Shemini: Becoming Kosher

What we say is important. How we say it is perhaps even more important.

The 11th chapter of Leviticus (Vayikra) describes the laws of kashrut.

The laws of Kashrut provide a lesson not only about what goes into our mouths, but about what comes out of our mouths as well.

Let's look at the laws, and then see a beautiful observation made by chazal.

(Verse 4)"But this is what you may not eat from among those that bring up their cud or that have split hooves: the camel, for it brings up its cud, but its hoof is not split; it is unclean (tamei) to you; (Verse 5) and the hyrax, for it brings up its cud, but its hoof is not split; it is unclean (tamei) to you; (Verse 6) and the hare, for it brings up its cud, but its hoof is not split; it is unclean (tamei) to you; (Verse 7) and the pig, for its hoof is split and its hoof is completely separated, but it does not chew its cud; it is unclean to you. (Verse 8) You may not eat of their flesh nor may you touch their carcass; they are unclean to you.

In Kol Torah, on verse 4, Rabbi Munk shares a touching thought. Let's quote the paragraph verbatim and then analyze it.

"But this is what you may not eat. See the commentary to Genesis 7:8 regarding the sensitive manner in which the Torah designates non-kosher animals. In that context, they are referred to as animals that are not clean [ainenah t'horah] rather than as unclean animals [t'meim]. This is cited in the Talmud (Pesachim 3a) as an example of how crude or vulgar language should be avoided. Throughout the present chapter, however, the term tamei, unclean, is frequently used. A clear statement of the law demands categorical language, free of the slightest equivocation. Nevertheless, notes R' Yehudah, in listing the non-kosher animals, the Torah makes a point of first stating the one "kosher" characteristic that each animal does posess [for example, the camel who chews his cud]. The other characteristic, connected with contamination, is relegated to second place (Bamidbar Rabbah 19)."

If we would break down Rabbi Munk's commentary, it would look something like this.

Nice Idea: In Genesis, we go out of our way to avoid calling any animal "unclean/tamei"-even ones that aren't kosher. Based on this, the Rabbis stress the importance of watching what we say [in my words: if we can't even call a pig treif, shouldn't we be extremely careful not to call people treif?]

Question: If so, how come in our parsha, Leviticus 11:4-8, we do in fact use the word unclean/tamei? Doesn't that negate the whole lesson we learned?

Answer: There's a balance. Values sometimes come into conflict. We don't want to "name call" or "label" anyone, but our competing goal is to ensure that people know they can't eat these animals. As a result, the need for clarity partially trumps our preference for using more delicate language --and we hope we can rely on Genesis to teach the other lesson.

Added punch line: please note that even here, we still choose our words carefully, at least in their order. We first list an animal's kosher trait, and only then list the feature that ultimately makes the unimal unclean.

It's like saying to parents, "Always start by pointing out what's good about your child, before proceeding to tell them those things they need to work on fixing."

I love the commentary for so mnay reasons, not least of all for the difference between what we do in Genesis and in Leviticus.

That's real world. Beautiful lessons and ideas need to be balanced by pragamatic concerns. Abstractions must be melded to fit sticky situations. One day, one value is stressed, the next day, another.

What's key is a commitment to keeping all values alive, and in this case these values have tremendous application to our lives.

Be careful about what you say, and how you say it. Be both gentle and firm, clear and vague, as the situation demands.

The comedian Elon Gold has a hysterical routine.

Elon says that growing up he was always confused by the phrase "Modern Orthodox." Is it modern, is it orthodox, how do the pieces fit together? And then he figured it out: the word modern (in the phrase Modern Orthodox) really means...(drum roll) "not very." It's not nice to describe someone as not very Orthodox, so we use the word "modern" instead. (1)

Elon's follow up is brilliant. It would be great if we were able to use this nicer way of describing things in other areas. Let's say you were setting up a girl.

"She's great, smart, kind, funny" says the shadchan.
"What does she look like?" asks the boy.
"She's modern pretty.

Of course it's just a joke, and of course people focus too much on looks, especially where women are concerned.

But as with so many jokes it gets at a truth -- in this case, actually it's a truth we don't focus on enough.

Do we even try to find the nicer ways of saying things? Are we as careful about what comes out of our mouths as we are about what goes in? Are our comments kosher?

How much time and effort do we spend trying to phrase things so as not to give offense? Is it as much as we spend being offended when someone else hurts our feelings with what they say?

Recently, and justifiably, there has been a push to ensure that kosher certification guarantess not only that the animal is kosher, but that the workers are treated well. We have the opportunity to certify ourselves, to watch and weigh our words, to ensure that our speech is holy and pure.

Clean speech is about so much more than not "cursing." It is about making sure we comfort and inspire, instead of tearing others down. Sometimes it is about keeping an open mind and a closed mouth. Ultimately, it is about using your mind and mouth together, for good, so that, as our Parsha concludes (2) "you shall become holy....For I am Hashem Who elevates you from the land of Egypt to be a God to you; you shall be holy, for I am holy." (Vayikra 11:45-46)


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1) It's comedy of course, and not meant as a serious critique. I am happy to repeat it because if anything I consider myself closest to modern or centrist orthodoxy.

2) There are only 2 verses which follow before the end of Parshat Shemini