Parshat Shemini - 5780 - Don't Lose Your Sensitivity

Parshat Shemini – 5780

Rabbi Shaanan Gelman

Don’t Lose Your Sensitivity

For the past month we have been obsessing over food – specifically, Chametz – cleaning up our homes, avoiding foods, mixtures and medications containing chametz, kitniyot and for some gebrokhts.

There is a cathartic release which ought to take place the moment Pesach is over – I call it the Chametz binge.  We rush to the store to purchase bread, pizza, donuts, cereals and other necessities and desires as if we have never before encountered such a prized commodity.  The feeling we get is “at last, Pesach is over, no more scrutiny or preoccupation with what we consume.

Therefore, I find it somewhat ironic that the first parsha we read this year, immediately after Pesach, just as we are restoring our kitchens and utensils back to normal, is Parshat Shemini, a sidra whose major fixation is Kashrut – what we may put in our mouths and what we must refrain from consuming.

In fact, the Sefer HaChinuch enumerates a total of thirteen mitzvot dedicated to the Jewish dietary laws.

The question you may be wondering, especially after Pesach is why all of the fuss about kashrut?  Does God really care that much about our culinary preferences?

I want to share a beautiful idea quoted by Rabbi Benjamin Yudin ("Rabbi Benjamin Yudin on the Parsha").

The Chinuch in Parshat Mishpatim (in the context of not eating meat of a treifa) provides a profound insight into the commandment to keep kosher:

At the root of this commandment lies the basic notion that the body is the instrument of the soul.  With the body, the spirit carries out its activity, without the body it is unable to do so.  The spirit thereby comes into the shadow of the body only for the benefit of the spirit and not for its harm.  For God never does harm.  Rather, He does only good for all of His creations.  Thus, we find that the body at the command of the spirit is to be compared to a pair of tongs in the hand of the blacksmith or any other toolmaker. With the tongs, the craftsman can produce a tool fit for its intended purpose.  Now, in truth, if the tongs are strong and properly shaped in such a manner that one is able to grasp tools in them, the craftsman can make tools efficiently.  If the tongs are not good, the tools will never come out properly shaped and fit. Similarly, if there is loss or damage of any kind in and to the body, some function of intelligence will be nullified corresponding to that defect. For this reason, our complete and perfect Torah has removed us far from anything which causes such defect. It is in this vein, according to the plain meaning, we can say that we were given a ban by the Torah against all forbidden foods. If there are among any of these foods those whose harm is known and understood neither by us nor by the wise men of medicine, do not wonder about them. The faithful, trustworthy physician, who adored us about them, is wiser than both you and them. How foolish and hasty would anyone the who thought that nothing is harmful or useful, except as He understands it.

ספר החינוך פרשת אם כסף מצוה עג משרשי מצוה זו, לפי שהגוף כלי לנפש ובו תעשה פעולתה, וזולתו לא תשלם מלאכתה לעולם, ועל כן באה בצילו ולא לרעתה, באמת כי האל לא יריע אבל ייטיב לכל, נמצא כי הגוף בין ידיה כמו הצבת ביד הנפח אשר עמו יוציא כלי למעשהו, ובאמת כי בהיות הצבת חזק ומכוון לאחוז בו הכלים יעשם האומן טובים, ואם לא יהיה הצבת טוב לא יבואו לעולם הכלים מכוונים ונאים, וכמו כן בהיות בגוף שום הפסד מאי זה ענין שיהיה תתבטל פעולת השכל כפי אותו הפסד, ועל כן הרחיקתנו תורתנו השלמה מכל דבר הגורם בו הפסד. ועל הדרך הזה לפי הפשט נאמר שבא לנו האיסור בתורה בכל מאכלות האסורות, ואם יש מהם שאין נודע לנו ולא לחכמי הרפואה נזקן, אל תתמה עליהן, כי הרופא הנאמן שהזהירנו בהן חכם יותר ממך ומהם, וכמה נסכל ונבהל מי שחשב שאין לדברים נזק או תועלת אלא במה שהשיג הוא, ויש לך לדעת כי לתועלתנו לא נתגלה סיבתן ונזקן, פן יקומו אנשים מחזיקים עצמן כחכמים גדולים ויתחכמו לומר נזק פלוני שאמרה התורה שיש בדבר פלוני איננו כי אם במקום פלוני שטבעו כן או באיש פלוני שטבעו כן וכן, ופן יתפתה לדבריהם אחד מן הפתאים. על כן לא נתגלה טעמן להועיל לנו מן המכשול הזה.

In other words, according to the Sefer haChinuch, the laws of kashrut provide a means of protecting the soul which rests within the body – a person cannot execute his or her intended spiritual objective without kashrut.

The Gemara notes that when we consider the negative effect that non-kosher foods have upon our bodies the phrase used is

ויקרא פרק יא פסוק מג

אַל־תְּשַׁקְּצוּ֙ אֶת־נַפְשֹׁ֣תֵיכֶ֔ם בְּכָל־הַשֶּׁ֖רֶץ הַשֹּׁרֵ֑ץ וְלֹ֤א תִֽטַּמְּאוּ֙ בָּהֶ֔ם וְנִטְמֵתֶ֖ם בָּֽם:

“You shall become defiled through them”

But we have a קרי וכתיב on this phrase – a tradition regarding the way in which it is written and pronounced – it is pronounced as if it had an "א" in the word – וְנִטְמֵאתֶ֖ם, but the word is writte chaser, without the "א" which would be pronounced וּנְטַמְתֶ֖ם – conveying an entirely different meaning – “and you will become dull hearted”.

To quote Rabbi Yudin – “this means that you will lose your sensitivity to a higher quality and perspective of life.  The physical of eating affects our spiritual sensitivities.”

One of the dangers we face in this precarious time is the possibility of dulling our spiritual sensitivities – with so many bedieved’s, less than ideal, halachic constructs being created, we run the risk of becoming numb to the value that halacha and religious standards play in our lives.

Have we considered what happens to us when the restrictions are dialed back?  Once weve become accustomed to online Judaism, davening be’yechidus…compromises made out of a sense of medical emergency or mere inability to do better?

What happens when we can tovel our dishes?  Do we forget about that detail?  Do we dismiss minyan as a luxury then?

In Bergen Belsen[1] in 1944, in advance of Pesach, as the Jews were forced to eat Chametz on Pesach there was a special prayer distributed by the Rabbis – before you ate chametz, have the following kavana:

"Father in heaven, it is revealed before You that our will is to do Your will, and to celebrate Passover by eating matzah [unleavened bread] and by abstaining from eating chametz. Alas, our hearts are filled with anguish, for our servitude prevents us [from fulfilling these commandments], and we find ourselves in mortal danger. We are ready and willing to fulfill Your commandment to “live by them” (Leviticus 18:5) – and not to die by them – and also to obey the warning, “Take heed to yourself and guard yourselves well.” Therefore, we beseech You to grant us life, sustain us and speedily redeem us, that we may observe Your commandments, do Your Will and serve You wholeheartedly. Amen."

Whoever composed that special prayer understood the risk we run when forced into less than optimal circumstances – they appreciated that our actions impact our soul and our ability to take on the intended shape that Hashem has designed for us.

This is a bizarre period of bedieved.

Let us hope that we remember that the mandate of "וחי בהם" is not just about survival mode – its also a spiritual mandate – we must remain alive ברוחניות while we maintain our bodies as well.

The laws of kashrut immediately after Pesach are the reminder to us in this generation that the way in which we care for our bodies may change from season to season, and even year to year – but we must do what we can to keep true to the form of tzelem elokim, so we can continue to be true servants to the Almighty.

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[1] https://www.yadvashem.org/education/international-activities/jewish-world/educational-materials/prayer/group6.html