Dear TBZ community:
I was fifteen years old when I decided to become a vegetarian. Eating meat is so central to the South American diet that the very idea of being a vegetarian seemed like a crazy one.
I remember every moment of that decision. I was at summer camp in the beautiful town called Hualpen. The first conversation I had was with my friend Monica, who had already made the same decision for herself. She shared her thoughts and reasoning for this decision. I remember Rabbi Guillermo Bronstein speaking eloquently how Kashrut is so central to the identity of the Jewish people -- how it sanctifies our lives by specifying what we eat and asking us to be conscious of the choices we make when we eat. So, I wondered, why eat meat at all?
Finally I went to my mom and let her know that I have made my decision. (As a fun anecdote, we were away on vacation and that evening my dear teacher Rabbi Marcelo Bronstein, who we were on vacation with, decided to make a big and delicious South America asado. Everybody thought I would not succeed in my decision of becoming a vegetarian, but I did!).
One of parashat Shemini’s themes is the laws of Kashrut, the dietary restrictions in Jewish practice. For me keeping kosher, in my case in the form vegetarianism, has been part of my whole life. For many Jews when identifying their practice and religiosity, Kashrut is a marker of choice. How often have you responded to someone - “yes, but I am not kosher” or “I keep kosher” or “I am kosher at home but not outside.” Why has Kashrut, and its guidelines of eating in a certain way and certain foods, become so central to our identity?
Chapter 11, verses 44-45, speaking about the restriction of eating swarming things the Torah speaks about holiness!!
כִּ֣י אֲנִ֣י יְהוָה֮ אֱלֹֽהֵיכֶם֒ וְהִתְקַדִּשְׁתֶּם֙ וִהְיִיתֶ֣ם קְדֹשִׁ֔ים כִּ֥י קָד֖וֹשׁ אָ֑נִי וְלֹ֤א תְטַמְּאוּ֙ אֶת־נַפְשֹׁ֣תֵיכֶ֔ם בְּכָל־הַשֶּׁ֖רֶץ הָרֹמֵ֥שׂ עַל־הָאָֽרֶץ
For I the LORD am your God: you shall sanctify yourselves and be holy, for I am holy. You shall not make yourselves unclean through any swarming thing that moves upon the earth.
כִּ֣י ׀ אֲנִ֣י יְהוָ֗ה הַֽמַּעֲלֶ֤ה אֶתְכֶם֙ מֵאֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרַ֔יִם לִהְיֹ֥ת לָכֶ֖ם לֵאלֹהִ֑ים וִהְיִיתֶ֣ם קְדֹשִׁ֔ים כִּ֥י קָד֖וֹשׁ אָֽנִי
For I the LORD am He who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God: you shall be holy, for I am holy.
“Just as the external temple, which represents your holy mission and to which you should sanctify yourself, becomes desecrated by impurity...so are these foods impure and unfit for your spirit, as far as they are all of them the living place of activity for your own being which is summoned unto holiness. If you have eaten them. not only touched but absorbed them into your system- you may be more nourished and better fed: but the animal instinct will be aroused more strongly within you, and your body becomes more blunted as an instrument of the spirit. Your heart, instead of being holy, instead of only striving for holiness- namely, your sublimity over everything animal-like, is drawn down to the animal- or become the more apathetic and dulled. Your spirit is now faced with a fiercer battle. and is less equipped for the fight"
Behind the long list of rules of what we can eat and what we can’t, of how an animal is slaughtered, of what can be eaten with what and what can’t, there is a principle that Rabbi Hirsch helps us to see: Your body is holy, treat it that way.
During this time, this year, many of us have not been able to care for ourselves in ways we have done before. We may be exercising less, or eating less healthily or not paying attention to what we need, or what our body needs or what our soul needs. Perhaps this week’s parasha can lift up the teaching that Our body is Holy! And this week’s parsha can remind us of the interconnectedness of our body and our soul.
Our tradition has long rulings about the holiness of space and time, in the same way, our tradition tells us that we ought to think about ourselves as Holy Temples. In whichever way it takes form in your life, if it is by strictly following Kashrut, or some kind of Kashrut, or if it is by being a vegetarian or vegan or by eating organic food or maybe none of these, the act of eating, based on our tradition is framed as an act of holiness.
May we continue to walk on a path of seeking holiness in our lives. And may Torah inspire us in this journey!
May this Shabbat bring renewal and blessings to all of you and your loved ones.
May we find strength, courage, and patience, and open our hearts with generosity.
May all those who are ill find healing.
May we have a joyful and restful Shabbat!
Shabbat Shalom
