Parshat Re'eh
25 Av 5763
August 23, 2003

Daf Yomi: Zevachim 75

Guest Author:
Rabbi Larry Teitelman

Young Israel of Jackson Heights, NY

 

The fifth and final book of the Chumash, though popularly called "Devarim," is in fact known in the Talmud as "Mishneh Torah" -- literally, "a second Torah". The source for this alternate appellation is found in the Book of Devarim itself: "and he [the King of Israel] should write this Mishneh Torah in a book" (17:18). The Commentators, following Sanhedrin 21b, by and large understood the expression in this context not specifically as a reference to Devarim, but rather as part of a directive for the King to maintain two copies of the entire Torah, one for his royal treasury and another to accompany him at all times. Nonetheless, the term "Mishneh Torah," and the vernacular "Deuteronomy," clearly also reflects the reality that many portions of Devarim are recapitulations of sections found earlier in the first four books of the Torah.

One of the most obvious examples of such duplication is the description of the kosher and non-kosher species that originally appeared in Parashas Shemini (Vayikra 11:1-47) and now recurs in Parashas Re'eh (Devarim 14:3-21). Not only does the Torah restate the prohibitions to consume non-kosher animals, and even reiterate its guidelines for differentiating between the permitted and forbidden types, but it goes so far as to once again itemize specific beasts and birds that may not be eaten. Naturally, considering the significance granted to each and every word - nay, every letter - of the Torah, one wonders about the necessity to repeat the presentation in our parasha, especially in such detail.

The astute reader may be quick to discern variations between the pair of accounts in Vayikra and Devarim, with certain particulars only being revealed in the later version. For example, while in both Vayikra and Devarim the same four animals - the camel, the hyrax/badger, the hare and the pig - are explicitly identified as non-kosher on the basis of their failure to chew their cud and have split hooves, the list in Devarim also enumerates some ten animals that are acceptable because they in fact meet both requirements. Similarly, in the context of the birds, in Vayikra, the Torah proceeds immediately to identify the forbidden fowl, whereas in Devarim, we first find the introductory verse "Every clean bird you may eat." It is from this declaration that the Rabbis derive that certain kosher birds (e.g. the dispatched bird of the Metzora) may still be consumed despite having undergone procedures that conceivably would have rendered them unfit. Moreover, while the same passage in Vayikra elaborates on the contraction of impurity from handling improperly slaughtered animal corpses, it is in Devarim where we are also informed as to whom they may be given or sold as an appropriate means of disposal. Finally, while the injunction against cooking meat and milk together already appears twice previously in the Torah (Shemot 23:19 and 34:26), this is its debut in the context of forbidden animals, and probably explains the Biblical exclusion of "basar be-chalav" from applying to non-kosher species. As such, one might suggest that it is precisely these kinds of new information contained only in Devarim that justify the return to the topic.

While the aforementioned differences are certainly noteworthy, one further distinction in particular may provide insight as to an underlying progression from the former account in Vayikra to the latter account in Devarim. The section in Re'eh concludes with the phrase "ki am kadosh ata la-HaShem Elokekha" -- "you are a holy people to G-d, your L-rd." Rashi, citing the Sifri, remarks "kadesh et atsmekha be-mutar lekha; devarim ha-mutarim ve-acherim nohagim bahem issur, al tatirem bifnehem" -- "Sanctify yourself with that which is permitted to you; things that are permitted, but others treat them as forbidden, don't permit those items in their presence." In his commentary to Rashi, Sifsei Chakhamim contrasts this to Parashas Shemini where we are told, in the parallel context of the nevela (the improperly slaughtered animal), that consumption would contaminate the soul. Thus the emphasis in Parashas Shemini is the pernicious effects of forbidden foods. This is perhaps most sharply expressed by the well-known derasha, based on a phrase from the account in Shemini, "ve-nitmetem -- metamtem es ha-lev" that non-kosher foods taint the heart, so much so that even a young child who might otherwise be permitted to violate Torah laws, is not be fed non-kosher foods because of the long-term negative impact. Thus the introduction of the expression "ki am kadosh ata" in Re'eh teaches us that we are concerned not only with avoiding that which is explicitly forbidden and all of its attendant consequences, but also to use that which is permitted as a medium for further sanctification.
It is rather appropriate then that the Rambam - the master codifier described by the Meiri as "the greatest of authors" - compiled these regulations into "Hilkhos Maakhalos Asuros" - the "Laws of Forbidden Foods" - which he in turn included in "Sefer Kedushah" - "the Book of Holiness". On the one hand, there is the aspect of prohibition, the necessity to refrain from certain foods because of the associated impurities and abominations, spiritual, social, and possibly even physical risks. These are the concerns that are emphasized in the account in Vayikra. At the same time, however, there is a higher order, the mandate that these laws imbue the Jewish individual and the Israelite nation with a sense of holiness. Hence, just after the Torah proclaims in Re'eh, "banim atem la-HaShem Elokekhem" - we are children of G-d, we are reminded of our people's special diet and its ultimate goal to make us holy like our Father.

This duality of abstaining from impurities and aspiring for holiness is not limited however to the laws of kashrut. Indeed, an obvious parallel is the "arayos," the forbidden intimate relations. There too, on the one hand we have prohibitions, as articulated by Rashi at the beginning of Parashas Kedoshim, "kedoshim tihyu - hevu persuhim min ha-arayot u-min ha-evera" - "distance yourself from the illicit relations and from sin". But the extension of the Ramban in that context is well known, that it is not enough to refrain from explicit sin, but also to avoid excesses and more generally use that which is permitted as a means to spiritually elevate ourselves. It is hardly a coincidence that these laws too - concerning forbidden sexual relations - are also included by the Rambam in the same "Book of Holiness". Ultimately, however, we hope that these two models - will inspire all of our observances, so that we not only technically comply with the formulations of the laws, but are also guided to lives of sanctity and holiness.