Parashat Shemini-Parah: Kosher Laws and Spiritual Discipline

By Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D.

Dr. Michael Mantell

SAN DIEGO — Of course, thousands of years before we began learning that “we are what we eat,” Judaism was already teaching the importance of the food we put inside of our bodies and its significance in living optimally. This week’s Torah education brings us a long list of nourishing rights and wrongs, which serve as the foundation of the laws of kosher dietary practices. The essential purpose of observing a kosher diet is living a life of spiritual discipline, filled with mitzvot.

Especially with the holiday of Passover coming upon us within three weeks, we may be focused more on food, what’s kosher for Passover, separating dishes, than at any other time of the year.

So, it’s time to begin purging. No, I’m not talking about an eating disorder, but rather, purging our lives of inner pride, and inside of our homes, of chometz. It seems that this week’s parasha, Shemini, directs our thinking to consider what’s inside of us. Aaron’s sons, Nadav and Avihu, were killed by a heavenly fire that, we are told, burned out their insides. Immediately after this, we are given a list of animals that we are permitted — and not permitted — to eat, for the purposes of our holiness. Is the Torah teaching us that what we put inside of our bodies makes us holy?

While eating kosher food is particularly in our best spiritual interest, as Maimonides points out, it’s directly related to our “holiness health” more than our GI tract health. After all, can all that cholent, babka, blintzes, brisket, challah, kasha, kichel, kishkeh, kreplach, kugel, maztah brei, schmaltz and schnaps really be healthy for us? Non-kosher food may have some physically nutritious assets, but on a spiritual level, it may well “clog” our spiritual veins and arteries and block our connection to Torah. After all, Hashem tells Aaron, “This is the law for all time throughout the ages, for you must distinguish between the sacred and the profane, and between the unclean and the clean.”

We learn this Shabbos that “holy eating” brings us closer to Hashem but doesn’t necessarily shrink our waistlines or leave us with a clean bill of health from our gastroenterologist. Many of the laws of what’s not permitted in our kosher dietary plans, relate to our developing self-control. We just can’t eat whatever we want, and that contributes to building our holiness, not necessarily a healthy scale weight. Holiness, we learn, is built on self-discipline. Our dietary laws are not linked to considerations of nutrition, but rather to our mission of holiness.

For example, the Rambam tells us, “One should also not eat until one has first walked to the point that the body has warmed, or if having involved oneself with another invigorating or strenuous activity. The general rule of the matter is that one should always respond to one’s body.” That’s a whole lot of self-control, isn’t it? And isn’t that what it takes to live a life of spiritual and physical holiness, after all?

But is that the reason we were commanded to adhere to a kosher diet? The Rambam in Moreh Nevuchim says that Hashem prescribed foods to us to keep us healthy. Yet, the Kli Yakar points out that a kosher diet is not simply for physical wellbeing, since non-Jews who were eating non-kosher foods demonstrated no specific adverse physical effects. The Torah teaches that the reason for kashrut is kedusha. In the words of the Torah, “You shall be kedoshim for I am kadosh.”

Perhaps then another reason, a larger reason, is as Rashi teaches, we are fulfilling the commandment of “ViHiyitem Kedoshim Ki Kadosh Ani,” “Be holy, because I am holy.” The Rambam tells us that by putting distance between ourselves and what is unkosher, we are acting properly in the eyes of Hashem. We eat these foods to live in a holy way like Hashem, to identify ourselves as His people. It takes some patience to adhere to a kosher diet – finding kosher food, waiting to eat milk after eating meat products, and so on. Patience is a healthy trait, one that helps us accept that we don’t always have what we want when we want it. It elevates us.

Hashem tells us, “You shall not make yourselves unclean by eating these things. For I the Lord am your God: you shall sanctify yourselves and be holy, for I am holy. For I, the Lord God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God, you shall be holy for I am holy.” If we are what we eat, we place ourselves close to Hashem when we choose to eat his prescribed diet.

The Rambam in his commentary on perek chelek in Sanhedrin, in which he delineated the thirteen ikarei emunah (principles of faith), points to three fundamental beliefs that we Jews hold dear. First, we believe that Hashem is the Creator of the world, the source of space, time and all that exists. Next, we believe that Hashem. has a direct relationship with this physical world, that he oversees and controls all events in this world (hashgacha). Finally, we hold that there is nothing that occurs randomly in this world, there is absolute purpose, all designed by Hashem. As we adhere to a kosher lifestyle, we demonstrate our adherence to these beliefs. Rabban Gamliel (the son of Rebbi Yehuda Hanasi), encourages us to “make His will as our own that He will make ours as His.” When we make Hashem’s will, His ratzon, our own, we are demonstrating that we are passionate about more than just His commandments, but everything about Hashem.

The Torah tells us eating kosher is all about kedusha, separation. It is anchored in spiritual and moral concerns. When we choose to obey the laws related to a kosher diet, we identify and separate ourselves as Jews. When we observe the laws of Shabbat, or family purity, we also channel our desires in a way that brings us more meaning, kedusha.

This week we read the haftorah for Parasha Parah, from the book of Ezekiel. We are reminded of the reprimand for taking Hashem’s name in vain. The haftorah deals with being cleansed from contamination, a spiritual, not a physical contamination. How can we purify ourselves at this time of the year with Passover upon us? While we don’t have red heifers or purification rituals, we can nevertheless see this time as one of teshuvah, like Rosh Hashana. Shabbat Parah teaches us this important, yet often overlooked, lesson. Rosh Hashana linked with Pesach? Yes.

Have you wronged another through gossip, an off-putting comment, ignoring someone, turning away, not including another? Instead of waiting until Rosh Hashana, learn the lesson of Shabbat Parah and cleanse yourself now, approach those who you may have wronged, you may have excluded, you haven’t heard from in a while, and bring them closer. Simply smile, say hello, check in with others. As we take a more mindfully sacred approach to the foods we choose to eat, so too let’s take a similarly more mindful and sacred approach to others with whom we come in contact in our synagogues, our schools, and those with whom we share our community.

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Michael R. Mantell, Ph.D., prepares a weekly D’var Torah for Young Israel of San Diego, where he and his family are members. They are also active members of Congregation Adat Yeshurun. He may be contacted via michael.mantell@sdjewishworld.com