[Avodah] Pate de Foie Gras

[Micha Berger via Avodah]

Daf Yomi learners just learned BB 73b. It looks to me like the gemara is
condemning, although on an aggadic level, the preparation of pate de foi
gras.

Since I can't quote the gemara, here's R' Steinzaltz's commentary (from
<https://www.sefaria.org/Bava_Batra.73b.8?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en>:

    And Rabba bar bar Hana said: Once we were traveling in the desert and
    we saw these geese whose wings were sloping because they were so fat,
    and streams of oil flowed beneath them. I said to them: Shall we have a
    portion of you in the World-to-Come? One raised a wing, and one raised
    a leg, [signaling an affirmative response]. When I came before Rabbi
    Elazar, he said to me: The Jewish people will [eventually] be held
    accountable for [the suffering] of [the geese. Since the Jews do not
    repent, the geese are forced to continue to grow fat as they wait to be
    given to the Jewish people as a reward.]

Rashbam ("litein aleihem es hadin"):

    For in their sins, they delay mashiach. They, those geese, have tza'ar
    ba'alei chaim because of their fat.

Apparently even the messianic se'udah is insufficient grounds to justify
torturing geese for their fat.

Also implied is that the sin of making the geese suffer in their
obesity is not a sin so great at to itself holding up the mashiach's
arrival. Otherwise, R' Elazar would be describing a vicious cycle.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             "As long as the candle is still burning,
micha at aishdas.org        it is still possible to accomplish and to
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