Eat Meat And Have A Sweet Year And Nachas

Dedicated By Dr. Ezra and Lauren Kest 

In honor of our children who teach us how to love, listen and be heard.  They should be blessed to find, see and recognize their zivuggim at the right time and always listen well, be heard and feel listened to. 

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This week's parsha, Re'ey, tells us that we can eat meat, "When Hashem your God, expands your boundary, as He has spoken to you, and you say, 'I will eat meat,' because your soul desires to eat meat, you may eat meat, according to every desire of your soul." 

Rashi tells us, "In the desert, however, the meat of a non-consecrated animal was forbidden to them, unless one first consecrated it and offered it up as a peace offering." 

This is the opinion of Rabbi Yishmael in the Talmud, who says that once they entered Israel they were permitted to eat meat for pleasure, however, in the desert they were only permitted to eat meat from the peace offerings that they brought to the Mishkan, otherwise they weren't permitted to eat meat for pleasure. But the Halacha (the law) is not in accordance with his opinion, it is in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Akiva, who says that in the desert they were permitted to eat meat from strangers, even though it wasn't slaughtered kosherly, however when they entered Israel, they weren't permitted to eat meat from strangers any more. 

It is a debate on the words of our verse, "expands your boundary." According to Rabbi Akiva, it means an expansion in wealth, when they become wealthy and they could afford it, they may eat meat. According to Rabbi Yishmael, it means expansion in property, when they get the land, they would be permitted to eat meat for pleasure. 

And Rashi, when explaining the words, "expands your boundary," cites the opinion of Rabbi Akiva, "The Torah teaches proper conduct, that one should not desire to eat meat unless [one lives] in abundance and wealth." 

It makes sense that Rashi cites the opinion of Rabbi Yishmael even though the Halacha is not in accordance with him, because in his commentary on the Torah he gives us the simple meaning, not the Halachic ruling. And being that, "These and these are the words of the Living G-d," meaning that both the opinion of Rabbi Yishmael and Rabbi Akiva are from Hashem, it is in his right to use the words of Rabbi Yishmael. 

But how can he cite both the opinions of Rabbi Yishmael and Rabbi Akiva, which seem to be opposing opinions? We must conclude that being that Rashi brings them both, it must be that in their essence, they are based on the same reasoning. As will be explained. 

We also have to ask: Why would Rashi tell us Rabbi Yishmael's opinion, when the Halacha goes according to Rabbi Akiva? 

To understand this, we have to delve into the deeper meaning of this debate. 

The reason that Hashem gave us the mitzvos, is because through the performance of mitzvos with physical objects, in a physical place, and at a physical time (as time is also a creation and only exists in the physical world), we refine the physical and infuse it with G-dliness, thereby making it into a home for Hashem. 

The question is: Did this work begin in the desert or when they entered the land? 

According to Rabbi Yishmael, they weren't able to refine the physical in the desert, they could only have dealt with holiness, therefore they were only permitted to eat meat from the peace offerings, which were holy. Once they entered Israel they were stronger, they were able to refine the physical. Because the holy service to Hashem in the desert strengthened them, it was a preparation for the essential work, refining the physical. 

According to Rabbi Akiva, the work of refining the physical began in the desert, albeit in a limited way, because you can't truly infuse non kosher meat with G-dliness, the only thing that they were able to do, is the mitzvah of not eating blood, which is the life force of the animal and it represents the enthusiasm and the passionate desire for the meat. Once they entered the land, they were no longer permitted to eat non kosher meat, because they were stronger, and were able to do the work of refining the physical, so if they wanted to have meat, it had to be kosher. 

Now we can understand why Rashi brings both opinions, because in their essence, they are the same. 

And now we will understand why Rashi brings the opinion of Rabbi Yishmael even though the Halacha goes according to Rabbi Akiva. Because Rashi is talking to us, and our service to Hashem has to follow the path of Rabbi Yishmael. And this is true for all areas in life. At first you have to shun everything that is not holy, but when you become stronger, you must work with the physical and refine it. This is a never ending process, as you do this work, you constantly get stronger and stronger, what you were able to refine yesterday, is not enough today, because now you can handle a deeper level of the physical world and refine it. 

This can be applied to our daily lives. In the morning, we have to shun the physical and envelope ourselves in prayer and Torah study, only after do we eat a proper meal and go to work, where you deal with the most physical things. 

The week also follows the same pattern. "Shabbos blesses the days (that follow)." Shabbos is like the desert, where we bask in holiness, and it is Shabbos that prepares us, blesses the week, when we do the main service working with the physical. 

The year is the same. The holidays are a great holy time that prepares us for our work all year. And the month of Elul is the desert, the preparation for the holidays. This is one of the connections between our parsha and the time of the year. Because parshas Re'ey is read on the Shabbos before the month of Elul, when we bless the new month, or on Rosh Chodesh Elul itself. 

Being that my son Shalom will be having his Bar Mitzvah party this coming week, I will connect this with the idea of a Bar Mitzvah. 

The same idea applies to life in general and to a Bar Mitzvah boy in particular. The first years of life until Bar or Bas Mitzvah is the desert, the preparation for being a Jew, that is why we insulate our children from anything unholy in those years. From the Bar and Bas Mitzvah begins the preparation for life and the time of marriage, when he or she will go into the physical world of business and making a home. This is a critical time, when one has to form the correct notion of Judaism and life, what is important and what is not important, skills for life, principles to live by. This is the time that one acquires the main skills in Torah study, basking in the holiness and light of yeshiva. And this is the most important skill, because this is the foundation, the source. It is the meaning, the purpose and the reason. It is everything. 

Through following this path in our service to Hashem, we will have good days, good weeks, good months and a happy and sweet new year. 

And may we merit to have nachas from all of our children and grandchildren.