Halakhah zu Wajikra 11:44

Behold that there are commands and warnings that appear in the Torah that are not about a specific thing, but rather include all of the commandments. It is as if it says, "Do everything I have commanded you to do and be careful about anything from which I have prohibited you"; or "Do not transgress anything of what I have commanded you about." And there is no room to count this command on its own - as it does not command us to do a specific act, such that it should be a positive commandment; nor does it warn us from doing a specific act, such that it should be a negative commandment. And this is like its saying, "Be on guard concerning all that I have told you" (Exodus 23:13); and what is stated, "And you shall keep my statutes" (Leviticus 19:19); "And you shall keep my judgements" (Leviticus 18:4); "and you shall keep My covenant" (Exodus 19:5); "And you shall keep My charge" (Leviticus 18:30), and many like these. And [others] have already erred in this principle, such that they counted, "You shall be holy" (Leviticus 19:2), to be included among the positive commandments. And they did not know that "You shall be holy," and "you shall sanctify yourselves and be holy" (Leviticus 11:44) are commands to keep the whole Torah. It is as if it said, "Be holy by doing everything I have commanded you and being careful about anything I have prohibited to you." And the words of the Sifra (Sifra, Kedoshim, Section 1:1) are, "'You shall be holy' - you shall be separated - meaning to say, separate from all the disgraceful things that I have prohibited to you." And in the Mekhilta (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 22:30:1), "Issi ben Yehudah says, 'When the Holy One, Blessed be He, originates a commandment for Israel, He adds holiness to them'" - meaning to say this command is not a command in itself, but rather follows from the commands that they have been commanded. So one who fulfills this command will be called, holy. And there is no difference between it saying, "You shall be holy," or if it had said, "Do my commandments." Would you see that that which is being said [here] is a positive commandment, in addition to the commandments that it is referring back to, that we have been commanded? Likewise should we not say that "You shall be holy," and that which is similar to it, is a commandment - for it has not commanded us to do anything besides what we [already] know. And the words of the Sifrei (Sifrei Bamidbar 115:1): "'You shall be holy' - that is the holiness of the commandments.' Hence behold what we have been working around is clear. And also based on this principle is its saying, "Cut away the thickening about your hearts" (Deuteronomy 10:16) - meaning to say, that one accept and obey all of the commandments already mentioned. And so too, "and stiffen your necks no more" (Deuteronomy 10:16) - meaning to say, do not harden your heart and accept that which I commanded you, and do not transgress it.

The species which originate in dust heaps and carcasses, such as maggots, worms and their like and which are born, not through intercourse between male and female, but out of putrefaction of dung and the like are called "creeping things that move upon the earth" (Leviticus 11:44). … On the other hand, "all creeping things that creep upon the earth" (Leviticus 11:42) refers to such that procreate by intercourse between male and female.

To not eat of swarming creatures that exist from decay: To not eat of swarming creatures that exist from decaying matter - even though they are not from a known species and do not exist from male and female - as it is stated (Leviticus 11:44), "and you shall not defile your souls with any swarming creature that crawls upon the ground." And the language of Sifra, Shemini, Chapter 12:4 is "'Swarming creature that crawls upon the ground' - even though it does not give fruit and multiply." And Rambam, may his memory be blessed, wrote that "swarming" is stated about a swarming thing that is born from a male and female and "crawling" is stated about one that is made from decay. But Ramban, may his memory be blessed (on Sefer HaMitzvot, Root 9, s.v. vehaperush) challenged him from verses that are written; and he wrote that in all of them, [both] swarming and crawling are stated.