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GENESIS — 9:2 fear

GEN662 When mora [this verse] and its equivalent, yirah, became identified with fear and hence contrasted with ahavah, love, the question of the relative merits of love and fear of God arose. Though serving God out of fear seems, on the face of it, to be superior to serving Him out of fear, Scripture and some rabbinic sources use the two terms indiscriminately when speaking of what man’s attitude should be toward God. Thus, commenting on the verse “And thou shalt fear the Lord,” the Midrash says: “Be like those three of whom it is written that they fear the Lord.  Be like Abraham (Genesis 22:12), Joseph (Genesis 42:18), and Job” (Job 1:1). Tanhuma (Buber ed.) comment on Lev 5:1, p. 9, par. 15.  On the other hand, Rabbi Simeon ben Elazar (second half of second century C.E.) quotes Scripture to prove that “he who serves a God out of love is superior to one who serves God out of fear, for Scripture ascribes a greater reward to him.” Sotah 31a  Thus also we are led to believe that Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai was unhappy at the thought that Job served God out of fear rather than out of love. Sotah 27b GREENBERG 80-1

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GENESIS — 9:2 given

GEN663 [This verse] definitely implies that man can use animals for his benefit.  The next verse gives man permission to eat animals.  How, then, can both viewpoints in the Torah [i.e. many commandments RE sensitivity for animals’ welfare and feelings; this verse] be reconciled? … It is precisely both these attitudes that combine to form the Torah’s view toward animals.  Although man has the right to use animals for legitimate purposes, he must, at the same time, never lose his sensitivity to animals.  Man must care about the animal and show his care by using the animals only when necessary.  Even when it is necessary to cause pain to the animal, it must be done in the least painful way possible.  A clear example of this is the process of slaughtering.  When the animal is needed for food, the schechitah, ritual slaughter, just expose the animal to the least amount of pain possible.  Sefer Hachinuch, Mitzvah 451. That is why the slaughter must be performed in the precise manner dictated.  In fact, if the knife is lightly nicked, which might cause the animals slight additional and unnecessary pain due to lack of the knife’s smoothness, the slaughter is invalid and the animal is not kosher.  Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De’ah 23:4.  To demonstrate that animal need is certainly legitimate in Judaism, the entire physical Torah itself is made from the animal, both the hide and sinews.  AMEMEI 9.

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GENESIS — 9:3 eat

GEN666 ... only after Noah’s sacrificial offerings did God say, “Any small animal that is alive shall be food for you, like green grasses.” [this verse] The sanction to eat meat is given the moment after God realizes “the human mind inclines to evil from youth onward.” Genesis 8:21.  Perhaps that was the violence God saw Noah’s generation commit.  The carnivorous drive of both man and beast so horrified heaven that the ducts of the deep were opened and the land welled over with torrential tears. We have both turned over the verse “You shall not boil a kid in its mother's milk” (Exodus 23: 19, 34:26; Deuteronomy 14: 21). In exodus 21, this verse follows verses on sacrifice, festival offerings, and choice first fruits. Biblical scholars understand it to be referring to ancient Egyptian sacrifices, not necessarily how we prepare our food. But we've also drunk from the Talmud and been fed by the commentators, who understand it as a prohibition against cooking milk and meat together. (By Zoe Klein, "Real Life / Real Food: A Letter to My Vegetarian Husband")  SACTAB 273-4

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GENESIS — 9:3 eat

GEN665 Avoiding cruelty to animals is so basic a Jewish value that it is one of only seven commands that Jewish law considers also binding on non-Jews.  Thus, the Rabbis rule that it is forbidden for anyone –Jew or non-Jew—to cut off flesh from a living animal and eat it.  While human beings are granted the right to eat meat [this verse], this does not give them the right to inflict pain on animals needlessly.  TELVOL 2:310

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