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LEVITICUS — 17:4 blood

LEV189 [Another example of those whom the Mishnah lists as incurring misah bidei Shamayim (death at the hands of Heaven): one who robs the poor, as the pasuk says (Mishlei 22:2-23), "Do not rob the destitute because he is destitute … For Hashem will take up their grievance, and will exact life from those who rob them." We have already elaborated upon this in the Third Level (See Paragraph 24). Our Sages, z"l, said (Bava Kama 119a) that whoever robs a poor person is as if he had taken his life from him, as the pasuk says (Mishlei 1:19), "Such is the way of everyone who robs; it takes away the soul of its owner" [(Although Rabbi Yonah interpreted the verse in paragraph 24 to mean that robbery takes away the soul of the thief, it can the same time be understood as he explains here: because the thief is likened to a murderer, he forfeits his own life (Zeh Hasha'ar).) (Sometimes one deprives another of his livelihood, even though the theft of something valued at less than that of a perutah. As such, it is considered for that man as bloodshed--he has spilled blood [this verse] -- if he robbed him of a perutah's worth.

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LEVITICUS — 17:13 blood

LEV192 Cover the blood of ritually slaughtered fowl and wild beasts. A live being’s soul resides in its blood, as noted above (See [[LEV80]] Leviticus 7:26 blood CHINUCH 101-2). Accordingly, before a creature's meat, which is its body, is eaten, it is fitting to cover and conceal its soul--its blood. If we were to eat the flesh while the soul is strewn before us, it might incline us towards the negative treat of cruelty. One wonders why we are not commanded to cover the blood of domesticated animals after we slaughter them. The reason is that blood of these species is brought upon the Altar to achieve atonement for ourselves. For this reason, this blood cannot be covered. [Although the blood of some types of birds, too, serves for atonement on the Altar, these types represent a small minority of birds so the Torah, which rules according to the majority, requires that this blood, too, be covered after ritual slaughter].

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LEVITICUS — 17:13 hunts

LEV194 Man's need to use animals must be a legitimate and not a frivolous one. Thus, hunting for sport is not considered legitimate (Responsa of Noda B'Yehudah, Yoreh De'ah 10) and is not only discouraged in the Talmud, but is also prohibited in Jewish law (Avodah Zarah 18b). In fact, the two people depicted in the Torah as hunters, both Nimrod (Gen. 10:9) and Esau (Gen 25:27), are clearly characterized as evil. Yet, in another place, the Torah seems to permit hunting, using the word yatzud [this verse], the Hebrew term for hunting. Upon further investigation, however, it is clear that the Torah's permission to hunt is referring only to the capture of kosher meat for eating. The method the Torah speaks about, although similar to the general term for hunting, signifies in this case trapping with nets to capture the food, thereby minimizing pain to the animal (Mishnah, Betzah 3:1-2).

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LEVITICUS — 17:13 hunts

LEV195 The Torah speaks of hunting animals or foul [this verse]. The use of the word "Tzayid" clearly signifies hunting, which seems to be permitted in Judaism. But the Torah context of hunting is very different from the concept of hunting in the modern sense. First, in the verse itself, as explained by the commentaries, the "hunt" is for food that is kosher, which will then be eaten by the hunter, and especially refers to the hunting of geese and wild chickens (Rishi Mizrachi and Gur Aryeh commentaries on Leviticus 17:13). Thus, there is no Jewish term for hunting merely for sport. Similarly, when the Mishna uses this term, "hunting," it never refers to a gun, knife, or weapon to be used to kill the animal, but rather to trapping the animal while it is still alive, especially since killing the animal with any weapon would render it non-kosher for eating (Mishna Beitza 3:1-2). Therefore, there is no concept of hunting for sport or killing any animal with a weapon in Judaism. This concept is codified in Jewish law. Shulchan Aruch rules that it is forbidden on Shabbat to "hunt" even a deer (a kosher animal) that is old, blind, sick, or damaged. Rema adds that hunting with trained dogs is not only forbidden on Shabbat, but is prohibited even during the week, since it is a frivolous, non-Jewish activity (Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 316:2). Why is hunting forbidden? Rema, in another of his books, explains that hunting is forbidden, whether the purpose is for "fun" or to sell the prey (Darchei Teshuva, Yoreh De'ah 117:44). This is the occupation of the evil Eisav [Esau], which shows a quality of cruelty in praying on animals and killing God's creations. When man curtails life as sport or for fun, it is the opposite of his purpose in life, which is to enhance and expand the world. Not only is Eisav depicted as the classic hunter, but another evil leader, Nimrod, is also call a hunter in the Torah and is viewed very unfavorably in Jewish thought (Genesis 25:27). Sefer HaChinuch forbids hunting as part of the prohibition of needlessly causing pain to animals (Sefer HaChinuch, Mitzvah 550). Hunting also violates the general spirit of Judaism, which is to promote peace in the world (Gittin 59b). The most famous discourse on the Jewish opposition to hunting is a responsum of Rabbi Yechezkel Landau (1713-1793). In it Rabbi Landau reviews all the reasons presented above to prohibit hunting. He adds that it is forbidden for a Jew to hunt because part of hunting for sport involves putting oneself in danger in the forest or jungle, which is forbidden. He concludes that the entire activity is disgusting, cruel, and dangerous, and is utterly forbidden for all Jews (Responsa Noda BeYehudah Mahadura Tennina, Yoreh De'ah 10).

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LEVITICUS — 17:13 hunts

LEV193 Biblical and talmudic laws prohibit eating any animal not killed instantly and with a single stroke, in effect making hunting forbidden to Jews as a method of acquiring food. At most, biblical law does permit an Israelite to capture an animal [this verse] and then slaughter it. But to chase after an animal, often accompanied by pursuing dogs, is proscribed (Avodah Zarah 18b; see Rashi's commentary). In the words of Maimonides, "We should not kill animals… for the purpose of sport (The Guide for the Perplexed 3:17). Also, we should remember that animals are often wounded but not killed by the hunter, and die a prolonged and agonizing death.

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LEVITICUS — 17:14 blood

LEV196 ... we need to remember that, for our Rabbis, religious eating was not solely a matter of prohibiting the consumption of certain foods and food combinations. Moving beyond the biblical text, our Sages addressed not only what Jews ate, but how they ate as well. To begin with, their system of kashrut included a method for slaughtering those animals deemed fit to eat. [Derived in part from the priestly sacrificial descriptions, the rules of proper slaughter and “fit” slaughterers are enumerated in Babylonian Talmud, Chulin 9a.] If our Rabbis were unable to formulate a unifying rationale for prohibiting certain foods, they were far more successful in deriving principles of slaughtering that have stood the test of both time and logic. By intertwining the biblical precept that prohibits eating “the blood of any kind of flesh” [Leviticus 17:14. See also Lev. 3:17, 7:26, 19:26; Deut. 12:16.; I Sam. 14:34; Ezek. 33:25, 39:17ff. It should be noted that the context in Leviticus 17 (as well as in Deuteronomy 15) makes specific provision for pouring the blood out on the ground. Most interestingly, Genesis 9:4 also relates this legal precept to Noah and his sons; intrinsically, it seems as if the laws respecting life-blood were attended to hold for all humanity (as R. Chanania b. Gamliel intuits in Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 59a)] with the verse that associates blood with life's essence, our Sages discover a religious principle behind the laws of proper slaughter [on the appositive association of “life” and “blood,” see the interpretation of Gen. 9:4 offered by R. Chanania b. Gamliel in Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 59a)]. They teach that out of respect for all the sacred life that God has created, we must ritually recall that divine creation prior to taking advantage of it for our own gustatory purposes. While we might be entitled to slaughter an animal in order to satiate our own hunger, our religion reminds us that we nonetheless need to remember our secondary role in the transcendent order of the universe; by returning to God the blood representing the divine life that inhabits all, we remember God's primacy in the order of our universe. (By Seth M. Limmer, “ON KASHRUT.)

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LEVITICUS — 18:2 say

LEV197 In the Amidah (Singer's Prayer Book, p. 48), a special blessing is uttered … "Towards the proselytes of righteousness, and towards us also, may Thy tender mercies be stirred, O Lord our God". Some of the most famous sages of the Talmud, like Shemaiah and Abtalion, Rabbi Akiba and Rabbi Meir, Ben Bag Bag and Ben He He (Abot v. 25-26) and Rabbi Yehudah ben Gerim (Shabbat 33b) were reputed to be either proselytes themselves or to have been descended from gerei tsedek. That they rose to such eminence proves that no barriers were placed in their paths to greatness. Conditions to-day do not warrant any relaxation in our attitude towards intermarriage [this verse]. Our records reveal that the ger tsedek became an object of affection both to God and to his fellow-Jew. (Deut. x. 18-19; Leviticus xix. 33; Ps. cxlvi. 9. See also Exodus xii. 49; xxii. 20; Leviticus xxiv. 22; Num. ix. 14; xv. 16, 29; Deut. xxiv. 17-18; xxvii. 19.) The ger toshav could claim similar consideration if he abandoned idolatry (Leviticus xviii.2), the practice of sorcery, incest and other abominations, if (Leviticus xviii. 26) he abstained from eating blood (Ibid. xvii.10), from working on the Sabbath (Exodus xx. 10; xiii.12) from eating leavened food on Pesah (Ibid. xii.19) and from violating the Day of Atonement (Leviticus xvi. 29). The prophets all preach humanitarian feelings towards the stranger and the Bible itself features non-Jews as examples of fidelity (Eliezer, the majordomo of Abraham's household), of devotion (Ruth) and of (Job) piety. The Pharisees made it clear that their hatred of the heathen was a hatred of what heathenism stood for in the realm of belief and conduct. Similar hatred was displayed by them towards the Am Ha'aretz, the Jewish boor who was lax in his religious observance. Intermarriage, or truer to its meaning, extermarriage between Jew and Gentile (looked at askance even by enlightened Jews of to-day), is not due to contempt of the Gentile but to the firm conviction that the unity of Judaism and the Jewish people is contingent on the happiness of the home. This happiness is jeopardized by the yoking together of two people with an entirely different background and outlook on life. When one bears in mind the sufferings of the Jew at the hands of a hostile world, such legislation is not to be wondered at. Had the non-Jewish worlds not persecuted the Jew throughout the ages, with a sword in their hands and the words "God is Love" on their lips, those laws cited by Jew-baiters as breathing contempt and hatred for all who are not Jews would not of been admitted into our legislation.

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LEVITICUS — 18:3 copy

LEV198 Clearly, part of Judaism itself is to strive to remain separate and unique as a Jew, apart from the surrounding culture. One of the 613 commandments is not to imitate or adopt the customs of the surrounding nations [this verse]. less than two chapters later, this commandment is repeated (Leviticus 20:23-24), but there is an added phrase: "I am the God who has separated you from all the other nations." While the literal verses apply only to the seven Canaanite nations present in the land when the Jews conquered Israel, the rabbis have shown that the customs of all non-Jewish nations may not be practiced by Jews (Maimonides, Hilchot Akum 11:1, based on Avodah Zarah 11a and Sanhedrin 52b). The Shulchan Aruch (Yoreh De'ah 178:1) codifies this idea, stating that one may not adopt a non-Jewish custom if it is religious in origin or if its source is unknown, even if it is not practiced today in the same context (See the chapter "Jews in a Non-Jewish Society" for an expansion on this idea).

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