: species of storks are monogamous, which also very interesting. And
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  Speaker 1: they're known to have very high level of protecting their
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  Speaker 1: their babies parental care with both parents sharing the responsibility.
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  Speaker 1: So this also, and that's what it's called a made
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  Speaker 1: for whatever reason, we cannot eat it. It's mid tame.
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  Speaker 1: But but it's not some negative. And I'll conclude with
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  Speaker 1: the Gamara in Aravine more one hundred b has said
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  Speaker 1: this beautiful idea that if the tour had not been given.
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  Speaker 1: So I say, so, if the tour not been given,
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  Speaker 1: we wouldn't keep kosher. Why why should we keep kosher?
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  Speaker 1: But the tour not be given. There are lots of
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  Speaker 1: things we would need to do, but we wouldn't have
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  Speaker 1: a tour to teach us. So the tumb would says,
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  Speaker 1: we could have learned many of the important attributes from animals.
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  Speaker 1: I'll just mention a couple. The tumb would says, we
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  Speaker 1: could have learned modesty from the cat and the prohibition
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  Speaker 1: against theft from the ants, the way they conduct themselves.
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  Speaker 1: Their cats are very modest and ants don't They all
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  Speaker 1: work together, not see me from which one another. And
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  Speaker 1: of course we know obviously cats and ants are not
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  Speaker 1: not kosher. It's true we cannot eat many animals, and
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  Speaker 1: as the Rambam says, you should want to eat these animals.
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  Speaker 1: There's nothing wrong because there's no ethical reason on the
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  Speaker 1: surface to avoid these animals. Just the tour says. So,
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  Speaker 1: so there your shows. I would love to eat pork,
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  Speaker 1: but what can I do? God has command to me.
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  Speaker 1: I can't eat them. And if you eat them, and
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  Speaker 1: perhaps even if you touch them, you will become impure.
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  Speaker 1: You will not be able to enter into betha medush.
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  Speaker 1: We can't eat these animals, but there as much we
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  Speaker 1: can learn from them. Sabot shalom. We hope you enjoyed
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  Speaker 1: a thought for the week a Torah in Motion podcast.
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  Speaker 1: Stony thank you very much, looking forward to learning with
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  Speaker 1: you next week. Hmm