Commento su Levitico 11:2

דברו אל בני ישראל SPEAK TO THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL (The word “speak” is in the plural) — He made all of them (Moses, Aaron, Eleazar and Ithamar) alike His messengers in communicating this utterance, because they were all alike in remaining silent and lovingly accepted the decree of the Omnipresent God in respect to the death of Nadab and Abihu.

AMONG ALL THE BEASTS THAT ARE ON THE EARTH. The plain meaning thereof is “among all the beasts that are on ‘the face of the earth,” the expression being similar to “all the beasts that are in the world.” But the interpretation of the Rabbis is as follows:¹⁵¹Torath Kohanim, Shemini 2:6. Since there are creatures in the sea whose law does not depend on these signs, but is like that of the fish, therefore He said, that are on the earth, excluding what is in the sea.

זאת החיה אשר תאכלו, after the Israelites had divested themselves of their spiritual jewelry which they had acquired at Mount Sinai when receiving the Torah, something which if they had been able to retain it, would have given them direct access to the Shechinah without the need for an intermediary, as stated by G’d in the wordsבכל המקום אשר אזכיר את שמי אבא אליך וברכתיך, “in any place where I hear My name mentioned I will come to you and bless you, (Exodus 20,24) a change had now occurred due to the people’s sin at the golden calf. G’d stated that the purpose of the Tabernacle was for Him to take up residence therein so that His essence should not feel disgust at the Jewish people. (Leviticus 26,11). Unfortunately, the golden calf episode had brought about a cardinal change in G’d’s relationship with the people so that He would not allow His Presence to dwell among them even briefly, refused to accompany them on their journey (Exodus 33,3) By means of his lengthy prayers Moses accomplished some improvement in this relationship of G’d to the Israelites by means of the Tabernacle and its furnishings, the priests performing service there, etc. Finally, the people attained the state of grace described as וירא כבוד ה' אל כל העם, “the glory of the Lord appeared to the whole people.” (Leviticus 9,23.) This manifestation of the “glory of the Lord” was the descent of fire from heaven to devour the offerings of the people in the Tabernacle. A way had now been found to refine the character of the people in attitudes and by application of their intelligence so that they would qualify for eternal life (life after death of the body). The method chosen for this was the refinement of the foods eaten by the people. G’d forbade consumption of the kinds of foodstuffs which exert –over a period of time- a negative influence on the people’s character and their intelligence. This is spelled out by the Torah in verse 43 of our chapter where the rationale of the legislation is אל תשקצו בנפשותיכם, another way of saying “do not contaminate your souls.” This is only the effect of observing the negative commandment not to eat forbidden things. There is a positive aspect to this legislation also called והתקדשתם והייתם קדושים “if you will sanctify yourselves you will remain holy.” (Leviticus 15,31). When G’d added כי קדוש אני, this was an incentive to attain the dimension of eternal life similar to G’d. In addition to legislation involving our physical foodstuffs, the Torah introduced legislation designed to refine our body’s other appetites, that of the libido. Legislation governing a husband’s marital relation with a woman who is a menstruant, or who suffers diseases of her sexual organs, or experiencing childbirth (נדה, זבה, יולדת) are intended to sanctify human sperm and to cleanse if from all spiritual contamination, טומאת הגוף. Compare Leviticus 15,31 והזהרתם את בני ישראל מטומאתם, “caution the Children of Israel to abstain from their pollutants.” If they would fail to do so they would forfeit this claim to eternal life. Here the Torah introduces this subject of ritual impurity in connection with animals. In this whole paragraph “defilement” is brought about either by direct touch, indirect touch such a carrying or moving the object by pushing it. Only such animals a are liable to confer contamination of our souls are capable of conferring immediate ritual impurity. Fish, birds, locusts and other creeping things are not capable of conferring such ritual contamination of a person by means of contact other than by means of ingesting them.. The Torah uses the expression שיקוץ to describe their negative fallout when dead instead of the expression טומאה. (compare verse 10,13, 41-42) to describe the negative result if we were to eat such creatures.