Shabbos Parashas Re'eh - 5781

Shabbos Parashas Re'eh - 5781

Rabbi Hal Miller

You shall not eat any carcass. To the stranger who is in your gates shall you give it

that he may eat it, or sell it to a non-Jew, for you are a holy people to Hashem your

God, you shall not cook a tender young animal in its mother's milk. [Devarim 14:21]

We know from many other places in the Torah that we are not allowed to eat meat from

an animal that is not properly slaughtered by kosher rules. Our verse informs us of a

couple things we can do with an improperly slaughtered animal so it does not go to

waste. It also repeats the meat-milk prohibition that we were commanded elsewhere.

Why the repetitions, and what exactly are we allowed here to do?

Rav Hirsch cites the Gemora [Pesachim 21b] that any time we are prohibited from

eating something, we are prohibited from any benefit unless the Torah explicitly comes

to allow a benefit. Our verse explicitly allows that benefit here.

We can look at the first phrase as an introduction to the second, the permission part.

The "holy people" phrase is the reason. The last portion, meat-milk, must be read as

related to the person we transfer this meat to, that the Torah is prohibiting us from

letting non-Jews consume dairy with the meat we give them.

So what about the middle? "To the stranger who is in your gates shall you give it that

he may eat it, or sell it to a non-Jew" seems to be the main purpose of our verse. First,

who are these people? The words are la'ger and l'nachri.

La'ger means "to the stranger". L'nachri means "to the foreigner". Obviously, they are

different or the Torah would not have used two different words. Ger is used additionally

to mean a convert or proselyte, but the verse would make no sense if we were going

to give this meat to a convert since converts are Jews and thus forbidden to eat it.

Another use of the word is "ger toshav", often translated as a "righteous Gentile".

They are not bound by Torah law (other than the Noachide laws) and are allowed to

eat such meat. The verse then is referring to giving meat to a righteous non-Jew

who lives with us or selling it to any non-Jew other than a ger.

But is that exactly what it's saying? Torah Temimah points out that we may give to a

ger or sell to a nachri, but not the reverse. What is the reason for this difference?

Torat Chaim says that we are obligated to provide assistance and support to a ger

in our community who needs, but we have no such obligation to a nachri. Further,

if the ger only wants to sell it to the nachri, we have no obligation to the ger and

may sell it ourselves. We give it free to the ger for him to eat if he needs.

There is another question on the wording of our verse. In both Hebrew and English

it reads, "give it to the ger so he can eat it or sell it to the nachri". The word 'or' is

not clear. Does it mean we can give it to the ger or we can sell it to the nachri, or

does it mean we can give it to the ger, who then has a choice of eating it or selling it?

Torat Chaim's comment above takes the first view, that the 'or' applies to us, not to

the ger, and that seems to be the unstated position of most of the commentators.

The plain meaning could be either way. However, in context, perhaps there is no

question. The phrase that follows, "you are a holy people" and the point about

meat and milk, may indicate that the Torah intended the choice of giving or

selling be to us, not to the ger.