The Effects of the Commandments

 

The Development of Man

 

            Until this point we have been dealing with the reasons for the commandments; however, now we must redefine the topic of our previous discussion.  Of course, we can attempt to explain why each commandment was given.  However, I believe that the answer must be reached primarily on a different plane, not through detailing the reasons why the commandment was given, but rather by looking at the way the human personality is molded through each commandment.  The first approach asks why before the action.  The second tries to understand the results after the action.  What kind of person do the commandments create?  How does the commandment alter the individual?  The question "Why is this commanded?" can be explained through the assumption that this is a divine decree.  However, this still leaves us room to interpret the results of the commandments.

 

            The effects of the commandments become apparent through the reality of Jewish history.  Our history demonstrates that the commandments have tangible, far-reaching results in the philosophical sphere within the individual, and in the sociological sphere in society.  Among their many effects, I will discuss three historical accomplishments of Judaism which are closely connected to three central commandments.  Although there have been exceptions to the rule during the course of history, and in certain periods particular commandments took on different casts, it seems to me that they present an accurate picture of historical Judaism.

 

            The most important sociological achievement of historical Judaism was the tradition of peace and nonviolence.  Historically, the Jewish people disapproved of violence and detested it, even in those cases when they were compelled to use it.  Thus, the king of Aram called the Jewish kings "kings of mercy."  The second accomplishment was the preservation of the value of the family.  The third achievement was the avoidance of drunkenness in all its types and forms.  In my opinion these achievements are connected with the laws of Shabbat, kashrut (the Jewish dietary laws - particularly the prohibition of consuming blood), and the laws of family purity.

 

                   In order to understand the meaning of these accomplishments, we must compare "ghettos."  Today there are poor neighborhoods which are also called ghettos by their inhabitants, and which are generally inhabited by various minorities, such as the black neighborhoods in large American cities.  The common denominator between all the ghettos is the poverty, congestion and tension, and in some cases a kind of "apartheid," a separation from the outside world.  However, despite the outward similarities, modern ghettos are very different from the ghettos that our ancestors constructed.  This becomes clear through a look at Jewish history. Even under the destructive pressure endured by the Jews throughout the generations up until modern times, the life of our people was characterized by these sociological values.  This stands in complete contrast to the modern ghetto, in which internal and external violence, promiscuity and the disintegration of the family, drunkenness and drugs rule with a high hand.

 

            Jewish family values are built upon the laws of family purity.  The tzitzit "tie" the man, so to speak.  According the legends our sages teach us, the tallit represents Jewish family values.  On the other hand, the laws of family purity create a holy, constant and continually renewed relationship between husband and wife.  This relationship constitutes the basic building-block of the family, and consequently has a tremendous impact on the children.  In order to achieve these values, man pays a price, the price of self-minimalization.  He imposes the law upon himself.  However, the benefits he and his family, as well as the society in general, receive are much greater than his sacrifice.  The existence of the family cannot be assured by catch phrases and slogans.  The family can exist only through man's self-restraint and development, which are accomplished through the framework of Jewish law.  Society can thrive only when its values speak to the depth of man's soul, giving society the power of influence over its members.

 

Kashrut: The Jewish Dietary Laws

 

            In his article, "Talelei Orot," Rabbi Kook explains that the laws of kashrut express the Jews' relationship to taking a life, to the fact that man is nourished by killing animals.  Although these are animals and not people, we must feel some pricking of our conscience for causing their death.

 

            Kashrut is, in essence, a war against violence.  Judaism has educated us to a certain attitude towards blood.  Blood symbolizes the soul, even with regard to animals, and therefore we are forbidden to drink it; it belongs to God.  Under certain circumstances we are even obligated to cover up the blood, as a burial of sorts, or to symbolically beg forgiveness for the vestige of sin involved in the taking of an animal life.  The most outstanding example of the education of the commandments is the shochet (ritual slaughterer).  The character of the Jewish shochet is completely different from the character of the animal slaughterer in the general world.

 

            I have no wish to idealize Jewish life in the Diaspora.  Life in the Diaspora and in the ghetto had many negative effects upon us.  However, we must realize that historical Judaism created a tremendous phenomenon, and transformed life in the mire and poverty of the ghetto into a life of benevolence.  This is the ultimate expression of the essence of the commandments.  This idea is beautifully described in Chaim Hazaz's story, "Shlulit Genuza."

 

            Hazaz tells us a wonderful story about a Jew who loaned money to his friend.  While walking in the street, he sees the person to whom he loaned the money coming toward him.  He turns into a side street so as not to embarrass his friend, and finds himself in an alley full of mud.  Just then the town priest drives by in his carriage and offers to give him a lift.  However, the Jew knows that the carriage will drive in the direction of the person who borrowed the money, and he refuses to get in.  The priest reacts jeeringly, "The Jews are so primitive, I try to  lift them out of the mud, but they refuse to get into my carriage!"

 

            This is the magnificence of historical Judaism.  The person looking from the carriage cannot see the great event taking place here, that a Jew is choosing to walk in the mud rather than embarrass another person, and refuses to respond to the great modern temptation.  The town was muddy, but these were its Jewish inhabitants.

 

            In the modern world, emancipation and Zionism meant escaping from the mud; these processes, however, also caused mass abandonment of the commandments, and thus lead to the destruction of the values upheld by the commandments. With all the achievements of normalization, of getting out of the mud, decadence has invaded modern Judaism.  Thus, we see three great catastrophes unfolding before our very eyes: violence, promiscuity and drunkenness are deeply penetrating our society.

 

            The laws of kashrut contain a number of intertwined principles.  The Torah explicitly informs us of the reason for the prohibition of ingesting blood.  Blood represents the soul.  In other words, this prohibition applies even to animals.  This principle expresses the respect we feel towards animals.  Our refusal to consume blood contains a very significant educational message: we are educated to be repelled by blood.  The education towards respect of blood, even that of an animal, encourages a non-violent society.  Our refusal does not stem from a belief that blood has harmful qualities.  The Torah tells us that chelev [forbidden fat] and blood do not belong to man, but to God.  And indeed, when we cover up the blood as required under certain circumstances, we are actually performing a symbolic burial ceremony.  We are burying what symbolizes the life of the animal.

 

            The Torah teaches us that Adam was a vegetarian in the Garden of Eden.  Rabbi Kook maintains that in the end of days we will return to vegetarianism.  Apart for some exceptions, man is not yet ready for this today.  We have a problem, for man is nourished by killing animals, and people who become experts at killing are very likely to develop an insensitivity to life itself.  This is the reason that the Torah attempts to make the slaughterer into a unique personality.  It defines him as a type of technician, a kind of doctor, a spiritual personality.  At present, we are in the middle of the road between the unattainable ideal and the cruel reality.  The reality is that people eat meat.  It is even possible that during certain periods of history, when the secrets of correct nutrition were not yet known, it would have been forbidden not to eat meat.  Even today, much sophistication is necessary to create appropriate vegetarian nutrition.  Kashrut is the middle of the road between the ideal and the reality.  This experience teaches man, despite everything, not to become an beast of prey.

 

            Violence finds expression even in the act of eating meat.  Kashrut is a system which is based on the obligation to respect life.  This is also connected to the prohibition of eating meat and milk together.  The combination of the two is an expression of sadism.  Milk represents motherhood.  Through it the mother gives life to her child.  The Torah gave us a significant example: "Do not cook a kid in its mother's milk."  Through this it expressed the inner meaning of our attitude to the world.  Whenever we are faced with a situation of meat and milk, we must imagine that the meat is a kid and the milk is its mother's milk.  In mixing the two, man not only steals the kid from its mother and kills it, he also forces the mother to kill her own child. This law is a protest against sadism.  There must be a limit to cruelty, even if it is based upon violence which we cannot prevent.  The mixing of meat and milk symbolizes cruelty, as though we were forcing someone to kill her child herself.  In a certain sense, every time that we separate milk and meat we are protesting against cruelty and trying to limit it.  This law teaches us the responsibility to develop the same moral sensitivity which forbids us to slaughter an animal and its child on the same day, or to take away a newborn from its mother before seven days have elapsed.  We are taught to respect the mothers of the animal world.

 

            The prohibition against eating certain species is also undoubtedly connected with the question of violence.  A beautiful story which appears in the book Shevet Yehuda describes arguments between the kings of the world and the sages of Israel regarding various details in Jewish law.  If we rework this story to apply to our topic, we will be able to understand why certain birds, such as the turtle dove and the dove are permitted for human consumption.  These are not birds of prey.  This is a symbolic expression of our abhorrence for this type of behavior; we do not wish to transfer the characteristics of the birds of prey to ourselves.

 

            All these laws have taught us a central Jewish principle, which differentiates Judaism from Christianity.  In a clear attack upon the laws of kashrut, we find in the New Testament that what is important is not what goes into the mouth but what comes out of it.  This is only half the truth.  And it is interesting that the Rambam in a similar context explains the verse "He who is careful of his mouth and tongue protects his soul from harm" as hinting at two matters.  "His mouth" refers to what goes into his mouth, and "tongue" refers to sins of speech, to what goes out of the mouth.  Kashrut and slander!  This is the integral approach of Jewish law.

 

            Clearly, food has a powerful effect on man.  Harnessing this effect demands refinement in eating - not refinement regarding the taste of the food, but of our own sensitivity.  The sensitivity to what one eats is a moral trait of the highest degree.  Rabbi Nachman of Braslav teaches that man is beset by the two strongest desires: the desire to live, which is expressed in food, and the desire of our species to exist, which is expressed in sexuality.  Rabbi Nachman teaches us that it is not so easy to refine sexual desire, nor is it simple to refine our desire for food, which accompanies us from the moment of birth until the day of death.  This is an area of tremendous importance in human behavior, and it cannot be dismissed.  A theoretical morality can never replace the significance of moral behavioral development in these areas.

 

(This lecture was translated by Gila Weinberg.)

 

Copyright (c)1997 Prof. Shalom Rosenberg, Yeshivat Har Etzion.  All rights reserved.