Hello Everyone,
First of all I want to thank everyone who takes the trouble to attend the live shiur. Your participation helps to make the shiurim more “real” for me.
Today we saw concepts that are important not only for the laws of treifot, but for our understanding of the Torah in general
The shiur began with a look at how the mitzvah of treifot is explained ( or rationalized) by the Rishonim. The Rambam in Moreh HaNevuchim says ,briefly, that the treifot are all a prelude to the death of the animal. The Sefer HaChinuch expands on this idea. He writes that the body is the tool of the soul. It is by acting via the body that the soul can carry out its good intentions. Since this is the case it is in Hashem’s interest that we be physically healthy . Therefore Hashem gave us mitzvoth which will keep us healthy and the dietary laws fall into that category. And even if we do not understand how exactly the dietary laws keep us healthy we need to remember that Hashem’s wisdom is greater than ours; only a fool would claim otherwise.
The Sefer HaChinuch goes on to make an important point . Hashem never tells us in the Torah a definite answer to the “why” of the mitzvot. We can all find meaning in mitzvoth, but nobody can claim to have the meaning of a mitzvah. If this were so, the next step would be a person saying that the mitzvah is no longer relevant. Unfortunately we have seen this to be the case with the Reform and Conservative movements doing away with mitzvoth that do not appeal to them.
The Ramban gives an alternative view of treifot and the dietary laws in general. He writes that the dietary laws are given for our spiritual well-being, the foods that Hashem forbade cause coarseness of the soul.
We next saw the discussion about how the list of treifot came into being and if it is open to modification. The Gemarah says that the outline for the rules of treifot are הלכה למשה מסיני and we see that there were discussions about adding to the list of treifot. We also we read in the Mishnah
זה הכלל כל שאין כמוה חיה טרפה:
and we know that many of the defects listed as treifot are treatable.
Many authorities have addressed this apparent conflict between the rules of Halacha and what we observe in every day life. Even in the Gemarah we see people questioning particular types of treifot based on the fact that animals suffering from the particular treifah have lived over one year (and the rule is that no treifah survives for a year). The Chazon Ish writes that the history of the Jewish people is divided into epochs lasting 2000 years. The second epoch was the epoch of Torah and it ended with the deaths of Rav Ashi and Ravinna who were the final authorities of the Talmud Bavli. The Chazon Ish views the composition of the laws of treifot, and indeed the entire corpus of the Oral Law as something organized by the Sages who had רוח הקודש . Significantly, the Chazon Ish writes that Hashem in His wisdom chose to withhold certain medical knowledge from us during the 2000 year period of Torah. Following the end of the 2000 year long period of Torah we cannot tamper with the received Oral Law. That is why advances in science cannot influence the decisions reached by חז”ל. Thus the חזון איש makes a very sharp distinction between the paths taken by the Torah and by secular science.
The Rashba was asked by someone how to judge an animal that reportedly has lived for more than a year with an extra limb. On the one hand, extra limbs make the animal a treifah, but on the other hand it is written that treifot do not survive for a year. The Rashba replies that anomalies of this sort are discussed in the Gemara. He explains that the “one-year” rule is applied to resolve cases of doubt, if we don’t know if a particular pathology causes “treifah” we can wait to see if it survives a year. However if an animal suffers from a pathology specifically listed as a treifah then its status as a forbidden treifah cannot be challenged. The Rashba says that even if many people would testify that the animal has survived for a year we will not accept their testimony. Just as the Gemara explains, we can reject the testimony as being the result of error, confusion or even a malicious desire to mock the Torah. The Rashba advises people never to debate Halacha with people who have “an agenda.” Only people well-versed in Torah should engage in debates of this sort; lay-persons should not get involved in these discussions.[1]
In a similar vein, we saw the anonymous comment in the Tur attesting to the survival (and thriving) of animals whose stomachs were perforated as part of veterinary treatment. This was cited to prove that a particular position in the Gemara is incorrect. The Bach in his commentary rejects this position totally, and says this sort of evidence cannot be accepted in a Halachic discussion.
[1] Those of you who listen to the Sunday shiur on Chovot Halevavot know that Rabbeinu Bachya holds that we are all obligated to become well-versed. I don’t think he disagrees with the Rashba about the inadvisability of the ill-informed to debate principles of Halacha.