Shabbat Parashat Emor - 5782

Shabbat Parashat Emor - 5782

Rabbi Hal Miller

A carcass or a mauled animal he shall not eat, to become impure through it--I am God. [Vayikra 22:8] Our parsha to this point is about Kohanim and not becoming ritually impure. It continues with a discussion about the purity of offerings. Right in the middle comes our verse, which says that a Kohen is not allowed to eat neveilah or tereifah. But no Jew is allowed to eat these, so why do the Kohanim need a separate command?

Further, in 21:5, "They shall not make a bald spot on theirs heads and they shall

not shave the edge of their beard and in their flesh they shall not scratch a

scratch." We see it again in Devarim 14:1. Again, these are prohibited to all

Jews, so why do the Kohanim need here a separate command?

Rashi answers our second question that the command not to make a bald spot

for non-Kohanim only applies to between the eyes, as the text there states, but

that there is a gezeirah shavah, a link from 21:5 back teaching that just as it here

includes the head, so too there it includes the head. This leaves open the idea

that the Torah could have written the command in only one place, to include the

greater set of application, or could have written it twice without referring to the

Kohanim in particular.

On the first question, Rav Hirsch points at the bird sin offering, which is shechted

by melicha, which is not the normal way to shecht a sacrifice, and the Torah is

here telling us that this is a one-place exception to the prohibitions against eating

meat that is not butchered in the otherwise proper way. It only applies to Kohanim,

who are the only ones to eat that particular bird sacrifice.

Rashi and the Gemora in Chullin [100b] tell us that the Torah is here differentiating

between a tereifah animal (torn instead of shechted) and a non-kosher animal (such

as a pig). An otherwise-kosher animal that dies without shechting is forbidden to all

Jews due to impurity. Here we see that this does not apply to birds. Although non-

Kohanim are not allowed to eat them for other reasons, such a bird is permitted for

a Kohen in this situation and he will not become impure. Ramban adds that the

purpose for our verse is to add a consequence for a Kohen who eats a torn animal,

that he cannot go into the Temple to serve due to impurity, which does not apply to

other Jews.