Shabbat Parashat Shemini 5784

Parashat Hashavua: Parashat Shemini as a Bridge between Topics

Parashat Shemini incorporates many different elements. It starts with the completion of the establishment of the Mishkan, with the sacrifices on the eighth day of the inauguration. It moves on to forbidden foods, which sets the stage for the upcoming parshiyot of Tazria and Metzora, which deal with spiritual maladies of a person. Acharei Mot goes back to discussing korbanot but then pivots to matters of illicit relations. Kedoshim presents many mitzvot that apply to all of Israel, whereas Emor goes back to discussing matters that affect only kohanim. Behar and Bechukotai contain matters that apply to all.

Chazal call Sefer Vayikra, “Torat Kohanim” (the Laws of the Priests), but it is not a book that deals only with that tribe, but one that deals with the laws of the Nation of Priests. That is the reason there is an intermingling of topics between those that deal with more direct service of Hashem and those that regulate the religious and proper social life of the individual. Just as there are rules for what can and cannot be brought as a korban, so too there are rules of what one can and cannot eat. The idea is that a person’s table is like an altar (see Yechezkel 41:22). The food is, so to speak, elevated before it can be integrated into this body. The animal and vegetable become part of the human. The “dirt from the ground” becomes “a living soul” (see Bereishit 2:7) and the “image of G-d.” Therefore, it is critically important what a person eats, as the food must be incorporated into the image of G-d. It must not have anything that is difficult to “digest spiritually” and cause a pollution of the spirit (see Yoma 39a).

One thus needs to have a spiritual diet. He must also be careful not to eat like a glutton. A person must not be “enslaved to his intestines.” The halachot of kashrut must preserve him as a human, and prevent him from become animalistic. It is the animal that must be raised closer to the level of man, not vice versa.

One “impure source” said: “It is not important what one puts into his mouth. Rather, what is important is that which comes out of his mouth.” This is a bad statement because the one who coined it did not realize that what one puts into his mouth affects that which comes out of it. Our nation’s special diet raises us to a level of sanctification (see Vayikra 11:44), which is what made us chosen and special among the nations.

Part of the deterioration in our days stems from the fact that many are not careful with what they eat. We therefore should have been surprised if there were no deterioration. This is one step in our spiritual development. Another is the way we act – whether it is in line with that which is written: “You shall be holy.”

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