Forbidden Foods

 

Although this chapter is entitled "forbidden foods," only four prohibitions are discussed: blood; milk and meat; sick or injured animals (treifot); and bugs.  Rav Ganzfried takes for granted that his readers are coming from a certain level of Jewish knowledge and commitment, and do not need to be informed that it is forbidden to eat pork or shrimp.

The basic rules of permitted species are as follows:

Mammals are permitted only if they chew their cud and have cloven hooves.  They require ritual slaughter (shechita).  Permitted species include cows, sheep, goats, and deer.

BIRDS: No signs are given in the Torah, but our Sages taught that all permitted species have the following three signs: one talon larger than the others, a crop, and a peelable gizzard.  In practice, we require some tradition that a particular species is kosher.  All birds of prey and carrion-eaters are forbidden.  Fowl require ritual slaughter.  Permitted species include chicken, goose, pigeon, turkey and quail.

REPTILES AND AMPHIBIANS:  All are forbidden.

INSECTS: Certain species of locusts are permitted.  The signs are: four wings which cover most of its body; four regular legs and two jointed ones for hopping.  All other insects are forbidden.  In addition it must be considered a "locust." Most communities don't have a reliable tradition regarding locusts and don't eat them at all.

FISH: Fish are permitted if they have fins and scales.  Since all fish with scales have fins also, it is accurate to say that fish are permitted if they have scales.  The scales have to be removable.  It follows that all shellfish and other invertebrates (lobsters, crabs, etc.) are forbidden.  This eliminates all poisonous fish and all major predators (like shark and barracuda). 

Many different themes have been suggested for the different signs.  In particular, we may note that all of these signs point to a certain lack of aggressiveness.

Chewing the cud is required for animals which subsist on grass and herbs; carnivores don't need to re-chew their food.  Cloven hooves can not be used for tearing (like claws) or even for trampling (like full hooves). 

The chewing that takes place in the gizzard is required for seeds and the like; carnivorous birds don't need that (just as carnivorous mammals don't need to chew their cud). 

The fact that a locust has hopping legs means that it is used to maneuvering on the ground - not in the air where insects are most likely to be a nuisance. 

Scales are like an armor - one biblical word for armor, "kaskasim" (I Shemuel 17:5) is cognate with the word for scales, "kaskeset" - and this shows that these fish are the hunted and not the hunters. 

(Based on the commentary of Rav Menachem HaBavli as cited in Yalkut Yitzchak.)

This theme parallels our explanation of the prohibition on blood: we do not want to consume, that is assimilate, aggressiveness.

Regarding bugs and reptiles, the Torah itself gives two reasons: "Don't make your souls repulsive with any creepy thing which crawls on the ground; don't defile yourselves with them and become defiled" (Vayikra 11:43).  The Talmud gives us additional insight into both reasons. 

Regarding the first reason (not to act in a repulsive fashion), the Talmud points out that while many commandments emphasize that it is Hashem Who BROUGHT US OUT of Egypt, the prohibition on bugs refers to Him as the One Who BROUGHT US UP from Egypt.  This indicates that this commandment is a sign of elevated and cultured behavior (BM 61b).  In today's Western culture, eating bugs is also considered repulsive, and outside of France snails and frog's legs are not a normal part of "high cuisine."

Regarding the second reason (not to become defiled), the Talmud points out the linguistic parallel between the word "tamei" (ritually defile) and "tamtem" (stupefy) (Yoma 39a).  The implication is that eating bugs will lead to a dulling of our sensitivity.  This is intimately related to the first reason.  Every human being has a natural sense of dignity and modesty.  However, acting repeatedly against this sense will naturally dull and enervate it.  This is the way temptation acts.  It is hard to tempt normal, well-adjusted people into sin.  It is first necessary to gradually break down their sense of propriety.  Eating bugs wears down a person's normal sense of disgust, and this in turn leads to a general wearing down of his or her spiritual sensitivity.

(We see how the lyrics of much of today's popular youth music are based on the principle of making the youngster ask "Why not?" to every kind of perverse behavior.  Not only promiscuity, but violence and disregard for property are also glorified.  The record producers may be right in saying that no one ever committed a crime because they listened to a particular record, but this music is part of the process of wearing down a healthy person's natural resistance to the way of life venerated in this music.)

A person has a similar hesitance to eating meat from a sick or dead animal, and so the prohibition on eating such meat has a similar lesson.

FISH BLOOD (Seif 2)

The prohibition of eating blood was explained in detail in siman 36.  We explained that blood is the emblem of the animal's bestial nature.  Eating the blood represents a desire to assimilate this nature, and for this reason drinking blood is an important part of many pagan rituals.

The fish that are permitted to us are not the kind that are associated with bestiality or cruelty (major predators like sharks and barracuda are forbidden), and so this symbolism is just not relevant.

MILK AND MEAT

In three different places the Torah commands us, "Do not cook a kid in its mother's milk."  Twice this decree is taught together with the commandment of the first fruits (Shemot 23:19,  Shemot 34:26) and once together with the prohibition on eating carrion (Devarim 14:21).  Our Sages inferred that the two seemingly superfluous mentions come to prohibit EATING and BENEFITTING FROM milk and meat (when cooked together) in addition to the straightforward meaning that prohibits COOKING them.

The prohibition applies to the milk and meat of ANY permitted animal.  However, the message of the mitzva has its roots in the original wording, not to cook a calf in its own mother's milk.

There is an obvious incongruence in this practice.  The milk was produced by the mother in order to give life to the kid, and now we seethe the calf in this same milk after its death.  The mother suffers to create milk to nourish her offspring, and now this milk is feeding the very one who slaughtered that offspring! It is as if we were seeking to nurse and nourish the forces of death and cruelty (the slaughtered calf and the human who took it from its mother), instead of life and loving-kindness! (See Zohar Mishpatim.)

There is a related negative symbolism in consuming ANY milk with ANY meat - which is also forbidden by the Torah.

Milk is formed from the body of the animal (according to Jewish tradition, from the blood), but once it coalesces into milk it is promoted to a higher halakhic status, to an intermediate level between that of meat (which requires shechita to subdue the bestial qualities of the meat) and that of fruits and vegetables (of which all varieties are permissible, unlike milk which must come from a kosher animal).  We see this intermediate level in general culture as well: Most people have no problem killing animals for food and eat meat.  At the other extreme are vegans who refuse to exploit animal from food and refrain from milk.  Vegetarians fit somewhere in between - they refuse meat but don't abstain from milk products.

When we consume the milk, we elevate it yet further.  We have explained previously that eating any permissible food assimilates that food to holiness - since it sustains the abode of our holy soul and Divine image, and gives us strength to perform the will of the Creator.

Because milk retains an affinity to the unslaughtered animal from which it came, it is vital to distance it from meat.  Cooking it together with meat could be seen as returning both the milk AND the meat to an unslaughtered state.  This insight can explain the original prohibition which is limited to cooking as well as the various customs mentioned in the Kitzur, such as not eating milk and meat on the same table.

This relates to the original idea of the kid, because here also the milk represents something which embodies both positive and negative elements.  The positive elements are naturally dominant, but cooking the milk with meat relates to, and intensifies, the negative ones.

This can serve as a metaphor for a general moral principle.  Milk, and slaughtered meat, have risen above their negative characteristics, but have not transcended them completely.  Therefore, the wrong environment can re-awaken their latent flaws.  Likewise, a person who has managed to overcome bad characteristics may need special care to avoid negative influences.  The average person may easily resist the pressure to drink too much at a cocktail party (or lehavdil at a farbrengen), but a reformed alcoholic may need to avoid these gatherings entirely.  Otherwise, he risks spoiling himself, and the party too.

LAWS OF PERMITTED AND FORBIDDEN MIXTURES

A crucial component of the laws of forbidden foods is the rules of "bitul" or (nullification).  A small amount of forbidden food which falls into a much larger amount of permitted food is considered nullified - non-existent - and the ENTIRE mixture is permitted.  But if the forbidden food is greater than one-sixtieth of the permitted food, then on the contrary the entire mixture is forbidden.  This is because the unique flavor of the forbidden food is discernible.

The key concepts here are "taam keikar" ("taste is like substance,") and "bitul" nullification.  These concepts embody a profound symbolism, and they are discussed in the laws of Pesach, in simanim 112 and 117 respectively.