Illustration Credit: Elad Lifshitz, Dov Abramson Studio
Commentary פַּרְשָׁנוּת
Our parashah contains laws about how to eat meat in a kosher way. It includes this warning:
(טז) רַ֥ק הַדָּ֖ם לֹ֣א תֹאכֵ֑לוּ עַל־הָאָ֥רֶץ תִּשְׁפְּכֶ֖נּוּ כַּמָּֽיִם׃
But the blood you should not eat. On the ground you shall pour it out like water.
What does it mean to pour out blood like you pour out water?
R. Yaakov Tzvi Mecklenburg gives us two answers, one wrong and one right:
לֹא תִּהְיֶה שְׁפִיכָה זוֹ בְּעֵינֶיךָ כְּשׁוֹפֵךְ דָּבָר נִמְאָס וְשֶׁאֵין חֵפֶץ לְאָדָם בַּאֲכִילָתָם, אֶלָּא יִהְיֶה בְּעֵינֶיךָ כְּמַיִם זַכִּים וּטְהוֹרִים שֶׁהֵם חַיִּים לְעוֹלָם.
You should not think of this pouring out as pouring out something gross, that a person wouldn’t want to eat. Rather, you should think of it as water, clear and pure, that is life for the world.
It might be tempting to make sense of a mitzvah by imagining that it’s something you would do anyhow. For instance, you might say something like: “Of course I would never eat non-kosher food—because that stuff is gross!”
R. Mecklenburg suggests that we shouldn’t say or imagine those things. In fact, lots of people think some non-kosher food is delicious. So why don’t we eat it then? Not because it’s gross, but because God said so.
- Consider the rejected interpretation: If it’s not because blood is gross, why might the Torah tell us to throw out the blood? Could there be another reason? Does there have to be?
- Consider the preferred interpretation: What can we learn from comparing blood to water? How are we supposed to think about the blood of these animals? If you had pure, life-giving water and there was a mitzvah to pour it on the ground, would you do that in a way that shows disgust or in a way that shows respect and care? What does that teach us about the respect that should be shown to the blood?
- In what way is blood, like water, a source of life?
- How do you generally treat water? Are you careful with it like something pure and life-giving? If not, how can you?
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