<html><head><title>[Aspaqlaria] Kosher, Tahor, Qadosh</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="http://www.aishdas.org/asp/wp-content/themes/twentyeleven/style.css" type="text/css" media="screen" /></head><body>Aspaqlaria has posted a new item, '<a href="http://www.aishdas.org/asp/2013/08/kosher-tahor-qadosh.shtml">Kosher, Tahor, Qadosh</a>'<br />
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<p>The <em>pasuq </em>(still in <em>parashas Re’eih)</em> discusses the various species of <em>kosher</em> and<em> </em> non-<em>kosher</em> mammals (<a href="https://he.wikisource.org/wiki/%D7%91%D7%99%D7%90%D7%95%D7%A8:%D7%93%D7%91%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%9D_%D7%99%D7%93" target="_blank">Devarim 14:3</a>-8), marine animals (v. 9-10), and flying creatures (v. 11-20). And the terminology is that this species is <em>tamei</em>, whereas that is <em>tahor</em>.</p>
<p>Then, in the final pasuq (14:21):</p>
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<td dir="rtl" style="text-align: right;" valign="top">לֹא תֹאכְלוּ כָל נְבֵלָה, לַגֵּר אֲשֶׁר בִּשְׁעָרֶיךָ תִּתְּנֶנָּה וַאֲכָלָהּ, אוֹ מָכֹר לְנָכְרִי, כִּי עַם קָדוֹשׁ אַתָּה, לַה’ אֱלֹקיךָ; לֹא תְבַשֵּׁל גְּדִי בַּחֲלֵב אִמּוֹ. {פ}</td>
<td valign="top">Do not eat from anything which died on its own; give it to the stranger who is in your gates, so that he can eat it, or you my sell it to a foreigner; because you are a holy nation to Hashem your G-d; do not cook a kid in its mother’s milk.</td>
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<p>There is a shift. When discussing which animals we may or may not eat, the Torah frames it in terms of <em>tamei</em> vs. <em>tahor</em>. But when describing the requirements of <em>shechitah</em> and separating meat and milk, the attribute in question is our <em>qedushah.</em></p>
<p>As I wrote in a <a title="Aspaqlaria: Shaarei Yosher, sec. 1: Mission – conclusion" href="http://www.aishdas.org/asp/2011/09/shaarei-yosher-01-04.shtml" target="_blank">comment on the <em>haqdamah</em> to Alei Shur</a>:</p>
<blockquote><p>When the Torah speaks of <em>taharah</em>, the proposition is “<em>mi</em>-”, from, e.g. “<em>vetiharo min hatzora’as</em>”– and he [the <em>kohein</em>] purifies him from the [<em>tum'ah </em>associated with the spirito-somatic illness,]<em> tzora’as</em>“. What is <em>taharah</em>? While many object to translating it as “spiritual purity”, the word is used to describe the “pure gold” of the menorah, “<em>zahav tahor</em>”. <em>Taharah</em> is freeing the soul from a kind of adulteration, just as it describes gold that is free of impurities. The tahor soul is one that is free from the habits and effects of living within an animal body.</p>
<p>On the other hand, <em>qedushah</em> is about pull. The golden <em>tzitz</em> on the <em>kohein gadol</em>’s forehead reads “<em>qadesh Lashem</em>”. <em>Qedushah</em> is being set aside for a given purpose. The wedding formula, “Hereby you are <em>mequdeshes li</em>…, committed to me…” uses the term where the “to” isn’t Hashem’ purpose. But in usual usage, if the “le-” is not provided, it means creation’s Ultimate Purpose, “<em>for My Honor, lekhvodi, I have created it</em>”.</p></blockquote>
<p>(And then continued in R’ Shim’on’s vain that the Ultimate Purpose is to partner with HQBH to share His Good with the rest of creation.)</p>
<p>This dichotomy may explain the shift here as well. When the subject is <strong>what</strong> we eat, avoiding certain foods is staying away <strong>from</strong> what’s wrong, and thus is a path to <em>taharah</em>. But having rituals for <strong>how</strong> we eat, that elevates eating into a means of remembering our higher calling and serving him, and thus is part of striving for <em>qedushah</em>.</p><div class='sharedaddy sd-block sd-like jetpack-likes-widget-wrapper jetpack-likes-widget-unloaded' id='like-post-wrapper-11004584-0-5201b379a4d2f' data-src='http://widgets.wp.com/likes/#blog_id=11004584&post_id=0&origin=http://www.aishdas.org&obj_id=11004584-0-5201b379a4d2f' data-name='like-post-frame-11004584-0-5201b379a4d2f'><h3 class='sd-title'>Like this:</h3><div class='post-likes-widget-placeholder' style='height:55px'><span class='button'><span>Like</span></span> <span class="loading">Loading...</span></div><span class='sd-text-color'></span><a cla
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