Shabbos Parashas Tzav - 5775

Shabbos Parashas Tzav - 5775

Rabbi Hal Miller

Speak to the Children of Israel saying, any cheilev fat of oxen, sheep or goats

you shall not eat. [Vayikra 7:23]

You shall not consume any blood in any of your dwelling places, whether from

fowl or from animals. [Vayikra 7:26]

Yuck! Why would we think to do this? Why does the Torah spend so much time

telling us not to eat these? We read just recently [3:17] "An eternal decree for your

generations in all your dwelling places, you may not consume any cheilev fat or

any blood. It also appears elsewhere. What do we learn from our verses here?

Rashi finds one item here that is different, the phrase "in any of your dwelling places"

appears with regard to blood. He says that "because it is a duty of the body, and it is

not a duty of the land", thus it applies everywhere we might live. But it seems a long

way to go for the Torah to explain this simple concept, repeating the command in so

many places. The Gemora in Kiddushin [37b] says that our verse is necessary

because we might have thought that this prohibition only applies with regard to

sacrifices, thus we here learn that it applies in all times, even when there is no Temple.

Ramban comes to a similar conclusion but from another angle. He says that when

our first verse says "any cheilev fat", it is to teach us that it applies not only to sacrifices

but to all animals in this class. Since we were already commanded that the smoke

from burning the cheilev of sacrifices has to go up from the altar, we would not need to

be told that we could not eat the fat of a sacrifice, thus this verse must refer to

non-sacrifices.

Rashbam sees our verse as referring to places other than Jerusalem, which in itself

proves that it applies to non-sacrifices.

Nachshoni cites Rambam as explaining our two verses together. He says, "the

prohibition against cheilev is for health reasons, but the prohibition against blood is

meant to wean Israel from idolatry, which in those days was linked to blood."

Numerous commentators relate this to the issue of eating meat, and separating out the

soul of the animal from the food. Abarbanel says that man sinned with his life force and

he must rectify this with a life-force. Sefer HaChinuch writes that "if a man will eat it,

coarseness and crassness enters a man's soul because the soul of an animal is

coarse and unrefined. Further, it is not right that a soul should eat a soul."

According to Rav Kook, the Torah implicitly disapproves eating meat, but permits it

only in light of man's weaknesses. He says that man must learn to be compassionate

towards other living beings in order to be compassionate to mankind.

Rav Hirsch explains that these two prohibitions usually come together because they

show the same point. "Every time we refrain from eating any blood or cheilev we

prove the lasting reality of the sacrificial laws, show we expect them ultimately to be

reinstated."

Our verses tell us to maintain our belief in G-d in all times and all places, and to

have compassion both on the animals we use, and on other human beings.