פרשת בראשית תשכ"ב - מזונם של הבריות

And God said: ‘Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed—to you it shall be for food;

§ Rav Yehuda says that Rav says: Meat was not permitted to Adam, the first man, for consumption, as it is written: “And God said: Behold, I have given you every herb that brings forth seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree that gives forth seed; for you it shall be for food, and for every animal of the earth, and for every fowl of the air, and for everything that creeps upon the earth, in which there is a living soul, every green herb for food. And it was so” (Genesis 1:29–30). It is derived God told Adam: Eating vegetation is permitted to people and animals, but eating the animals of the earth is not permitted to you. But when the children of Noah came, God permitted them to eat meat; as it is stated: “Every moving thing that lives shall be for food for you; as the green herb I have given you all” (Genesis 9:3). One might have thought that accordingly, even the prohibition against eating a limb from a living animal does not apply to the descendants of Noah; therefore the verse states: “Only flesh with its life, which is its blood, you shall not eat” (Genesis 9:4). One might have thought that the prohibition against eating a limb from a living animal applies even to creeping animals; therefore the verse states “only,” a term used for exclusion, indicating that creeping animals are not included.

ולכל חית הארץ AND TO EVERY BEAST OF THE EARTH — Scripture places cattle and beasts on a level with them (human beings: that is, it places all alike in the same category) with regard to food, and did not permit Adam to kill any creature and eat its flesh, but all alike were to eat herbs. But when the era of the “Sons of Noah” began He permitted them to eat meat, for it is said, (Genesis 9:3) “every moving thing that lives should be for food for yourselves … “even as the herb” that I permitted to the first man, so do “I give to you everything” (Sanhedrin 59b).

"Behold, I have given to you all of the herbs that gives seed:" "He did not permit Adam and his wife to kill a creature and to eat its meat; only every green herb were they all permitted to eat together. And when the Children of Noach came, He permitted them to eat meat, as it is stated (below 9:3), 'Every creeping thing that is alive, for you is it to eat, like the green herb have I given to you every thing' Like the green herbs, which I permitted to the first man, I have given you everything." [These are] the words of Rashi. And so [too] did [Rashi] explain in Tractate Sanhedrin 59b (s. v. lo hutar), "'And to all the animals of the land' - to you and to the animals have I given the herbs and the trees, and 'the green herbs to eat.'" And if so, the explanation of "all of the green herbs to eat" would be [that it is a continuation of the previous idea as follows]: and all of the green herbs. And it is not like this, but [rather] He gave to Adam and his wife, "every herb that gives seed" and all the fruit of the trees; and to the animals of the field and the fowl of the skies, He gave "every green herb" - [but] not the fruit of the trees and not seeds; and their food is not equally for all. However meat was not permitted to him until the Children of Noach, as per the opinion of our Rabbis, and that is the simple meaning of the text. And [the original prohibition to kill animals to eat their meat] is because moving souls have a bit of stature to their souls: they resemble intelligent souls and seek their [own] benefit and their food and run away from pain and death; and the verse states (Ecclesiastes 3:23), "Who knows the spirit of man whether it goes upward, and the spirit of the beast whether it goes downward to the earth?" And when they sinned and all flesh corrupted its way upon the earth and it was decreed that they would die in the flood, and because of Noach, He saved some of them for the preservation of the species, He gave them permission to slaughter and eat [animals] since their existence was for [man's] sake. And in spite of all this, He did not give them permission with regards to the soul and forbade them a limb from a living animal. And He added commandments for us to forbid all blood since it is the support of the soul, as it is written (Leviticus 17:14), "Since the soul of all flesh, its blood is in its soul; and say to the Children of Israel, 'the blood of all flesh do not eat, since the soul of all flesh, it is the blood.'" [This is all] because He permitted the body of an animal that does not speak but not the soul itself. And this is [also] the reason for ritual slaughter (shechita) - and for what they said (Bava Metzia 32:), "[the prohibition of causing] pain to living animals is from the Torah" - and this is our blessing for it: "who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us on ritual slaughter." And I will speak more about the matter of the commandment of blood when I get there (Leviticus 17:11-14) if God [permits].

"And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the heavens and over the beast and over all of the earth and over all of the crawling animals that crawl upon the earth:" Nachmanides (Ramban) explained, "'and over all the earth,' [to mean] that they should rule over the earth itself: to uproot and to smash and to dig copper and iron." And ostensibly, this is difficult: how can it speak about the earth itself and then afterwards, go back and speak about the crawling animals that crawl upon it? And one of my students answered, that [the crawling animals] are a general category [that can come] after the [listing of] individual parts; as if it said, "And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the heavens and over the beast and more generally, have dominion over all of the earth and over all that crawls upon it." And "the crawling animals that crawl upon the earth" will include all of the animals, and [it is] like it says in the verse that is after this, "and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the heavens and over all of the animals that crawl over the earth." And I say that other animals are called "flesh that crawls on the earth," [and] "animals that crawl upon the earth; but the phrase, "the crawling animals that crawl upon the earth" is never found in any place to refer to all animals, but rather only to the crawling animals. And behold, in the verse after this, it is written "and subdue it" about the earth itself - therefore, the words of Ramban are plausible, that here also, when it states, "and over all the earth," the intention was about the subduing of the earth itself: to dig, to plant and to build homes and to to do with it according to our will. And afterwards it mentions the crawling animals, because of their being (as per the words of my student, Yosef Yira) close to the ground. Hence, after He said that they should have dominion over the whole earth, He added that they should have dominion also over the crawling animals, which appear as if they are clinging to it and a part of it. And the intention is that in man's working of the earth, he expels and destroys the crawling animals that are in it.

"All green herbs (yerek esev):" The green of the herb, which means to say green herbs (or grasses), as below (Genesis 3:24) "the glow of the sword" [means] a sword that is glowing; and (Esther 10:3) "accepted by many of his brothers" [means] to his many brothers. And behold, He gave to man all seed bearing herbs and all fruit trees; and to the other animals only the green herbs, which grow without planting. And the intention of this is because man has the intelligence to plant, and this is not the case with other animals. And it should not be derived from this that fruit of trees were forbidden to animals, like the opinion of Grotius; or that [here] Moshe did not speak with exactitude like the opinion of Clericus, when, in fact, the language is very exact. Since He did not give control to other [animals] over seeds and the fruit of trees, as He did not give them intelligence to sow and plant in all places that they would want, like He did for man. And behold, one should ask why He didn't mention the eating of meat - not with man and not with animals. And many already believed that the slaughter of animals was not permitted before the flood. And this is very unlikely; since in his nature and the build of his body and the shape of his teeth, man is fashioned for the eating of both [plants] and meat as one; and if it was not the will of the Creator that he should eat meat, He would not have formed his body [in this way]. And it appears to me that the permission to eat meat is included in the expression, "and have dominion over the fish of the sea, etc." Since [in the case of] Noach (Genesis 9:2-3): after He said, "and your awe and dread will be upon all the animals of the earth, etc... into your hands are they given," He explained and said "every crawling thing that lives on the earth, for you shall it be to eat." But to Adam, He did not need to explain further, while with Noach; because it was necessary to warn him about the spilling of man's blood, he preceded [that warning] by saying that He was not forbidding the slaughtering of animals. And one can add that the proclamation, "have dominion over the fish of the seas," is a clear proof that the killing of animals was permitted - since, how is it possible to rule over the fish without their coming out of the water and [so] dying? And one cannot say that the intention is to make fish oil and use their teeth after they die, since dominion and rulership is not the use of something [when it is] dead, but to rule over a living body, whether to subjugate it or to kill it. And that which they said [to answer this question] (Sanhedrin 59b), "one used a goat and a mullet to lead [his chariot]," that is not something common [and hence not a good answer]. And my student, Shalom Shimon Modina answered (today, the 23rd of Tammuz, 5625) that there is no absolute proof from here that Adam was permitted to eat meat. Since it is nonetheless possible that the intention of the proclamation, "have dominion over the fist of the sea, etc." is that man should have dominion and rulership over the animals by preventing them from ruling over him and hurting him, and that their killing be permitted to save ourselves - but not to eat them. And even without the fish having to serve man and do his work, behold, that is called dominion over them, since it is in his hand to overpower them that they should not hurt him. And I say that we never find the root, reish dalet hey (have dominion) with this usage, but [rather] to indicate subjugation, and the rulership to force others to [submit] to our will and our pleasure, as in (Leviticus 25:53) "he shall not subjugate him with hard work in front of your eyes," and (Leviticus 26:17) "and the ones that hate you will subjugate you," and so [too] (I Kings 5:4), "Since he ruled over the entire bank of the river," and (Psalms 72:8) "And may he dominate from the sea to the sea:" their sense is control [over] them to take taxes. And at this point, it appears to me that the Holy One, blessed be He, did not want to say to Adam explicitly that he had permission to kill living souls, so that he not accustom his hands to spilling blood. Rather, He said to him that he would rule and have dominion over all animals; and the permission to kill them for the sake of eating them 'was not explicitly said, but implicitly said.' But after the flood - after the earth was filled with violence and all flesh had corrupted its way and the spillers of blood proliferated - then did God explain to Noach and his children that they have permission to kill and eat animals, but they do not have permission for 'a man to kill his brother,' though they should kill murderers.

And God said: ‘Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed—to you it shall be for food;

לכם יהיה לאכלה, only the ones mentioned in this verse. Permission to eat meat would be granted only after the deluge, and we are not sure of the reason for this. Perhaps the reason is that G’d had already foreseen that during the generation of the deluge Noach would be the one who would be directly instrumental in saving the animals, and permission to eat meat became part of Noach’s reward for his labour feeding all the animals in the ark for a full year. Seeing that G’d does not withhold reward from any creature, He would certainly not withhold it from human beings when warranted. We have a parallel example of Nevuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, being rewarded by G’d for a good deed (Ezekiel 29,18) as a result of which G’d told the prophet that He would reward him by making him victorious over the leading military might in his day, over Egypt.

And God said: ‘Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed—to you it shall be for food;

ולכל חית הארץ AND TO EVERY BEAST OF THE EARTH — Scripture places cattle and beasts on a level with them (human beings: that is, it places all alike in the same category) with regard to food, and did not permit Adam to kill any creature and eat its flesh, but all alike were to eat herbs. But when the era of the “Sons of Noah” began He permitted them to eat meat, for it is said, (Genesis 9:3) “every moving thing that lives should be for food for yourselves … “even as the herb” that I permitted to the first man, so do “I give to you everything” (Sanhedrin 59b).