Shabbos Parashas Shemini - 5776

Shabbos Parashas Shemini - 5776

Rabbi Hal Miller

But this is what you shall not eat from among those that bring up their cud or that

have split hooves. [Vayikra 11:4]

In numerous places, the Torah tells us the laws of kashrus, what we may eat and

what we may not, etc. What is the purpose of the prohibition in our verse? The next

few verses list four animals that are prohibited, three that chew cud but do not have

split hooves, and one with split hooves that does not chew cud. Why do we need

three examples of one class, and one example of the other? Why only these four?

Many people in modern times argue that these laws are for health reasons, that

eating certain foods is bad for the body. That may be true, but if so, the laws would

have come with a clear reason along those lines, or may not have appeared in the

Torah at all, leaving to science the discovery of such "simple" reasons. Some say

that the animals we were given to eat were specified because they were Egyptian

idols, and our eating them would be a declaration that G-d outweighs their idols.

That may have also been true, but it would have applied in that generation only,

not for all time. Besides, some of the prohibited animals are of no medical harm, nor

were they Egyptian idols of the day, yet the Torah still prohibits them. These prohibitions

date back to Noach, so the reason for them has to be unconnected to Egypt.

Nachshoni brings R'Hirsch on the hidden effects upon the soul of eating non-kosher

food. "Just as the sanctity of the Temple can be defiled, so too your own bodily

temple can become defiled by tumah." A few weeks ago, we read that G-d told Moshe

that He would be a G-d "among" or "in" them, meaning in the people themselves,

as opposed to being separate and apart. What that meant is that each of us is a

temple, each of us houses the Holy Presence. Anything that would prevent G-d from

taking up residence inside us is necessarily a violation of our role in this world, as

a light to the nations. Non-kosher food makes us into a place in which G-d refuses to

enter. The phrase, "we are what we eat" applies here. One who eats prohibited foods

is not going to be at the spiritual level of one who eats permitted foods.

So why list these four?

There are two main signs of kashrus here, chewing cud and split hooves. From the

pig we see that it has split hooves, but does not chew cud, one sign, not the other.

From the other three we see that they chew cud but do not have split hooves, again,

one sign, not the other. We have a lesson already: one sign is not enough when the

Torah specified two. But this does not answer our question.

Some commentators note that these are the only four animals that have one sign.

Other non-kosher animals have neither. Thus this list is meant to be all-inclusive.

This makes sense, but we still have to wonder whether there is some deeper

message as well.

Rabbeinu Bechaye supplies us this additional message. He says that these four

animals are listed in four separate verses to "allude to the four empires at four

different epochs, each constituting a different diaspora." He says that the three cud-

but-no-hoof animals appear together in Devarim [14:7] to indicate that the first three

diasporas were considered as one because of their relatively short durations. The

fourth is separated because its duration and misery outweigh the other three

combined. Nechama Leibowitz adds, "Thus we find in the Torah the echo of our

perennial sufferings, even in the legislation relating to the consumption of animals."

It could be that the length of our current diaspora is directly related to our eating of

non-kosher food. Perhaps the Torah is giving us the secret of redemption in yet

another way: eat kosher, and you can come home.