Commentaire sur Le Lévitique 3:17

חקת עולם This whole verse is well expounded in Torath Cohanim (Sifra, Vayikra Dibbura d'Nedavah, Chapter 20 6-8).

חקת עולם, a perpetual statute, etc. This verse provides us with the ammunition necessary to prove that not only the חלב, certain fat parts of animals which are being offered on the altar, are forbidden for consumption by Jews, but that those fat parts are equally forbidden when the animal has been designated for consumption as חולין, secular purposes. This is why the Torah writes that this statute applies throughout the generations in all parts of the earth where Jews reside. This part of the verse would not make sense unless the prohibition applied to animals not slaughtered as sacrifices. Torat Kohanim (189) also explains the word חקת עולם as applying לבית העולמים, "when the permanent Temple would be built," whereas it explains the word לדורותיכם as לדירותיכם בכל מושבותיכם בארץ ובחוצה לארץ, "in all your dwellings both inside and outside the Holy Land." Seeing the Torah already wrote that this was a perpetual statute, what need was there for the additional words: "for all your generations in all your dwellings?" Clearly, the words חוקת עולם have to be read as a continuation of כל חלב לשם, (3,16), that all the fat parts are to be be offered on the altar, including the periods when the permanent Temple would be built. The Torah continues that this warning (law) is also applicable for all times and in all places, even in the diaspora. We might have thought that prohibition of these fat parts was a reasonable prohibition while these parts were offered as something sacred on the altar, but that at times when the entire sacrifice legislation was in abeyance due to the absence of a Temple or Tabernacle, such a prohibition did not make sense; we might also have argued that this legislation should apply only in locations where the Tabernacle or Temple was situated but not in other locations; the Torah therefore had to write that it applies unconditionally and universally. [The thought presented here by our author that there was a case for arguing that this fat should be permitted, may be based on the fact that the Torah permitted meat not offered on the altar (Deut. 12,20) after the Israelites settled in the Holy Land, while in the desert no meat other than sacrificial meat was permitted for general consumption. Ed.]

בכל מושבותיכם כל חלב וכל דם לא תאכלו, even in those locations where you eat secular meat, i.e. meat from animals which were not offered on the altar as sacrificial meat. Although none of the fat or blood of those animals was destined for the altar, it is still forbidden.

The entire verse is well explained in Toras Kohanim. They learned from this that the prohibition of fats is even in the everlasting house [the Beis HaMikdash], during the time it is standing and also when it is destroyed, in the Land of Israel and outside the Land. Thus it is explained in the first Perek of Kiddushin (37b).

'כל חלב לה, “all fat parts are G-d’s.” This is a law applicable at all times. When the Temple stood, i.e. Solomon’s Temple, when these fat parts were burned on the altar, these parts were not allowed to be eaten even by the priests.

As an everlasting statute. If only the one who commands a law knows its reason, but it cannot be understood in terms of nature, ethics, or reason, it is called a חוק, from the language of being engraved (חקיקה) on a wooden or stone tablet. The source of this expression is that a law obligated by nature, ethics, or reason cannot be forgotten, but if its reason is unclear it can easily be forgotten in time. Therefore, it would have to be written down to save it from being forgotten or changed. Still, it could be erased over time, so they would engrave the law on a long-lasting stone tablet (HaKesav veHaKabbalah).

The Torah added the word: לדורותיכם, “throughout your generations,” to make clear that this prohibition continues in force even after the Temple no longer functioned. Should you think that this prohibition applied only in the Land of Israel, the Torah added the words: בכל מושבותיכם, “wherever you will dwell.”

כל חלב, “all fat,” [that used to be burned upon the altar Ed.] the reader will take note that wherever the Torah discusses the subject of animal offerings, it repeats its warning that Israelites must not eat either חלב or דם, “such fat, or blood.” We must learn not to assume that seeing that something is fit to be presented to the King of Kings, it must logically also be acceptable to the King’s subjects. However, the Torah prohibits only consumption of these parts of an animal. It does not forbid making other use of it, or even trading in it.