Talmud Toons for Journaling Jews!

As someone who also lives in a society where people don’t usually eat the placenta I was please to see how culturally relative this particular pasuk was. Within the bounds of kashrut, the Talmud seems to take a culturally expansive view on what is or is not edible. There are similarly interesting laws surrounding the consumption of substances like breast milk by adults, but that’s a talk for another daf.

Today our standards for treyfa are much higher. It has been some time since animals with broken bones were counted as kosher (except in situations where it would be financially ruinous and so this Talmudic leniency was deemed appropriate), but in the lives of many of our grandparents most kosher meat was not Glatt kosher in the way it is today. Similarly, the knives used to slaughter animals have gotten considerably sharper and more precise since the Hasidim introduced high-carbon steel knives in the 19th century. All of these are beautiful examples of how even the most traditional of practices can change greatly over time.

Here, the rabbis debate the status of a ben pekua that has developed enough in the womb to be able to walk and carry on a full life after its removal from a slaughtered mother. Reb Shimon Shezuri has the opinion that such a case doesn’t require schita to be kosher (a less developed fetus might). When the uniqueness of this ruling is put into question, Kahana points out that usually a standing ben pekua must be shechted. This is to prevent people from thinking a household with such an animal is eating improperly slaughtered meat, as it’s impossible to tell the difference between a standing ben pekua and a normal cow. The halakhic principle at play here is maarit ayin, which rules that we should be careful not to do actions that make it appear as though we’re transgressing the mitzvot.

All of this is to ensure the animal would not have died a natural death soon after slaughter. The Gemara related relates this to the Torah verse commanding us not to eat the flesh of animals which have lived. The verb for live in this verse is conjugated to the perfect tense, implying animals who have lived their life and died, or who have lived their life and are effectively dead. This then could forbid animals with any number of potentially fatal conditions.

The role of intent in slaughter with regard to idolatry reminds me of a great episode of Hadar’s Responsa Radio I heard the other week discussing bowing during a karate class and whether it was prohibited or not. The answer had a lot more to do with the intent and cultural context of the action rather than the action itself, in much a similar way to this daf.

The way this concept connects the biggest and smallest souls with everything that contains a spark of divine light is not only breathtaking, but displays a way that notions of idolatry and impurity serve not to reduce or diminish the things that are called idolatrous or impure to engage with improperly. Rather, the Jewish concept of holy and profane elevates both to a reciprocal state of beauty where the rachmius and gashmius stand aside each other as beautiful albeit separate aspects of creation.

I appreciate the way that rulings like this enable Jewish people to exist inside of the same food systems that support their goyish neighbors. Although some aspects of kashrus like bishul akum and pas yisroel encourage us to maintain distinctness through our cuisine, there is still an acknowledgement that no one person (or people group) gets fed by themselves.

Many of the Talmud’s laws surrounding purity no longer apply in the absence of the Temple. Still, I think it’s interesting to see how the transmission of impurity mirrors and differs in some ways the way we think of contagion today. Particularly, there is an idea that liquids have a higher ability to impart impurity than solids which is part of what makes Rabbi Shimon’s argument so fascinating. Even without the presence of any liquid a mishandled shchita can still render someone impure.

The first degree of impurity can be attained by people and dishes that touch a source of impurity (usually something dead or some bodily fluid), a second degree of impurity is then passed on to any drink or food item that thing touches. For sacred food offerings like the terumah a third degree of impurity can be passed, and for sacred meat offerings (from holy animals) there is a fourth degree of impurity that can then also be passed down. Today’s daf covers some of the complicated interplay between how impurity can be transmitted, as liquids have a higher ability to transmit impurity which complicates these rules a little bit. There are also substances like the ashes of the red heifer which have a status of purity/impurity that transcends these levels to some degree.

While this scene is gruesome and unusual, it demonstrates part of a long tradition of amulet making. Commonly called segulot today, amulets have a rich history in Jewish folk tradition and occasionally end up preserved in more theological text like the Talmud which are otherwise more critical on witchcraft and witch-like behavior. One of my favorite recipes for a segulah comes from Rebbe Nachman on Breslov’s Sichot HaRan, where he suggests carrying the smoked fin of a fish to expel the evil eye.

(P.S. Double upload today because I’m late on yesterday’s doodle!)

The last daf doodle covered another example of this, but there are several differences in the treatment of wild and domesticated animals with regard to kosher slaughter. Given that hunting is generally unable to render a kosher slaughter, it’s always been interesting to me the space made in Jewish law for this very hypothetical feeling type of shchita. An example of this is that, contrary to popular belief, there is a very wide area of the neck which one could shecht a giraffe but kosher giraffe remains uncommon because it’s very difficult to catch and restrain a giraffe.

The property of the heifer to make the pure impure and vice versa is demonstrated on multiple levels here in a way that reminds me of a teaching about the Red Heifer within Breslov: the ability of the red heifer to create purity from impurity is like the practice of “Azamra.” Azamra is the finding of good points in difficult moments, when we find the strength to do this through difficult things we both elevate sparks of life from the situation in the supernal realms and elevate our connection with HaShem in this world through our experience of Joy.

What is a defective sacred animal? An animal which was raised to be a dedicated temple sacrifice is prohibited from working during its lifetime and should have no blemishes; therefore, when such an animal becomes blemished or if it has to be put to work it may still be eaten through normal shechita but is no longer eligible for use in the Temple (in many instances.)

This week I attended an online workshop with Sacred Slaughter that discussed the process of modern kosher slaughter, and after a couple weeks of reading a classical account and description of kosher slaughter it was very enlightening to have a shochet put the information together with a PowerPoint full of dead animals. Look forward to more detailed illustrations!

While we no longer blow the shofar to announce the coming of holidays (except for the High Holy Days) there is still a custom of waiting to do havdalah until after Shabbat when a holiday precedes it. When doing havdalah at a moment that joins the end of Shabbat to the beginning of a festival some have the practice of using the festival lights for havdalah (in this instance one need not have a multi-wick flame, as is the case for a normal havdalah.)