Commento su Levitico 11:11

ושקץ יהיו AND THEY SHALL BE AN ABOMINABLE THING — This statement is here repeated to prohibit all things with which it (the שרץ) is mixed if they contain so much of the שרץ as to impart its taste to them (Sifra, Shemini, Section 3 9).

AND THEIR CARCASSES YE SHALL HAVE IN DETESTATION. “This includes [in the category of forbidden food] yavchushin which have been filtered [through water]. Yavchushin are insects called mousclions¹⁹⁶In our Rashi: moucherons. — A native of France, Rashi explained many Scriptural and Talmudic terms in the French language of his times. These words of the old French language have indeed been an invaluable source of knowledge to students of the development of the French language. in [old] French.” This is Rashi’s language.
But I wonder about it! For this species [of mousclions] always comes out of wine, and flies about in the air and rests on the earth, and even while still in the air [before creeping upon the earth] it is already forbidden [as food], as we say [in Tractate Chullin] in the Chapter Eilu Treifoth:¹⁹⁷“These are accounted as treifah animals” [so that they may not be eaten]. Chullin 67b. See in the Book of Exodus, Seder Mishpatim, p. 373, Note 189. “Rav Yoseif raised the question: [if an insect which grew in a fruit] flew off into the air [and before it rested on the earth, was swallowed knowingly by a person] what is the law regarding it?”¹⁹⁸Shall we say that since it was capable of creeping upon the earth it is termed “a swarming thing that swarms upon the earth” and thus forbidden by Scripture as food or maybe it is only forbidden if it has actually swarmed upon the earth? How much more so that it is forbidden when it rests continually all day upon vessels and upon the earth far away from the wine cellar, for it is already called a swarming thing that swarmeth upon the earth.¹⁹⁹Further, Verse 41. Rather, that species [mentioned by Rashi as mousclions] is called yitush (mosquito) — and breeds in wine, as the Rabbis have said in the tradition concerning the wicked Titus,²⁰⁰“The wicked Titus” was the Roman general who burnt the Second Temple, whose punishment in this world was, as the Midrash tells: “They poured him a cup of wine, and the Holy One, blessed be He, prepared for him one yitush (mosquito) which entered into his nostrils” and plagued him all his life (Vayikra Rabbah 22:2). Thus it is clear that the yitush breeds in wine: See Gittin 56 b for a full account of this mosquito in Titus’ brain. [and is not the yavchushin of our verse]. But the yavchushim which are mentioned here [by Rashi, on the basis of the Torath Kohanim] is a species which is concealed in water, and one searches for it with a ladle and removes it, [the term yavchushim being] of the expression:²⁰¹Shabbath 156 a. See my Hebrew commentary p. 57, that the reading in our text of the Gemara there, is different [namely, “All authorities agree that one is permitted to stir etc.”], and the exact source of Ramban’s quotation is unknown to me. “Ein bochashin (one may not stir) a drink prepared of flour mixed with honey on the Sabbath.” And in the Gemara of Tractate Zebachim, in the second chapter, [Resh Lakesh] said:²⁰²Zebachim 22 a. “All things which serve to fill up the required measure of an immersion-pool, may also serve to fill up the water in the laver [from which the priests washed their hands and feet before ministering in the Sanctuary];²⁰³The required measure of water for an immersion-pool is for [[illegible]] seahs. The laver had to have enough water in it for four priests to be able to wash their hands and feet at the same time. but they do not serve to fill up the required measure of one fourth of a log of water [for the washing of hands].” On this [saying of Resh Lakesh] the Rabbis asked: “[What did Resh Lakesh mean to exclude by saying that ‘they’ do not fill up the required measure of water for the washing of hands]? Shall we say that he meant to exclude red yavchushim? In that case even if the immersion-pool is full of them, it is also valid!²⁰⁴Resh Lakesh who used the expression mashlim (fill up), which implies merely a completion of measure by some addition, could therefore not have referred to these yavchushim, since even if the pool is composed entirely of them, it is also valid for immersion! — For Ramban’s intent in quoting this text, see further, Note 206. For we are taught [in a Beraitha]: Rabban²⁰⁵The title “Rabban” (“our Rabbi” — instead of “Rabbi”) indicates that the person was the Nasi (head) of the Sanhedrin. Shimon the son of Gamaliel says: Whatever originates from water, one may immerse oneself therein [to be rendered ritually pure],” and red yavchushim is a species which originates from water [therefore Resh Lakesh could not have intended them, when he gave his rule excluding certain objects from being valid for completing the required measure of one fourth of a log for the washing of hands].²⁰⁶Thus it is clearly shown that yavchushim are found in water, and Rashi’s comment that yavchushim are those insects called [in old French] mousclions is therefore incorrect, since these germinate in wine, and in Hebrew they are called yitushim, while yavchushim germinate in water. Similarly there are always found in the sediment of wine very white worms which are formed from the thickness of the wine, and which people filter, [and these are akin to the mousclions mentioned by Rashi].
Now I have seen in Rashi’s commentaries there [in Tractate Zebachim]²⁰²Zebachim 22 a. that he wrote: “Red yavchushim, these are a sort of wingless yitushim (mosquitoes) just like the small yavchushim which germinate at the bottom of our barrels of wine on the outside; and they are also formed in water.” Perhaps it is this wingless species [of insects] which can only be removed from water through a filtering process, that Rashi refers to here [in his commentary to the Torah, when referring to yavchushim as mousclions], since in his vernacular these water-insects were also called by that name [not only the ones produced in wine]. However, in his commentary to Tractate Chullin²⁰⁷Chullin 67 a. Rashi wrote: ‘Yavchushim, these are like small yitushim (mosquitoes) found in wine-cellars,” [and he mentioned nothing concerning the yavchushim which are created in water; hence in his commentary here on the Torah, Rashi, in speaking of yavchushim, must be referring to that kind of insect which germinates in wine; if so, his explanation is refuted by the Rabbinic sources quoted above which show that yavchushim germinate in water]! The principle of the matter is that these yavchushim are a species that does not swarm upon the earth at all [and therefore is not included in the negative commandment mentioned further on in Verse 41, but is forbidden separately under the terms of the verse here dealt with].

To forbid their mixtures. [Rashi knows this] because this is an extra verse, for it is written above: “They are repulsive.”

מבשרם OF THEIR FLESH — One is,however, not prohibited in respect to the fins and the bones (Sifra, Shemini, Section 3 10).

[Enough to] impart [their] taste. This is only when one kind is mixed with a different kind, but if one kind was mixed with its own kind, one impure mixed with two hundred pure is permitted.

ואת נבלתם תשקצו BUT YE SHALL HAVE THEIR CARRION IN ABOMINATION — This serves to include in the category of abominable things יבחושין found in liquids which one has filtered. יבחושין are moucherons in O. F., (English = gnats).

Gnats. Meaning: A [creeping] thing that originates and develops in the water inside of vessels is not subject to the prohibition. The verse: “And their carcasses shall be repulsive to you” comes to include [in the prohibition] immediately when [the creeping things] are separated from the water, for instance, he filtered them from the water. They are forbidden because they have been separated from the place of their proliferation.