Devar/5771/Shemini
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עברית
English
to distinguish between the unclean (ṭamé) and the clean (ṭahor), and between the living thing that may be eaten and the living thing that may not be eaten (Lev 11:47)
This week is "Shabbat Parah", where we read in the mafṭir: He that toucheth the dead, even any man's dead body, shall be unclean seven days (Num 19:11). Our portion speaks of ṭumá (ritual uncleanliness) of a different sort: that of animals which are ṭemeʼoth. Our mafṭir speaks about the ṭumá of dead people, and here "unclean" animals. Are these the same kind of ṭumá?
Before it is possible to answer that question, we must know what ṭumá is. There are various reasons for ṭumá: death, dead animal bodies, substances oozing from a living body, and others. Among them, the "dead animal body" interests us. That is an animal which died for any reason, except from kosher slaughter. If we take a cow and slaughter it in accordance with Jewish law (kosher slaughter), then its meat is permitted to be eaten, and its body does not cause ṭumá. That same cow, if improperly slaughtered (for example, by a Gentile -- even if he is supervised by a Jew, and even if he does everything precisely as a Jew would have done it) is not permitted to be eaten, and its body causes ṭumá! The same cow could be a source of ṭumá or not. That is to say that ṭumá is not a natural phenomenon at all. This is how the Rambam described it: It is extremely clear that ṭumʼoth and ṭaharoth are a Divine decree, and not among those things which human intellect can fathom, and are in the category of ḥuqqim (laws with no obvious logical basis) (Laws of Miqwoth 11:15) -- that is to say, these matters are beyond human understanding.
Nonetheless one may discern a connection. A living human, so long as he keeps himself from any sources of ṭumá, will not cause ṭumá. The instant he dies, he himself becomes a source of ṭumá, a source of the most stringent form thereof. Similarly, the cow we spoke of above, as long as it is alive it does not cause ṭumá. And when it dies of kosher slaughter it also does not cause ṭumá, but if it dies any other way, it does. The "impure" animals in our portion, are not "impure" because they cause ṭumá as these do, rather they are outside that which is permitted us in any case. Just as a person must guard himself from ṭumá if he wishes to approach the Temple, so too must he guard himself from these "unclean" animals in his daily life, and not eat them. To guard his soul from any stain, because that is the Divine decree.
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