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of which you know for certain
are kosher, and they become
mixed up, you are in fact per-
mitted to eat all three, since
the two kosher cuts are in the
majority, and the non-kosher cut
gets subsumed into them. (If you
have a question of this nature,
you should consult a competent
halachic authority just to clarify
all the details and make sure that
the halachah is being properly
applied.) If there were some-
thing intrinsically wrong with
the non-kosher meat, then how
could this principle of nullifica-
tion in the majority apply?
A SPIRITUAL BLUEPRINT
So, what is the distinction
between kosher and non-ko-
sher? The Maharal explains
that the Torah is the spiritual
blueprint of the world. He says
that keeping kosher, as with all
the other mitzvot, aligns us with
this spiritual blueprint, and helps
us actualize our latent spiritual
potential. And so, the laws of
kosher follow the framework of
spiritual principles that God cre-
ated. And that framework exists
external to the food itself. Eating
kosher is living in harmony and
in sync with the spiritual blue-
print of the universe, and not
doing so is departing from that
framework, and that is spiritual-
ly damaging.
To illustrate this, the Maharal
cites the Midrash, which
describes kashrut as a way “to
purify people.
” This purification
takes place through the con-
nection of a person’s soul to the
ultimate spiritual blueprint of
the world, which was created
by God. But, it is not about the
intrinsic nature of the food itself.
He cites another Midrash which
says: “
A person should not say I
do not want pork … but rather I
would like it, but what can I do
that my Father in Heaven has
decreed upon me [not to have
it].
” (Torat Kohanim Kedoshim)
So the laws of kashrut follow a
framework of God-given spiri-
tual principles embedded in the
Torah — a framework that exists
external to the food itself.
Rabbeinu Bechaye shares a
different perspective on kosher.
In his commentary on this
week’s parshah, he refers to the
verse that concludes the section
dealing with the laws of kashrut:
“
And you shall sanctify your-
selves and you shall be holy,
for I am holy.
” (Vayikra 11:44)
Rabbeinu Bechaye says that we
see from this verse that keeping
kosher helps us to live a life of
holiness.
There are two primary com-
ponents to the human being
— the physical and the spiritual.
These two components are
naturally in conflict with one
another, and the fact that they
co-exist in a single organism is
itself something wondrous. But
to help us navigate this power
struggle and ensure the spiri-
tual force within us ultimately
frames and guides our physical
drives, the Torah provides for
the expression and fulfilment of
these physical desires within a
spiritually and ethically enrich-
ing framework. This framework
helps us infuse meaning into
even the most mundane, basic
activities such as eating. It is
in this context that the laws of
kosher need to be seen.
Rabbeinu Bechaye says the
more immediate physical needs
of the body can easily over-
whelm our spiritual selves. This
natural predominance of the
physical over the spiritual is
rooted in the fact that human
beings are physical before we
are spiritual; as children we are
consumed by our physical wants
and needs, and only later do
we develop a spiritual muscle, a
capacity to reflect and to chan-
nel, to exercise self-restraint.
There’s also the fact that the
world we inhabit is very much a
physical, material one; the soul is
a stranger in this world.
And so, we need all the help
we can get to transcend this
material world and our physical
selves, and become truly ele-
vated, spiritual beings. Keeping
kosher does this because it plac-
es a spiritual framework around
what we eat. We can’t just eat
whatever we want. We learn
self-restraint. And we immerse
ourselves in this holy framework
from a young age. The Sforno
says the laws of kosher help us
achieve Godliness, even holiness,
in this world.
Kosher fits into a broader phi-
losophy of food and of eating,
one that is saturated with holi-
ness, spirituality and meaning.
We have in the Torah the mitz-
vah of Birkat Hamazon — Grace
after Meals — in terms of which
we give thanks to God after eat-
ing, that the process of eating is
not just one of self-gratification,
but also one connected to grat-
itude. The sages of the Talmud
added to that, and formulated
blessings to be said before eat-
ing food to acknowledge where
it comes from. It is part of
acknowledging that this world
and everything in it belongs to
God, and that, when we take
from it, we express our gratitude.
We don’t just consume. We
stop. We give thanks to God, we
give thought to whether or not
the food is kosher. We acknowl-
edge the source of the food and
give thanks for its tastiness, its
nourishing goodness. Eating
becomes a more refined, uplift-
ing and meaningful experience
in this way.
This idea of elevation is
embodied in the mitzvah of
washing our hands before eating
bread. The blessing we recite
is al netilat yadayim. The word
netilah, explains Rav Yaakov
Tzvi Mecklenberg, comes from
another Hebrew word, mean-
ing elevation. The implication
is clear. When we wash our
hands before eating, we elevate
ourselves. We connect the act
of eating to something higher,
something greater than merely
satiating our hunger.
Rav Mecklenberg connects
the mitzvah of washing before
bread to the requirement that
the Kohanim, the priests in the
Beit Hamikdash, wash their
hands before beginning the
sacred Temple service. He says
we, too, should view this world
as one great Beit Hamikdash, a
world filled with holiness, with
God’s presence, where we are
called on to serve God and to
live lives of meaning and dedica-
tion and spirituality. The world,
and everything in it, was created
by God, and therefore belongs
to God, like the holy property
of the Temple. And when we
reach out to take anything from
this world, from God Himself,
we should do so in a state of
holiness and purity, with a sense
of reverence for the sacred task
at hand.
Ultimately, we see that kosher
and the laws around eating are
about transcending the self, tran-
scending our own selfish physical
needs, and creating a holy frame-
work for them. In doing so, we
get in touch with our souls, our
spiritual selves. We attain a sense
of self-mastery, and become not
merely a body, but a soul clothed
in physical garments. Whatever
our bodies take from this world
needs to be done in a frame-
work of morality and ethics, in a
framework of kindness and com-
passion, of spirituality, meaning
and elevation.
And then the experience of
eating food gets transformed
from an animalistic self-gratifi-
cation experience into one that
is truly holy, and elevated into
something meaningful, refined
and ethical, and we ourselves
become transformed.
Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein, who
has a PhD. in Human Rights Law, is the
chief rabbi of South Africa. This essay
first appeared on aish.com
SPIRIT
A WORD OF TORAH
continued from page 43