Shemini: Machalos Asuros, Kedushah, and How Food Shapes a Person’s Middos

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. Shalom Aleichem, bruchim habaim. Today, we're going to talk about machalos asuros, the forbidden foods, kosher and non-kosher, located in Parshas Shemini, in the parsha of Shemini. At the end of the parsha, we are commanded of the halachos of machalos asuros. Vayedaber Hashem el Moshe v'el Aharon leimor aleihem, daberu el Bnei Yisrael leimor, zois hachayah asher tochlu, mikol habehemah asher al haaretz. And the parsha continues elaborating, detailing which animals are kosher, which animals are not kosher. How does this come into Parshas Shemini? The rest of the parsha talks about Yom HaShemini of the Mishkan, the day that they commemorated, they started the Mishkan, Chanukas HaMishkan. Bnei Aharon, they died because they went into the Kodesh HaKodashim and they transgressed aveiros, lefi dargasam, according to their level. And it speaks about basically the halachos of kodesh and mikdash, the Mishkan, as well as the halachos of kodesh. How does machalos asuros become part of this parsha? How is it connected to the continuation of the entire parsha? So the truth is, if you look at the story of Aharon and the children that they transgressed, they were told, Vayedaber — this is in Perek Yud, pasuk Yud-Gimmel. Pasuk says, Vayedaber Moshe el Aharon v'el Elazar v'el Isamar banav hanosarim, kchu es haminchah hanoseres me'ishei Hashem, v'ichlu matzah etzel hamizbeach, ki kodesh kodashim hi. V'achaltem osah b'makom kadosh, ki chokcha v'chok banecha hi me'ishei Hashem, ki chein tzuvaisi. So there was a halacha of kodesh — the meat, the korban which was kodesh, that had to be eaten in its proper place, b'makom hakodesh. So maybe this has to do with macholos asuros, the eating. A lot of the story of Aharon u'banav revolves around the eating of the korbanos, and so macholos asuros takes its place, taka here in Parshas Shemini. But if you look, we can actually connect it to the beginning of the story where the Torah tells us, in Perek Yud, pasuk Ches, Vayedaber Hashem el Aharon leimor, yayin v'sheichar al teisht, atah u'vanecha itach, b'voachem el ohel moed v'lo sa'musu; chukas olam l'doroseichem, ul'havdil bein hakodesh u'vein hachol, u'vein hatamei u'vein hatahor. Ul'hairis is bnei Yisrael, all these rules of separation between kodesh, chol, tamei and tahor. Machalos asuros is also tamei and tahor, and there's halacha: you have to be mavdil, you have to separate between these two things, tamei and tahor. And as you look at the end of the parsha, after the machalos asuros, itaka ends with that same idea. Ul'havdil bein hatamei uvein hatahor, uvein hachayah hanecheles uvein hachayah asher lo soachel. So there's a clear connection, and there's a clear continuation of the parsha of achilas tamei and tahor; machalos asuros is part of that. So this, l'choira, would be the makeup of the parsha of Shemini: Mikdash, Mishkan, true, but there were halachos of basar kodesh to be eaten in its proper place, and there was a halacha of separation between tamei and tahor. Machalos asuros rightfully takes the place in this context, in this conversation, because it's also l'havdil bein hatamei uvein hatahor. This, l'choira, boisai, would be the pshat havah in understanding what the contents of Parshas Shemini is all about and how it continues.

with macholos asuros, and it's connected to the beginning of the parsha. So here, the Teretz, l'choira, Mishkan and the halachos of achilas kodesh is the beginning of the parsha. How does macholos asuros fit into that discussion? Why does the parsha bring in macholos asuros and end with macholos asuros? And the answer is, just as there was halacha of achilas kodshim b'makom kodesh, and the Torah specifically clearly emphasizes, lehavdil bein hakodesh uvein hachol uvein hatamei uvein hatahor, macholos asuros takes its rightful place in that conversation, because you have also, lehavdil, as the Torah ends and concludes with, lehavdil bein hatamei uvein hatahor, uvein hachayah hanecheles uvein hachayah asher lo soachel. This is the structure of the parsha, Parshas Shemini. But maybe we could say something more deeper, deeper understanding to macholos asuros and why it's placed in Parshas Shemini. What is macholos asuros? Kosher, non-kosher. Why are we eating kosher? What's the reason that the Torah clearly forbids us from eating non-kosher and instructs us that we have to eat kosher? The Rambam in Moreh Nevuchim, perek gimmel, os mem-ches, says that all the non-kosher is mazik leguf. It's unhealthy. It's unhealthy. It's a physical issue. You eat non-kosher, it could be destructive to the body. The Ramban in this week's parsha as well follows that yesod, and he says, There are animals that when you eat them, they're unhealthy. Nizakam borur, it's clear damaging, l'brias ha'adam. We all know chazir, fattiest, and what happens? It could clog your arteries. It's poshut unhealthy to eat the treifa, and it's healthier to eat kosher. The Abarbanel questions this, and he says, I don't understand. These halachos, macholos asuros in the Torah, is about health? Then what is it, a health digest? The Torah becomes a book of medicine? The lashon of the Abarbanel is unique. It's a very beautiful lashon: Chalilah, God forbid, chalilah, l'ha'amin bazeh, to believe that macholos asuros is strictly about health. Shehalo ein haTorah sefer refuos katan. The Torah is not a digest of medicine. It's not a small pamphlet that gives us, in Parshas Shemini, you know, you send out in the mail, sometimes you send the mail a health magazine. It's not a health magazine. It's not a sefer refuos katan. The Abarbanel continues to attack the Rambam and the Ramban, and he says, I don't understand. If it's about health, why does it not affect goyim? Why are goyim able to eat all this and it doesn't affect them? Now, the truth is we need to discuss: is that true? Maybe it does affect them. How do we know? There's an interesting Gemara in Shabbos, daf kuf mem hei. The Gemara says, Akum mushamim hein. The goyim have bad, I guess, DNA. They have bad—their health is off. Mushamim. Why? Biglal she'achlu שקצים ורמשים, to eat the creepy-crawly animals, and they're low and they're garbage, and they're sewer, sewer. They're the lowest of the animals, on the chain of animals, and because of that, they are mushamim. The Chasam Sofer in the teshuva says all statistics in medical does not apply to the Yidden, because the statistics are taken—goyim included. It includes all the goyim as well. And since we are different, we have different DNA, we don't need shaktsim uremashim, we don't need all this disgusting octopus and eel, right? We don't need all this, and therefore we do not have the same medical statistics. It doesn't apply to us, which is a very big chiddush.

Others answer the Abarbanel's kasha by saying, of course, since we have a neshama, so by eating these things, it affects us. Ma she'ein kein, the goyim, there's not too much difference between them and the shaksi v'ramasi. There's this fine line between—just a joke—there's a fine line between, you know, between the two, so it doesn't affect them that much. You know, you can live in a stable, in a barn, because it's very hard to tell the difference between the two. Al kol panim, rabosai, here, shaksi v'ramasi, you know, is only affecting a Yid; it doesn't affect a goy. It won't affect the goy, and that would be the two answers to the Abarbanel's question. Abarbanel says, Rambam, Ramban, how could you come and say that the macholos asuros affect the person physically? Then why would it not affect the goy? And the answer is, A, maybe it does. Maybe it affects the—maybe a nachri, they have a different—and because of that, the health issues are different than ours. And the second answer is maybe because we have a neshama, we are more sensitive to the macholos asuros. We need to address an interesting Rashi. Rashi says, the pasuk, Zos hachayah asher tochlu, this is the chayah that is permitted to eat. That's how the parsha of macholos asuros begins. So Rashi, Zos hachayah—chayah is a loshon of life, loshon chayim. Otherwise, as Mizrachi points out, it should have said, Zos habehemah. Why talk about a chaya? Beheima chaya, kosher, kosher, non-kosher, non-kosher. And the answer is chaya because we're trying to say life. Yidden, you need life. Lefi sheYisrael dvukim bamakom, v'rauyim lihyos chayim. They're fit for life. Lefikach hivdilam min hatumah. Therefore, the Rabbeinu Shom said, stay away from tumah and animals which are tamei. V'gazar aleihem mitzvos, u'leumos lo asar klum. While for the other nations of the world, the Rabbeinu Shom said, not a problem. So what does Rashi mean, lefi sheYisrael dvukim bamakom v'rauyim lihyos chayim? So according to the Rambam, it's very good, because chayim means health, life, physical life. And therefore, Rabbeinu Shom says, I want you to be healthy. It's as simple as that. Since you're... since you're rauyim lihyos chayim, because you're dvukim bamakom, so therefore I protect your physical chayim. According to the Rambam, the translation of the Rashi becomes kipshutai. L'maaseh, what does that have to do with dvukim bamakom? If it means physical, I would have expected, or I would have thought that Rashi would say, because I love you, and because you're my am hanivchar, I want you to have life. Why is it dependent on dvukim bamakom, which possibly would be the source of where we could say over a mori dige zach. The Zohar learns that actually, macholas asuros is not an unhealthy physical, but it's an unhealthy spiritual, spiritually unhealthy. And this is the mahalach of the Barbenel. The Barbenel says that when we say mazik, yes, it is mazik, it is dangerous. It is a sakana, but not a physical, but a spiritual sakana to eat these animals. So we have a gishmake pshat according to this in Rashi, lefi sheYisrael dvukim baMakom. Since they are attached to the Ribono Shel Olam, so they need to be careful to not become spiritually contaminated. The Mamloyes actually brings the Rashi and then quotes this interesting Zohar, that the Zohar says macholas asuros contaminates the neshama in such a way that the contamination cannot be shed, and it takes it, the neshama takes it with him when it goes to Olam Haba. When the neshama separates itself from the body, the neshama separates itself from the body.

And it tries to go to Gan Eden, in the place where it's kulo kedushah, dveikus with the Rabbeinu Shleilam. This hinders its connection in Olam Haba to the Shechinah, because it becomes a tumah. It becomes a tumah to the neshama that it's difficult to shed. You know, there's a concept of cholesterol, which is clogging the arteries of the heart. Macholas asuros clogs the arteries of the neshama, and it's very hard to clean out those arteries. And then dvukim b'makom becomes more of an issue, ruchni, and that's why when we say chaim, maybe chaim doesn't mean in this world, but chaim means chaim netzach. It means life, eternal life. So this, l'choira, are the two pshatim. Either we learn, like the Rambam, macholas asuros is about physical health. So when Rashi says, Lefi sheYisrael dvukim, therefore they need chaim. What kind of chaim are we referring to? Physical. Why is it because of dvukim b'makom? It needs to be explained. Or maybe it means about dvukim b'makom spiritually, and the chaim that we want is chayei ruchni, chayei netzach, future. Now the pasuk, when it speaks about macholas asuros, the pasuk says, Sheketz yihyu lachem. Yihyu is a lashon of future. It doesn't say sheketz yihyeh; it will be. Right? Present, but yihyu will be future. Actually, yihyeh would be should be, and yihyu would be will be. To play on words a little bit, but let's get it again straight. Sheketz yihyeh, it is. Sheketz yihyu will be. Why does it say yihyu? And the teretz is, according to the Zohar, it's not about now. It's not when you eat it right now. According to the Rambam, it's now. You could get unhealthy, you eat it, 24 hours later it can have an effect on your body. But if it's about the ruchniyus, and it's about maybe when the neshama leaves the body and is trying to enter into Olam Haba, then rightfully so it says sheketz yihyu in the future. According to the mamlayos that quotes the Zohar, we have a nice pshat in sheketz yihyu, not yihyeh, but yihyu. Seforim, and I elaborate on this many times in the yeshiva, talk about not only about the spiritual sakana in macholos asuros, but it's also a sakana, a danger to the middos ha'adam, to his character trait, his character trait. Many animals, their traits are those that we would want to shed from us. It's not traits that we would like to take into our bodies and into our neshamos to internalize. Torahs stay away from those animals because of their character traits. Many beheimos chayos have achzorius. They have a certain wickedness about the way they're achzarim. And the Torah wants that we should not eat their flesh, because with their flesh will come a spiritual disease, but not ruchni, strictly ruchni, but in middos also, in their character traits. I found the mekor for this in Rabbeinu Bechaya. Rabbeinu Bechaya writes, Kol baalei hachayim hatmeiim b'ofos. What makes certain birds kosher and certain birds not kosher? The birds that are dorsim, ochlim hanidrosim, the predator birds that eat their prey, and when they eat their prey, they eat it live, when it's still moving around, and that's achzorius. That's something very wicked. It's something evil. And that achzorius, we don't want you to internalize. Let's go one more line in the Rabbeinu Bechaya. It's a beautiful Rabbeinu Bechaya. V'lachein haTorah hitirah rak es hayonah, ki hiner defes v'lo rodeifes. What's a kosher bird? A yonah. The dove. The dove is a nirdaf.

And not a rodef. It is pursued, but it doesn't pursue others. Nirdaf. And because of that, it has ma'alos. It has spiritual and middos that we want as Klal Yisrael to internalize. Klal Yisrael is referred to as a yonah, a yonasi, my dove. Why is Klal Yisrael called a dove? There's many reasons, Chazal and Rishonim, but here we have another pshat in why Klal Yisrael is a yonah, and that is because the character trait of a yonah, the character trait of Klal Yisrael, is to be a nirdaf and not a rodef, not a predator. It's preyed upon by all the nations of the world, yet it responds as the nirdaf and not the rodef. What is a nirdaf's koach? How does a nirdaf respond? What is the right and the Torahdike way to respond as a nirdaf? And the answer is, Elokim yevakesh es hanirdaf, which means is we turn to the Ribono Shel Olam, and we daven to the Ribono Shel Olam. The Chasam Sofer writes, Elokim yevakesh es hanirdaf, with a condition that he acts like a nirdaf, and that means he doesn't rodef in return. He stays put, and he relies completely on the Ribono Shel Olam for the Ribono Shel Olam to come and to give him salvation. To protect him. If the nirdaf acts like a nirdaf, and he remains a nirdaf, which means he remains the pursued and not the in turn pursues, he's not ready for return, then the Rabbeinu Shalom, Elokim, yevakeish es hanirdaf. What is this koach Elokim yevakeish es hanirdaf? The Chinuch in mitzvah taf reish explains, koach hatefillah. Elokim yevakeish es hanirdaf b'tefilaso, when he prays to the Rabbeinu, when he davens to the Rabbeinu Shalom. I think maybe that's the pshat in the pasuk, in Shir HaShirim, Yonasi b'chagvei hasela. Klal Yisrael is the yonah. Rabbeinu Shalom refers to Klal Yisrael as the yonah, b'chagvei hasela. He's in the cracks of the stone of the mountains. What's he doing there? And the answer is he's hiding. He's hiding because he's being pursued. He's being nirdafed. What does the Rabbeinu Shalom tell this yonah? Rabbeinu Shalom tells this yonah, Hashmi'ini es koleich, har'ini es marayich, hashmi'ini es koleich. Har'ini es marayich means let me see. Let me see your Torah, let me see your mitzvahs, and let me hear your koleich, your voice, your voice of tefillah. The yonah, as he hides from the pursuit, from the ridifah, Rabbeinu Shalom guarantees him, Hashmi'ini. I will listen to your kol. I will listen to your kol tefillah. And the yonah carries this message. And so when we eat a yayinah, we internalize this beautiful trait, this beautiful midah of the yayinah. Rabbeinu Bechaye continues and says a beautiful chiddush. It is well known that milk from treif animals can never really become butter. It's only kosher. Yeah, that's one of the reasons why even if you're makpid on chalav Yisrael, it's possible you don't have to be makpid on butter, because butter can only come from a kosher source. It's a big topic in halacha. It's not for right now. Is there af al pi kein a chiyuv in chalav Yisrael for a different time to discuss. Either way, there is a, what do you call that, a fact that butter, kosher, kosher animals, says Rabbeinu Bechaye, why? Kosher animals are warm-blooded. Therefore they curdle. You're able to make a cheese. They're able to become a solid. Cold-blooded animals, they're cold-blooded. They're milk, not warm, to be able to become a curdled cheese. ... Rabbeinu Bechaye. Nikfa, the only way they could...

To solidify and become a cheese, they need heat. They're blooded, in essence, b'mahus. They're cold-blooded. They can't make cheese, you hear? What is the ma'alah of a Yid, that he's warm-blooded, while the akum and the machalos asuros are about cold-blooded physically, and what? Which really represents its what? Its spiritual makeup as well, its spiritual DNA. It's cold-blooded animal. When you say cold-blooded animal, you mean cold-blooded, and you mean middos. They're cold, cold-blooded. You speak about something, he's a cold-blooded murderer. Yeah, really, take out his blood. Not cold-blooded, but it means in cold blood. It means with achzarius. And because of that, it has its physical nafka mina. It makes a physical difference. And that what? That it can't create cheese. It can't create a butter. You hear? It's a major chiddush. It's spiritual, and its character trait of cold-bloodedness has a physical effect that it can never become a cheese, while kosher is about warm blood. A Yid is a warm man. A Yid is warm. A Yid is a nirdaf, and he's humble. He hides and he davens to Hashem. It's all the middos that we want in Klal Yisrael. Rabbeinu Bechaye continues, he says all the nichushim, whenever they do witchcraft, it's always done with trade for birds. The raven, if you know, I don't know if you know, stam, are you a baki in witchcraft? Okay, in witchcraft, the raven has a big—what's the pshat? It's because it's a behemah temeiah, it's a predator, v'chulei v'chulei, zakah Rabbeinu Bechaya, that that is its reason why it's tamei. You see, it's used for nichush, avodah zaras, and so on and so forth. It's interesting, Rabbeinu Bechaya speaks about how in Hindu, in India, the cow is a religious thing, and therefore he connects the cow, the animal, the meat, with religion. So you see how in different cultures, food and religion go together. We'll talk about this a little bit more in great length as we continue, but let us tell over how food affects the person. Raman Yerudea, siman pei aleph, sif zayin, says that a child should not nurse from a goyish mother. Why? The mother gives off milk which has timtum halev, and because of that, because she brings her character in her milk, right? Remember we spoke that the animal—and here happens to be a person—but the animal has in its flesh and the milk that it gives off its traits. So a nachries, a goyisha woman, will give off in the milk her nachriyishkeit, her nachri character. V'chein lo yeisechalamei nekes afilu Yisraelis, devarim asurim, as well as the Jewish woman who nurses. Should be careful not to eat, not to consume things which are asur. She has to be careful on the kashrus of her food. V'chein hatinok b'atzmi, even a baby. A lot of times we say, Oh, he's only a baby, let him. No, you got to be very careful. Even a baby, a one-day-old, kosher, strictly kosher, glatt kosher. Why? Because ki kol zeh mazik lo, and here's an interesting word of the Rama, v'kol zeh mazik lo b'ziknuso, when he becomes older, b'ziknuso. What does it mean, b'ziknuso? Why does the Rama emphasize that the machalos asuros will have effect? It will cause damage when he gets older. The Kaf HaChaim, in seif katan samech ches, writes, This machalos asuros will cause him bad nature, will cause him bad character, and eventually the child will go out l'tarbus ra, will go off the derech. And u'lefi shebizmaneinu ein nizharim inyanim eilu, because we're not careful in what we eat, says Kaf HaChaim, rov habanim yotzim l'tarbus ra. That's why we find so much—I don't know what the right word is—but kids at risk. I don't know, all the—you never...

We don't know what's causing all that. V'rubam heim azei panim sheb'dor, and then they become with brazen chutzpah. Why? It was a good kid. What happened? And the answer is, machalos asuros. There's a famous Bnei Yissaschar that says that the reason why children, out of nowhere, suddenly go off, he says it has to do with machalos asuros, but a different point of machalos asuros. Since the parents in business are not kosher, so the money is not kosher and the food they buy from it is not kosher, and that affects, as machalos asuros, the character, the spiritual essence of the child. So you see how this machalos asuros, from many different angles, affects the child. If the food itself is machalos asuros, it brings out a bad trait. It brings a teva ra, a brazenness, a chutzpah, which makes the person, the child, not respond to the tochachah and the hadrachah given by the parents. And sometimes it's not the actual kashrus; it could be glatt kosher sometimes, but the money you bought it with is not glatt kosher, and then the food becomes treif. Not only is it not glatt kosher, but it's treif. I believe with this we could go back and say another pshat in sheketz yihyu. Remember we asked, it should say sheketz yihyeh, present. Why does it say sheketz yihyu, a future? And the teretz is because it's not right away. The effect that the food has is not—you'll take a bite and 24 hours later you're going to get spiritually, spiritually affected. It happens. And that's what the Rambam means maybe b'ziknusei. B'ziknusei doesn't mean right away. It can come years and years, can lay dormant in the person's blood, in his blood work. It can remain dormant in his cells, and eventually it will come out, b'ziknusei, as he gets older. And that's what the Rambam means, and that's the sheketz yihyu in the future. Shor haniskal, an animal that kills, you're not allowed to eat its flesh, its meat. If you shecht it before you actually stoned it, it kills. You're supposed to kill. You're supposed to stone the animal. If you ate it by shechting it before it got—you're not allowed to eat its meat. Lo ye'achel es besari. Pashut, it's because it's a knas. You were supposed to kill the animal instead of enjoying it for supper, right? The mefarshim say it's more about that this shor haniskal has bad character traits. It's a murderous animal. It killed. Consuming its flesh is consuming its bad trait, that it kills, that it's a murderous animal. The effect of food on the person, the effect of food on the person. The Gemara in Brachos says that Tannaim commented. About the people, and even the Talmidei Chachamim of Bavel. Hani Bavli tipshoi. The Bavloyim? Ah, they're tipshim. They're fools. They're tipshim. Why? Da'achli nahama b'nahama. They eat bread with bread. What does that mean? They had a special yogurt. That yogurt had bread in it, and they would take that yogurt and smear it and spread it over bread. And the Gemara is saying it's a foolish thing. Who eats bread with bread? You should eat bread with butter maybe, or bread with whatever you like, peanut butter, whatever it is, okay? Why are you eating bread with bread? You ever imagine a person comes and says, Let me spread some bread on top of the bread. That's tipshus. Why is that so important for the Gemara to point out? It's a peldige thing. Why is the Gemara even discussing it? What's the issue? Why are we putting down people in Bavel for that? What is the pshat in the Gemara? And the teretz is, the Gemara is trying to identify where the root of the tipshus comes from. They're intelligent people, Bavloyim. I'm sure they're very intelligent. A lot of things were invented from Bavel, yet they act tipshus.

The Gemara is trying to root it to where? In the food. It has to do with the food they eat. The Gemara is trying to teach us how important food. Today, different cultures have different foods, and it affects their culture. For example, in America, you have the 20-ounce steak. What is it again? The cowboy steak. All right, so what happens when you eat a cowboy steak? You behave like a cowboy, yeah. You walk around and you're ready to... It's gassus, right? You know, when they put out that big cowboy steak, you're supposed to say it's dinner for five? No, it's for one guy only. You know, in France, I have family there, and when I visit there, they make so much... they poke fun and they point out how America, their food is all about fun: apple pie and hot dog. You know, my wife, she should be gesund, when we got married, said, Let's go for pizza. Nice. I guess she was trying to be nice. I'm American. Pizza. We know America is the land of the pizza. All right. So I figured we'd go to a pizza store. You know what a pizza store is? It's this little thing on the corner, and everybody's rustling and bustling, and they're eating the pizza and screaming, yelling, and it's right. You know what a pizza, right? Takes me to a beautiful restaurant, almost beautiful, and the waiter comes over, asks, Okay, would you like to order a pizza? And he puts a fork in it, and it's a whole. And then when they bring out the pizza, it was two small things of pizza, like a little cracker of pizza. And I was going, Where's the pizza? What happened? Remember what I say to you, ah, American, how they eat pizza. Get a whole pie in one, some one slice. You know, today they make even a pie, huh? A personal pie. Personal pie. You have to have ananza pie, you have to eat. The culture of the people is its food. It's the way it is. When you eat fun, America is about fun. It's about eating. Different cultures have different... I remember years ago, growing up in my bubbe, Rebbetzin Wolk, alah shalom, she was extremely adin, very soft person. It's an eidelkeit, extreme eidelkeit, which she grew up seeing in her father's home in the hashpa of the Chofetz Chaim, right? They lived around the Chofetz Chaim in Radin. Everything was about eidelkeit. So I remember the bubbe was so makpid about the food, it had to be eidel. Everything had to be eidel. She would serve the soup and the chicken and the meat, and every time she would comment, Give out קוקוי eidel. The soup is so eidel, it's so, so, has so much adinus, and the meat is so, so, so sweet and soft. And the personality of eidelkeit was the food that she served, was the food that she served. This was such an important statement. In the food that she made, eidelkeit, adinus. A Yid's maichel has to be adinus. It has to be adin. It has to be soft, yoina. It has to represent, and it has to compare itself to the yoina, adinus, soft, not harsh, not heavy. You are what you eat. I think there's a good introduction to Pesach. As we have, Baruch Hashem, Pesach around the corner, notice how all the foods that we eat on Pesach become the story and essence of the Pesach, the night of the Seder. Everything revolves around the food: the matzah and the maror and the arba kosos and the charoses, and then it's all about food. Don't eat chametz, eat matzah. Why? Because a nation—we became Am Hanivchar. Am Hanivchar is also in its food and what it eats. As we're going to learn, the matzah represents lechem oni, humility, humble, while the chametz represents gaivah.

Yetzahara, it's in the fabric and the yesod of the Yontif, the food. No other Yontif was like that. On every Yontif we need to eat, but it's not revolved around the food. Pesach is strictly revolved and is strictly symbolized in the food we eat. The food that we eat is who we are. Matzah, arba kosos, all this is the Yid as opposed to chametz, which is the goy. Now you could ask me a kasha, so then why all year are we allowed to eat chametz? An old question, a different discussion for a different shiur, okay? Charev, you're telling me chametz is such a horrible, and it's so evil, so why are we eating it all year? Another time we'll discuss that. But al kol panim, maybe, maybe we could say that that's the pshat, maybe, in the Rambam, maybe. When the Rambam says it's mazik laguf, he didn't mean a physical mazik laguf. He didn't mean that you would go to the doctor and you would see it in your blood test. That's not what he was referring to. Mazik laguf means the character of the guf. We find such a nusach: Lo matzasi laguf tov mi shtikah. Keeping quiet is the best thing for the guf. We mean you're going to be healthier, healthier if you keep quiet. So obviously he doesn't mean laguf health, but what does laguf mean? Okay, your person, who you are, could also be defined as laguf, and maybe. Maybe, I'm not saying this as a pshat, more as an idea. Maybe when it says in the Rishonim that machalos asuros affects the guf, they mean who you are, the way you act and the way you talk. Maybe that's what it means, laguf. You notice that the Rambam, when he brings machalos asuros, the halachos, it's not brought in Mada, when he speaks about diet. When the Rambam gives us in Mada his diet, right, he defines for us what a healthy diet is, machalos asuros is not there. Where is machalos asuros in the Rambam? It's in Kedusha. Rambam brings it in Kedusha, in the halachos that are nogea to Kedusha. So it's clear, lichora, that machalos asuros, even with the Rambam saying it's about the guf, it's not about the physical, but it's something more about kedusha than it is about physical. And with this we can answer the Rambam and El's kashas. One, why is the Torah speaking about a physical diet? And the answer is it's not, because when the Torah speaks about machalos asuros, it means what? It means machalos asuros, which will change the character, the midos of the person. And why does it not affect goyim and the Torah says, boy, does it affect the goy, right? Believe you me, what they eat will be who they are. But I need to point out, when we discuss machalos asuros, a different angle which Acharonim take. Clearly, in the words of the Brisker Rav, that macholas asuros, its spiritual effect on the person is not because of the animal and its trait, but because of the issur, the fact that the Torah said it's asur. It's the issur that creates the tumah and the effect, the spiritual effect on the person. Till now we were learning that the animal and its trait, you internalize it, you'll have it. Brisker Rav says it's the issur. Since the Torah said it's asur, therefore it will create a bad nature in the person. Possibly the reason why the Torah asered is because it has bad traits. That's possible. That's not out of the question. It's very possible that's still part of the equation, that these animals have bad traits and therefore the Torah forbade them. But what creates in the person now a bad trait will be the issur and not the animal and its bad middah and its DNA. If a person would eat chazir because he's sick and he's allowed to eat it for refuah purposes, says Brisker Rav, that will not be metamtem his life. If a person would eat glatt...

Kosher on Yom Kippur, that would be mitamtem es halev. It's an issur. It's the issur and not the species, the actual thing that you're eating. Mesilas Yesharim seems to say not like that. The Zohar that we quoted above clearly seems to say not like that. But this is a mahalach, Brisker Rav and many other Acharonim, that it's not the machalos asuros, the min, the type, but because it's asuros, because it's assur, therefore. If you notice Rashi in the Zos HaChayah that we mentioned, the Rashi, V'zos HaChayah, says Rashi, Lefi sheYisrael dvukim bamakom v'rauyin lihyos chayim, lefichach hivdilam min hatumah v'gazar aleihem mitzvos. How did mitzvos come in here? It should just say, since you need to be chayim, so therefore stay away from machalos asuros. How did the gazar aleihem, how did that fit in? How is that part of the equation that the Ribono Shel Olam gave you mitzvos? I mean, the Aizer explains every lo sa'aseh is to avoid this disconnect with Hashem. It's to take away what will disconnect you from Hashem, and every aseh actually connects you to the Ribono Shel Olam. He learns it in this Rashi. Yeah, but how does it fit into machalos asuros? And the teretz is like the Brisker Rav. It's gar vishmak, right? Because it's not the actual animal and its bad trait, but what is it? It's the issur. So the vegoser aleihem mitzvois is really what brings the chayim, but really gives the person the bill of health. It's choiref from Rashi. You see clearly, it's not just therefore Hashem says stay away from a pig because we don't want you to be a pig. Stay away from the issur, because He says clearly, we want you to have chayim, so I gave you mitzvos. Let me give you. He told me, stay away from unhealthy, from tummy animals. And the answer is, it's the mitzvah, maybe even more than the trait, the tumah of the animal. I have a raya from this Brisker Rav. On the pasuk of Zos hachayah asher tochlu, the pasuk says, because if you eat of the nitmeisem bam. The nitmeisem means what? Tamei with an aleph. V'nitmeisem, it should have been with an aleph. The Gemara in Yuma daf lamed tes amud aleph says it doesn't say v'nitmeisem with an aleph bam. If you eat these things, you'll become tamei, but it says v'nitmeisem with an aleph, v'nitamtem, timtum, which means it will cause clogged blockage, timtum halev, spiritual timtum halev, spiritual blockage. So you see clearly, says the Gemara, when does this happen? Adam over aveirah. If a person does an aveirah, it's metamtem es halev. It's going on the pasuk by machalos asuros. So why does the Gemara say if you do the aveirah, it's metamtem? Let it say if you what? If you eat these things, it's metamtem. It's a raya to the Brisker Rav, l'choirah, that what? It's not the— Flesh of these animals, but what is it? It's the aveirah. The aveirah that you get, that's v'nitmeisem, that's mitamtem es halev. L'choira, the Gemara is a raya to the Brisker Rav. There's another interesting Tanchuma that we could explain according to this Brisker Rav and also the Abarbanel. The Tanchuma over here on the pasuk, V'zos hachayah asher tocheilu, says Tanchuma, zehu she'amar hakasuv. This is what the pasuk is referring to in Tehillim, perek mem: La'asos retzoncha Elokai chafatzti. The Ribono Shel Olam, I want so much, I yearn to do Your will, v'sorascha, and I want Your Torah b'soch me'ai, in my stomach, within me, in my intestines and my stomach, b'soch me'ai. What does it mean, I want in my stomach Your Torah? Torah is in a person's stomach? You know, there's an expression, as if boich Torah. David HaMelech doesn't want to say boich Torah; he wants to say good Torah. What does he mean, b'soch me'ai, in my stomach? So we could come and say one of two pshatim. Simply, we could say with the Abarbanel that it affects the ruchniyus of the person when he eats ma'acholos asuros, so it would affect the person's learning.

Sometimes you learn and you say to yourself, I can't, I can't, it's not going. I don't know, check what you're eating. I don't know, maybe it blocks, it blocks the ruchniyus, the Torah from entering you, which is actually mefurash in Gemara. La'olam yispalel adam. A person should daven, sheyikaneis Torah l'soch me'av. Torah should enter his stomach. And why does it mean stomach? And the answer is, a person needs to live on the Torah like food, b'soch me'av. It also has to become part of his whole blood work, so to speak. It has to be part of his cell, who he is. That's food, b'soch me'av. That's how it becomes part, right? You digest it properly into yourself. There's all analogies in what does it mean Torah b'soch me'av. But whatever it is, the Chazal are telling us a person should daven Torah should enter his stomach, v'al yikaneis idunim b'soch me'av, delicacies, food. When a person overeats delicacies and food which is fatty, so to speak, it stops, it blocks. It causes a disconnect that the Torah can't enter. Everything. It's in everything. It's overeating, overindulging. It's about the type of foods you eat. All this, says the Gemara, blocks Torah from entering b'soch me'av. And like we explained, that you should internalize completely and become a part of the person, the Torah becomes like food in the stomach. But according to the Brisker Rav, we could come and say another pshat. What is v'sairascha b'soch me'ai, referring to machalos asuros? And the teretz is because what's really causing the machalos asuros to affect my stomach, so to speak? What in the macholos asuros should be giving you a stomachache, so to speak? And the answer is, Torahscha, the fact that it's aser min haTorah. It's the issur of the Torah that is the issue of macholos asuros. And therefore, like the Brisker Rav, it's very meduyak, it's a very nice pshat in why it says, VeTorascha. Dovid HaMelech is saying, I want your Torah because it's more about the issur, the Torah, what the Torah commanded me, than the actual macholos asuros. If you notice, the pasuk says clearly, Hein lo huva es dam hakodesh, achol tochal oso bakodesh kaasher tziveisi. If you notice that one of the things that Bnei Aharon were being rebuked was that the flesh of the kodshim had to be eaten bakodesh like I commanded. After everything we've spoken about macholos asuros, there's a kedusha to food. We've explained how the food is either kadosh or not kadosh. And just like kodshim, food was also very much connected to what we call kodshim. The foods you eat, the way you eat it, and where you eat it has a tremendous importance. Says, I believe maybe Reb Shamshon Raphael Hirsch is fataitching this vort. He says the person— Himself is a Mishkan. V'shachanti b'socham. The Ribono Shel Olam is resting within the neshama, within the heart of every Yid. So who becomes a Mishkan? The person. And therefore, you need to make sure macholos asuros do not enter, because you need basar kodesh, kedushah food, b'makom hakodesh. Now we're starting to see more the picture of the parsha, how it all connects. There is Bayom HaShemini. This was the eighth day, shivas yemei hamiluim, that the Mishkan is erected. But the Mishkan is really who? The person. And therefore, their halachos, how the person has to behave and how he has to eat. Kodesh has to be eaten b'makom hakodesh, and therefore the end of the parsha is macholos asuros. Kodesh where? B'makom hakodesh, within the person, that he's kodesh. I believe with this Rav Shamshon Raphael Hirsch, the yesod, we could connect the parsha and answer the question, if you...

Now this also, there's a rebuke. Hein loy huva dam el hakodesh. The blood wasn't brought in its proper place, el hakodesh. I saw that Barbenel also writes that all these machalos asuros, what it does is it creates bad blood. Bad blood. It creates tameidike blood. So also we have an analogy of hein loy huva dama el hakodesh, the kodesh, the food, the blood. Also, as we've spoken, religion and food is very much connected. As the Barbenel says that the Hindu, the Indian, the cow, avodah zarah. When food is not kodesh, there's a lot of avodah zarah in food as well. I don't know if you realize, all the things which are avodah zarah, there's a tremendous drive, a yetzer hara for. There's money, which is very much connected to avodah zarah, as we've spoken in the past. Food also, food also could be somewhat linked to avodah zarah. A lot of the foods that we are not allowed to eat has to do with the fact that the goyim use that for their avodah zarah. Yayin nesach, for example, right? Because they use it for what? For their karovah, for their religion. The point being, the Yid is a sanctuary, and in his sanctuary he has to be careful what he brings in and what he puts into his sanctuary. Kosher food, only foods which are pure. My biggest proof to this yesod is the Siforno. The Siforno says a chiddush that the halacha of macholos asuros only came to be, it only came to life, the Torah gave it to us strictly after Egel. This is connected to the parsha of Egel. He says just like the Mishkan—just like the Mishkan was a result, was an answer to the Egel, the macholos asuros as well was an answer to Egel. This is what I believe is the theme of the Siforno, because the man now has to become the Mishkan. Before Egel, there was no specific place; Hashem was everywhere. But all of a sudden, after Egel, the man and the Mishkan, which is a replica of that, as we spoke from Chaim Volozhin, with the ikar Shechanti b'socham, the man now has to be a place fit for Shechina. And that's why Hashem commands us, the Ribbono Shel Olam and His Torah commands us, macholos asuros, because you need to be a nevei laShechina. You need to be a home fit for the Shechina. If you look, sefarim write lots of literature about the simanim of what creates kosher and non-kosher. If you have to go, maybe it's kosher and non-kosher, yeah. Sefarim Chassidim. A very, very... they're busy with explaining the siman. I want to tell you, over-interesting, the Chafetz Chaim asks, are all the simanim kashrus, right, a siman or a sibah? We know that it has to have split hooves, and we know that it has to be ma'aleh geirah, it has to keep on chewing its cud. Is that a siman for a kosher animal? Is that the sign of a kosher animal, or is it a sibah, a reason why it's kosher? Because it chews its cud and has a split hoof, that itself is what it's kosher about. Is it a sign on the type, on the min, that all the kosher minim have this sign, or is it that these signs created that it's kosher? Says the Chafetz Chaim, proof from chazir. Chazir will one day be kosher. The Gemara, the Rishonim talk about that it will what? It will change its characteristic, that it will have a split hoof and be a... Now it doesn't chew its cud; it just has a split hoof, and it shows everybody that it's kosher, right? Chazir kosher fistel, right now it has split hooves and it shows everybody, that's why it sticks out. The pig sticks its legs out.

All the time like this to show everybody I'm kosher, but it's yet not ma'aleh geira. So when Mashiach comes, it will change its characteristics to be ma'aleh geira and become kosher. So you see, says Chofetz Chaim, it's not a sign, but rather what is it? It's a sibah, the reason why it's kosher. What are the sibah? What is the reason for mafris parsa and ma'aleh geira? Why are those the two signs of kashrus? Ishbitza. Ishbitza says a meirdike vort. Parsa is prusa; it's broken. You know, by Pesach we have lechem oni, and therefore what do we do? We're poires; we break it. Ma oni darko b'prusa, so too the lechem oni, the matzah has to be—notice we break yachatz, we break the matzah. It has to be a prusa. It has its halachic ramifications for lechem mishnah; it's a big discussion. Not for now. For the halacha shiur, we'll discuss how a broken matzah is good enough for lechem mishnah on the night of Pesach, or maybe not. Whatever it is, there is an emphasis: matzah broken. You know, when you buy a box of matzah, you get one straight one; the rest of them are okay. But the point is matzah and broken. Why? And the answer is, remember the yona? Remember the humble, the broken. Parsa, split, broken. It's the prusa. It's the maila, the character trait of not being like the chametz. Big, but rather what? Broken and humble. What's maligeira? Says the Ishbitzer, maligeira means the Jew has this character trait: he chews things over, over again and over again. And that comes from humility. You know, Esav swallows everything alive, full. The snake is a peldike thing. The snake will eat up just alive, the way it is. It's just swallow it whole. They eat small bites. Maligeira. I remember years ago, I don't know if they still talk about this, the way you ate, they would say, Oh, he eats like maligeira, right? What is maligeira? So they would mean it more that the guy is chewing like gum, keeps on chewing. But the truth is there is a ma'alah, maligeira, and then what is that? Takes and it re-chews it and re-chews it, and that says Ishbitzer is the ma'alah of adinus, of kedusha, and the Yid has those simanim. I have over here in front of me, I've made a whole list of all the animals in the Torah mentioned in Parshas Shemini and what exactly is their bad character trait. And I know that it's getting late, but if you give me five to six more minutes, we're going to go through the list and it's something very interesting. So we mentioned that each animal has a flaw that makes the animal not kosher for Jewish consumption, for a Yid to consume. We mentioned the ma'alah of parsa, that it has a split hoof, and we also mentioned the ma'alah of maligeira, that it keeps on re-chewing its cud. Let's begin with the animal chasidah. That's a bird. Sounds like a nice animal, chasidah. That's a chasidish, it's chasidah, it's chesed, right? What's wrong with it? What's wrong with the chasidah? Chazal, Rashi quotes, chasidah, the problem is she'oseh chesed im chavroseha. It does favors with her friends. Sounds like a good thing. And the pshat, everybody knows, and everybody's already jumping up to help me in this shiur, Baruch Hashem, I am getting tired, it's good that you're helping me, that what is chasidah? Chasidah is only with chavroseha. Selfish. A selfish chesed is about you, and therefore it's only about your friends. I'd like to add a little bit of an interesting fact. The Gra, Rabbeinu HaGra, springs an interesting thing, that the chasidah is such an animal that it's so careful, it's so zahir in kedushah, that it goes to the mikvah before it mates.

It goes, I guess it goes to a pond, and it immerses itself, mikvah before it mates. Unbelievable. Could you get more kedusha than that? Heilig, it's getting mikvah. It's unbelievable, yeah? So where is the tumah? The answer is, in mikvah it goes, and it's spiritual. Let's see, it's chesed. It's selfish, and it's chesed. It's called a tamei. Kedusha has to be across the board. Kedusha has to be, the animal is spiritual, and in middos also, it has to be oiske cheshbon. Remember I told you that there's two ways to understand where the sakana, where the damage of the beheimos asuros, the macholos asuros, where is it? So we said over from the Barbenel, it's in ruchniyus. And we said also in middos. It has to be oiske cheshbon. It has to be balanced, ruchniyus and middos. The chassidah has a tremendous ruchniyus. It goes to the mikvah, but it's in middos, it's tamei, it's lacking. Oise chesed im chavrisa. I saw Sifsei Kohen, it's a talmid of the Ari, and a lot of the information that I have over here about the different animals and their problem, I found in the Sifsei Kohen. He says chassidah is chasid sheitah. That's what chassidah is. It's a chasid, it's a chasidah, chasid shoteh. Why? Maybe that's what we're explaining. It has the ruchni, yet it doesn't have the middos. That's called a chasid shoteh. I will quickly, quickly go through the list of all the animals and what, in short, could be their faults that make them beheimos temeios. We have a dayah. It's also a different bird. Rashi himself clearly explains to us what's wrong with this bird, and the answer is ravzanus. Rashi says it's an angry bird. Anger, not a good thing. Anger, you want to push it away. You don't want to internalize and let the DNA of this animal. That's an angry animal. The pasuk Chavzayin says that one of the simanim of the beheimos temeios, the non-kosher, is kol holeich al kapav. Kosher animals have hooves. Others that are not kosher, they walk on what? On their actual paws. So I saw Rav Sifsei Kohen explains, kol holeich al kapav means he goes with his own hands. He believes that his mahalach, his way, his hatzlachah is because of kapav. Kochi v'otzem yadi. He's in his own hands. His success is based on his own kol holeich al kapav. Kochi v'otzem yadi is a siman tumah. One of the animals are choled. Choled is a weasel that lives like a gopher in the ground. What's its tumah? Why is that? It says, ishbitzah. It lives in darkness. That's the whole idea of the groundhog. It came out. It, what's the word? It sleeps for— it hibernates in the ground. Anything connected in a world of darkness, anyone that lives in darkness is tamei, says the Shemitzah. Animals, light, kosher. Animals, dark, not kosher. He explains the nesher, the eagle, and this is the American eagle. Now, the truth is, I would have said the American eagle is a doiris. It's the most predator of all the birds. He says a little bit different, Sifsei Chaim. Sifsei Chaim says nesher, in its name, nesher means to throw off, to rid yourself. A lot of times people accumulate Torah, mitzvah, and all of a sudden, out of nowhere, what do they do? They rid themselves of everything. New day, new this. It's called peiroisav noishros. They shed. You know, the snake is an animal that sheds itself a lot. Interesting shedding. A lot of times people are strong in Yiddishkeit, and then out of nowhere, what?

shed, what they've accumulated. Interesting. Paras is one of the animals. Paras l'kabel pras. It's trying to—a reminder: be careful not to take in for pras, for its reward. You need to be a person that is not about reward. There's a lot over here of, you know, continuing. Maybe we'll just shorten the list because it's a long list. Let us go to the tachmos. What is the tachmos? The tachmos is chamas, gezel. The bird, the tachmos—the animal, sorry, the animal, the tachmos symbolizes the gezel. We have the shachaf. So, humas hanachash, it's the yetzer hara, he says. The nuts—it's one of the animals, menayetz, that it's a moired, that it's rebellious. Hakos—kind of animal is kos? And the answer is kos, kos yayin. It resembles and it symbolizes the wine, which is also a bad thing. Hashlalach—what shalach? Lashon, hashlach tachrigecha is to be poirek ol. Yanshuf is to fly away from the root. Yanshuf, a Jew has to be rooted in his Torah and to fly away. Ka'as is an expression of throwing up, he says. Life in this world, you could throw up from it if it's overindulged. It doesn't bring anything more than a person can vomit from it. The racham, he says, has to do with arayos. Racham is a rechem; it's a womb. Anafah, he says, is anger, oid Hashem ki anafto. Duchifas, he says, is a double crown, so it's like a gaiva; he walks around, the animal, as if it's the king of the world. Gaiva. Atalef, he says, is the lashon, atufim of atzlus. Sheretz is an interesting one. What is sheretz? Sheretz means sherotz; it's running around. It's not stable. It's a siman of tumah. It's not a bad trait. No, I'm sorry, it's not a good trait. Shoretz, sherotz, can't sit still in one place. Sheretz is one of the temeis. Kol holech al arba, he says that the person is made of four yesodos: eish, mayim, adamah. So all he does is holech, for the arba, to fulfill his human side, and he's not a ruchni. Shemoneh sheratzim, he says, are the shemoneh kochos of samoel. I don't know what that is exactly, but that's what he says, and with this we'll end the shiur with the point pretty clear, and that is all the machalos asuros are going to have an effect on the character and the essence of the person, and the Yid has to have an essence of purity, of kindness, of kedushah. You've just experienced another Torah class, brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.