Комментарий к Вайикра 11:24

ולאלה AND TO THESE which are to be mentioned further on in the section,

AND BY THESE YE SHALL BECOME UNCLEAN. “By these which are to be mentioned further on in the section, ye shall become unclean. Here²²⁵In Verse 26. This part of the quotation from Rashi is also found in our Rashi texts on that verse, hence the use of the word “here.” Scripture teaches you that the carcass of an animal unfit for food conveys impurity, and in the subject at the end of the section²²⁶Verses 39-40. it explains [the law] concerning the carcass of an animal fit for food.” This is Rashi’s language. But if so, [the question arises], why did Scripture divide them and why did it treat them singly,²²⁷The twofold question is to be understood as follows: Why did Scripture divide and discuss them in two separate sections, and why was it necessary that the laws referring to the impurity conveyed by touching the carcasses of unclean animals, were discussed in Verses 24-28 in detail, with separate verses for each category of these unclean animals, when one general statement could have covered all subjects? when it should rather have said [in one general statement], “whosoever touches the carcass of any animal shall be unclean until the evening, and whosoever carries any of its carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening?”
The correct interpretation is that here Scripture mentioned the carcass of them without qualification and did not mention “death” in connection with them, thus teaching that [the law of] ritual slaughtering [required to render animals fit for food] does not apply to them [the unclean animals mentioned here], and whoever touches them when they are no longer alive [whether they died by themselves or even if they were ritually slaughtered], becomes impure. But further on it states, And if any beast, of which ye may eat, die,²²⁸Further, Verse 39. thus teaching that if it [an animal fit for food] was ritually slaughtered, it does not convey impurity [to a person who touches it]. Now the meaning of the section in mentioning [here]: And by these ye shall become unclean, is to state that all things referred to above — namely, fishes, fowls, and grasshoppers — do not have this [law of] impurity, but only those which He is about to mention further on, these being Every beast … which is not cloven-footed, nor cheweth the cud.²²⁹Verse 26. It is with reference to these that He states, they are unclean to you; every one that toucheth them shall be unclean²²⁹Verse 26. with the uncleanness mentioned [in the preceding Verses 24-25: whosoever toucheth the carcass of them shall be unclean until the even. And whosoever beareth aught of the carcass of them shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even]. Then He continues by stating that any beast which walks upon its paws shall also convey impurity until the evening to a person who touches its carcass, and that a person who carries it shall, in addition, wash his clothes.²³⁰Verses 27 and 28. Similarly, And these are they which are unclean unto you among the swarming things²³¹Verse 29. means among those which are to be mentioned further on.²³²There in Verse 29 and in Verse 30: the weasel, and the mouse etc. Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra erred here.²³³Ibn Ezra explained the expression and by those ye shall become unclean (in Verse 24 before us) as referring to sheretz ha’oph (winged creeping things) and also to the fowls unfit for food as mentioned above in Scripture. But this is a mistake, since no impurity is conveyed by a fowl unfit for food, nor by a winged creeping thing unfit for food.
Now above, in stating the prohibition of eating [an animal prohibited as food], Scripture mentioned those animals which are not cloven-footed and do not chew the cud, but it did not mention [the law] of beasts that walk upon their paws. Perhaps it is because it is not customary to eat them [on account of the danger involved in catching them] that He did not single them out, but left them [to be] included in the general principle which He had stated, that we should eat only the animal that parts the hoof and is cloven-footed and chews the cud, and not others, and chayah (beast) is included in the term beheimah (animal) as it is said, These are ‘ha’beheimah’ (the animals) which ye may eat … the hart, and the gazelle, and the roebuck.²³⁴Deuteronomy 14:4-5. Scripture begins here with beheimah and goes on to enumerate chayah (beasts). Our Rabbis in the Torath Kohanim have interpretations on this whole section. [Thus they explain the expression], Every beast [which parteth the hoof, but is not cloven-footed …] is unclean to you,²²⁹Verse 26. to include a limb cut off from a living animal [in the law of conveying impurity].²³⁵Torath Kohanim, Shemini 6:6. And whatsoever goeth upon its paws,²³⁰Verses 27 and 28. to include a limb cut off from a dead animal [in the law of conveying impurity]. For Scripture speaks at length and mentions many expressions of impurity in order to allude [to the law] that they convey impurity in whole or in part, either through the death of the whole body or through the death of one of its limbs, as when it was cut off from a living body.

ולאלה תטמאו. And by these you will become unclean; According to Torat Kohanim the word ולאלה refers to the future, i.e. the animals mentioned in the paragraph commencing now. If this were so, I do not understand the letter ו in the word ואלה. There was no need for that letter if all the Torah wanted to introduce here was the list of animals which confer impurity if one touches their carcass.