Parshas Mishpatim contains a few dietary laws. The central one seems to be, Holy people you should be to Me, mauled meat in the field you should not eat; to the dogs it should be cast”, (Exodus 22:30). This is similar to, “Children you are to Hashem, your G-d, do not make gashes between your eyes on account of the deceased”, (Deuteronomy 14:1). The underlying idea is that because the Jewish people have an extra measure of closeness to the holy One, blessed be He, they should not do things that can be disgusting. In this case the meat is proper for a dog but not a human being. Another example is the prohibition for a Jew to eat a נבלה (nevalah), rather it should be sold to a non Jew (see Deuteronomy 14:21). A נבלה is an animal that died on its own for example to old age, injury, heart attack, or stroke. The idea is that a priest of the Most High should not eat from the flesh of the hard working ox or the old egg laying hen. However if the non Jewish worker wants it, fine.
To be precise these are light prohibitions as they simply render a person ritually unclean. One can err in thinking it is something like burying the dead, which is a mitzvah, even though it renders a person unclean, therefore it may be okay. Consequently it is explicitly forbidden even though, through purification rituals, a person can regain the privilege of participating in sanctity. It seems that ritual impurity remains undesirable even in situations where there are extenuating factors.
Rashi comments on “You shall be holy people to Me”, If you are holy and abstain from vile things like of carrion and mortally injured animals, you are Mine, but if not, you are not mine. In a similar vein the parsha requires a wait of eight days before the first born of a kosher animal is given to a Cohen. This is to establish that it was not a miscarriage, somewhat unappetizing. Another mitzvah is not to cook a kid goat in its mother's milk. In parshas Mishpatim it is in the context of the Jewish holidays when sacrifices were brought. It would seem that the symbolism of killing with kindness is not amusing. In the book of Deuteronomy it is brought in the context of forbidden foods. It seems to apply to the days of yore when people would own a nanny goat for milk and the meat of the kid goats. The prospect of cooking the kid goat in its mother's milk is viewed by the Chumash as distasteful.
The general attitude of the Chumash towards kosher foods is to ban things that are considered vile. In regards to forbidden fish, animals, birds, and insects, the Torah will often say these are in fact disgusting (שקץ) and they should be disgusting to you. Likewise consumption of blood is forbidden because doing so would be also be disgusting. Even if the food is kosher but eaten in a disgusting way, the Tanach objects. This is particularly true if done in a religious context as hinted in the verse, “They serve on my altar a vile meal, then you say, ‘How have we defiled You?’, by your saying, ‘God's table is contemptible’,” (Malachi 1:7).
The way we eat is important. In the book of Rabbi Nachman of Breslav’s, “Selected Advice”, a chapter is devoted to eating. He starts by saying, “By eating kosher food in an appropriate fashion, specifically by eating with deliberation and not excessively slow; one’s intelligence is developed and the tendency towards foolishness is subdued. But if one eats like a drunk and a slob, foolishness overpowers intelligence. Through this the light of the tsadik is dimmed to him and he is not able to receive from him fear and love”. It comes out that a person should have good taste in food, meaning it should be tasty and nutritious, as well as being eaten with good manners, nice utensils, and in pleasant surroundings. This is particularly true of a seuda mitzvah. This is in fact an aspect of the Holy Temple, may it be built speedily and in our days, and brings many awesome blessings, too.
לע"נ הסתא טויבע בת יואל לייב ז"ל נלב"ע כה שבט תשכ"ג
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