Original Torah: Ancient Words in a Modern Light

The Torah teaches what’s known as kashrut/The Dietary Laws in three texts:

• The Prohibition of Seething a Kid in its mother’s milk (Exodus 23:19, 34:26, Deut 14:21)
• The Types of animals permitted or forbidden to eat (Lev 11:1-47, Deut 14:3-21).
• The prohibition of eating blood (Deut 12:13-25, Lev 17:10-14, this parshah). It includes that the animals must be killed at the neck (Schehitah ?????)to be kosher.
• • Calf must stay seven days with mother and can’t be killed on same day as its parent.(Lev 22:26-28)
  • Send away a mother bird from the nest (Deut. 22:6)

Now, for some background.

Biblical Scholars recognize that the book of Leviticus is composed of two distinct layers– the majority of it (P source) and the Holiness Code (H source). The Holiness Code runs from chapters 17-26, and possibly chapter 11. Besides its linguistic differences from the rest of the book, thematically, it includes a broader focus on how non-priests can be closer to God. Specifically, in the early chapters of Leviticus, ??? QDSh/Holiness means a separation, a removal or dedication of something to God.

??? QDSh/Holiness

In the Holiness code (H), ???/QaDoSh can mean something like Godliness. “You shall be holy, for Holy am I, YHWH, your God” (19:1). Since God cannot be holy under the first definition, the second one must be employed here. It is because of the inclusion of the (very popular to discuss) the ethical laws in this section that many people are not aware of the changing shades of meaning of “Holiness”.

How does the blood talked about in the Holiness code relate to the second definition of “holiness”?

In this week’s double portion, I will follow the meaning of “blood” from the theme of expiation, to food, to offerings, to life, avarice, to menstruation, to not imitating foreign practices, and to not worshiping other gods. I will focus on how this applies to the Dietary Laws.

Life

Expiation From Sin

In any case, 1) the blood signifies the life force (nefesh) of the creature and 2) it belongs to God. Since God created the life, the pouring the blood on the altar or sprinkling it on the cover are necessary parts of offering the animal to God and lead to the expiation of sins and the purging of uncleanliness from the Sanctuary (16:14-16).

Niddah / Menstruation

Pagan Practices of Surrounding Nations

Eating Meat

Application

So, what is the ???? ????/relevance of this blood taboo on eating meat? The Torah connects eating blood with disrespecting the Source of Life. Leviticus 11:1-47 talks about what animals can be eaten; here we learn how to eat them. (Leviticus (P/H) lacks the law of seething a kid in its mother’s milk, Exodus 23:19, 34:26, Deut 14:21). Specifically, last week I rejected the niddah laws outright. However, I reject them because their values are oposed to mine. I see the Torah menstrual blood taboo as irrelevant and hurtful.

The difference between how I see a law as irrelevant and how the many secularists before me saw it, is that I would like to keep the spirit of the law, an aspect of its historical development, and as much of its traditional practice as possible. In addition, I keep materials in my home that allow someone more strict or traditional to eat, even if its not on my usual dishes.

I see that the principle of taking a life in spilling blood. Since that life doesn’t belong to us, it was historically given to God on the Altar or covered by earth. Today, it is enough to refrain from eating bloody meat to recognize that eating meat involves the taking of a life. (Note: Halakhically, fish blood doesn’t count as blood)

Implication

I take the risk of making value judgement on Torah commandments because I want to observe them, but they conflict with my worldview (weltanschauung).

The laws regarding menstrual impurity belie a view of blood flow as dirty, unclean, impure, and possibly dangerous. I cannot accept that. I can, however, accept that we must make concessions in killing an animal for food.

In Leviticus 11 we learned that only the “clean” animals are permitted to eat. In this parasha, we learn that the price for eating meat is not eating the blood, because that is the life of the animal, and its life belongs to God.

Conclusion

I, therefore, accept the Jewish tradition of preparing meat to be as bloodless as possible as it shows deference to the Source of Life. However, I keep the spirit of the law by, for example, deciding when to eat dairy after meat by when the taste of the meat is gone, so that I do not mix the tastes of dairy (life) and meat (death).

This understanding of “not boiling a kid in its mother’s milk” causes difficulty because it would, by extension, prohibit eating eggs with chicken or caviar with fish. According to Halakha, fish blood is considered pareve (should you want to eat it)! I resolve this by saying bal Tosif, tzarikh sof ladavar (M Pisha 1:7), this is a place where I must lay my boundary and maintain community. My principles are ancient and my practice respectful. How do you respect life when eating?

Notes

Live By Them:

Gerim:

Saul and Eating Blood:

Hunting: An interesting note is that though hunting animals is permitted, the form of hunting is Tsayid, meaning trapping. Because even wild animals must be slaughtered (???) at the neck and not mortally wounded, the wild animals must be trapped rather than shot at. In later Jewish Law, hunting especially for sport is forbidden as it causes unnecessary pain to the animal (tzaar baale hayim ??? ???? ????).

Risk: A slippery slope risks that can lead to secularism or apostasy