YHWH Saves both Man and Beast
by tillerofthesoil
“Before Adam sinned, what was written? God said, ‘Look, I have given you every [seed-bearing] plant…’ (Genesis 1:29), and to you it shall be for food (ibid.), but nothing more. After he sinned and the evil impulse had been absorbed into his body and that of his descendants, He executed judgment upon them.
Afterward, Noah came and perceived that the body was built upon the pervasive evil impulse. He offered a sacrifice just as Adam did. What is written? YHWH smelled the pleasing aroma… since the devisings of the human heart are evil from youth (Genesis 8:21). The blessed Holy One said, ‘From now on, since his body has been imbued with the evil impulse, let the body enjoy as much as a person sees fit—let him eat meat [cf. Deuteronomy 12:20: when your appetite craves eating meat, wherever your appetite’s craving may be, you shall eat meat].
Like the green plants, I have given all to you (ibid., 9:3). When he eats meat, his own flesh delights from that flesh, and they intermingle. His body swells as a result; and on account of the pleasure the body sins copiously. Thus, the blessed Holy One said, atonement for the body—with flesh. Meat that a person eats produces blood for the body. Blood remaining from that meat—drained—is designated for atonement for blood, manufactured from its own flesh. This is as is written: it is the blood that gains atonement through the soul (Leviticus 17:1)” (Zohar 1:89b, Sitrei Torah, cf. BT Sanhedrin 59b).
“[Suffering] came to Rabbi [Yehudah the Prince] through a certain incident. What was it?—a calf was being lead to the slaughter, when it broke away, hid his head under Rabbi’s coat tails, and lowed [in terror]. ‘Go,’ he said, ‘for this were you created.’ Thereupon they said [in the heavenly court], ‘Since he has no pity, let us bring suffering upon him.’
And [suffering] departed likewise. How so?—One day Rabbi’s maid servant was sweeping the house; [seeing] some young weasels lying there, she went to sweep them away. ‘Let them be,’ he said to her; ‘It is written, His mercy is over all His works (Psalms 145:9).’ They said, ‘Since he is compassionate, let us be compassionate to him.’ Whereupon suffering departed from him (BT Baba Metsi’a 85a).
“Why did God deem it necessary for man to slaughter animals for his food? Is it not written: YHWH is good to all and His mercy is over all His works (Psalms 145:9). And if He is merciful, how could He command that animals be slaughtered for food? Where is His mercy? The essence of the verse is contained in the first clause: YHWH is good to all—absolutely good! Therefore His Mercy is over all His works. This is the interpretation: in the creation narrative it is predetermined if a particular animal is destined to be slaughtered, and the animal says ‘good.’ What is the reason for this? The animal does not have a נְשָׁמָה (neshamah), soul [but only a נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh), life-breath, see Genesis 1:24, cf. Leviticus 17:11], with which to grasp the deeds and might of God, and so God says to them: ‘Do you wish to be slaughtered and eaten by man and by doing so ascend from the level of an ignorant animal to the level of a human who knows and recognizes YHWH, may He be blessed?’ The animals answered, ‘good, and mercy will be upon us.’ For when man eats from parts of an animal that animal in turn becomes part of man’s body, so the animal turns into man and it’s slaughter is an act of mercy, for it has left the reality of the animal and entered the reality of the human. Thus the death of the human is life for the animal, for it ascends to the heights of angels and this is the essence of the verse YHWH saves man and beast (Psalms 36:8). If this is so, understand the essence of ritual animal slaughter: it is done as an act of His abundant mercy and compassion upon all His creatures, thus you should contemplate what the Sages have taught in Pesaḥim: ‘An ignoramus is forbidden to eat meat [for it is said, This is the תּוֹרַת (torah), teaching, about beast and bird (Leviticus 11:46); whoever engages in Torah may eat the flesh of beast and bird, but he who does not engage in Torah may not eat the flesh of beast and bird]’ (BT Pesaḥim 49b) [cf. Sefer ha-Qannah 120r]—slaughtering animals is only a commandment for those who know what the Law says regarding domesticated animals, wild animals and foul. All who are involved in Torah are permitted to eat meat, and all who are not are forbidden. Therefore a man unlettered is forbidden to eat meat, for he is like a domesticated animal without a נְשָׁמָה (neshamah), soul. He is not allowed to slaughter an animal for the benefit of another animal, unless it has already become unfit for ritual slaughter” (Rabbi Yosef Gikatilla, Sha’arei Orah).
“Flesh is garment of the human, as is written everywhere: flesh of a human (Exodus 30:32)—human, within; flesh, garment of the human, it’s body.
Specters below, melted in the smelting of this spirit, were figured into figures clothed in another garment, such as figures of pure animals: ox, sheep, goat, deer, gazelle, roebuck, wild goat, ibex, antelope, and mountain sheep (Deuteronomy 14:4-5), who desire to be interwoven in the garment of the human, flesh of the human” (Zohar 1:20b).
Now how is it that a calf would have the sense to break free and hide its head under Rabbi Yehudah the Prince’s coat tails?
Rabbi Ya’aqov Emden, and Ḥakham Yosef Ḥayyim of Baghdad (Ben Yehoyada), writes that this calf contained the soul of a certain Jew. When this soul saw that the Rabbi was passing by, it cried out to him to be released from the calf. Ḥakham Yosef Ḥayyim reasons that this Jew’s soul wanted to be removed from the calf not because its slaughter would be painful, but rather for fear that the calf might be served to people who would not recite a blessing before eating it, and thus the repair of the Jew’s soul would not be affected.
Rabbi Emden says that this is why Rabbi Yehudah the Prince was punished; He should have prayed for the soul to be repaired and released from the calf without its slaughter. Ḥakham Yosef Ḥayyim of Baghdad says that Rabbi Yehudah the Prince did not want to interfere with God’s providence (cf. the similar language of Zohar 2:87a Sava de-Mishpatim to Rabbi Yehudah the Prince’s: The blessed Holy One says, ‘From the day you were created, for this were you created: to be in that world.’ Once the soul sees this she descends unwillingly and enters there).
“One should not disgrace or unnecessarily destroy any creation, for God’s wisdom is infused into them all—mineral, vegetable, animal and man. It is for this reason that we are forbidden to shame food. Similarly, one should not uproot any plant without reason or kill any living thing without purpose… but demonstrate compassion to the greatest extent possible” (Rabbi Moshe Cordovero, The Palm Tree of Deborah, cf. Zohar 3:107a).
“In the post-talmudic period Anan ben David, the founder of Karaism, upheld this doctrine, and in some of his statements there is an echo and a continuation of the ancient sectarian traditions… The early sects to whom Anan was indebted saw the laws of ritual slaughter (sheḥitah) as biblical proof of transmigration in accordance with their belief in transmigration among animals…
Joseph of Hamadan, Persia, who lived in Spain in the 14th century, interpreted the entire matter of hell as transmigration among animals…
The expansion of the notion of transmigration from a punishment limited to specific sins into a general principle contributed to the rise of the belief in transmigration into animals and even into plants and inorganic matter. This opinion, however, opposed by many kabbalists, did not become common until after 1400. Transmigration into the bodies of animals is first mentioned in the Sefer ha-Temunah, which originated in a circle probably associated with the kabbalists of Gerona. In the Zohar itself this idea is not found, but some sayings in Tiqqunei ha-Zohar attempt to explain this concept exegetically, indicating that this doctrine was already known to the author of that work. Ta’amei ha-Mitzvot (c. 1290-1300), an anonymous work on the reasons for the commandments, records many details (partly quoted by Menaḥem Recanati) on the transmigration of human souls into the bodies of animals, the great majority of which were punishments for acts of sexual intercourse forbidden by the Torah” (Jewish Virtual Library).
“Rabbi Yitsḥaq said: Come and see what is written: Who knows whether man’s spirit goes upward and the beast’s spirit down to the earth (Ecclesiastes 3:21). Whether man’s spirit goes upward—holy נְשָׁמָה (neshamah), soul, of the righteous. And the beast’s spirit down to the earth—the נֶפֶשׁ חַיָּה (nefesh ḥayyah), living being, which is taken from the earth for the animals, and descends and perishes, disappearing from the world [cf. Genesis 1:24]. Rabbi Ḥiyya said: If this is so, do the nations not have a neshamah, but only a nefesh ḥayyah (beastly vital-spirit)? Rabbi Yoḥanan said: Correct” (Zohar Ḥadash 10c-11a, Midrash ha-Ne’elam).
“Man, being calm in temperament and more capable of thought and reflection than the other animals, is nobler and a more perfect object of creation than they. The calmness of his temperament is evident from the fact that he is equally affected by the contrary qualities, while his ability to think and reflect is shown in his invention of the arts and sciences.
We must not say that the animal species are more perfect in their organization than man because they require no shade or shelter from the heat and the storm, nor preparation of the food they need, which nature provides ready for their use. Moreover they have certain instincts, like the beasts and birds of prey, which they use in hunting their prey to sustain life. Among the ancients there was one who maintained this very thing… [saying] man is devoid of all these things. For he requires garments to cover his body, and buildings to serve as shelter and protection against the wind and rain. His food must be subjected to many processes of preparation before it is fit for his nourishment, and many other things of this sort, as is found in the fourteenth book of the treatise On Animals [i.e., Aristotle, On the Parts of Animals].
But on reflection we shall find this idea quite erroneous. If we consider the various forms as they exist in their matters in the genesis of the lower forms of existing things, we find that they form an ascending series in regard to quality.
The later form is superior to the prior one, as though the matter in receiving forms proceeds from imperfection to perfection, first receiving a lower form and then a higher form, and thus gradually ascending from an inferior rung of existence to a more perfect one. Thus matter first receives the forms of the יְסוֹדוֹת (yesodot), elements [i.e., earth, water, air, fire], then it rises to the rung of the מַחְצַבִּים (maḥtsabim), mineral, to which the elements stand in the relation of matter. Then it attains to the rung of the צְמַחִים (tsemaḥim), vegetable, to which the mineral bears the relation of matter. Then it ascends to the rung of בַּעֲלֵי חַיִים (ba’alei ḥayyim), animals, to which the vegetable is related as matter, and then it rises to the rung of the אָדָם (adam), human, animals being in the position of matter. Here the process comes to an end. As in a given motion, every phase of the motion is for the sake of the phase which comes after, so it seems, in the genetic process of the lower forms of existence, that every phase is for the sake of the phase that comes after. And as a given motion ends up with a result which is the final cause of all the phases, so the genetic process rises gradually until it attains finally to the form of the human where it stops, because this is the end of all the lower genetic processes.
That matter always moves from a less perfect to a more perfect form of existence, as the character of the composition rises in quality, is proved by the coral, which is intermediate, so to speak, between דוֹמֵם (domem), inanimate, and צוֹמֵחַ (tsomeaḥ), growing. By the marine sponge, which has only the sense of touch, and is intermediate as it were between צוֹמֵחַ (tsomeaḥ), growing, and the חַי (ḥai), animate; and by the ape, which stands midway between animals and the אָדָם (adam), human, where the process stops. It follows necessarily, therefore, that the human, who is the end of all lower creatures, is nobler and more perfect than all, since in him are combined all the earlier forms, which stand to him in the relation of matter. Therefore he is greater than all the others, and subdues all the animals and rules them, because he has the power of comprehending the general, whereas the lower animals perceive only the particular, having no power to comprehend the universal” (Rabbi Yosef Albo, Sefer ha-Iqqarim 3:1-6 [1425]).
“The House, the Courtyard, the Field, and the Wilderness. In each of these four there is another aspect which includes all of the subsequent ones; it is an intermediary between one general category and another, and it includes both of them. For example, the natural philosophers say that intermediary between the mineral and plant kingdoms is coral. Coral is rock, but it grows like a plant.
The intermediate between the plant and animal kingdoms is a creature called the אַדְנֵי הַשָּׂדֶה (adnei ha-sadeh), beast of the field, described in Mishnah Kil’ayim (8:5). It looks like a dog but it grows from the ground and it is rooted in the ground by a sort of umbilical cord from whence it gets its nourishment. If you where to cut this cord it would die.
It may well be that this creature is not known these days to botanists or zoologists. Nevertheless, it is described by the Mishnah, which is a legalistic text and does not deal with mythical creatures. Therefore, it must be assumed that the אַדְנֵי הַשָּׂדֶה (adnei ha-sadeh), beast of the field, did exist at one time, and the sages were familiar with it, even if it has become extinct in our time. Thus, the Mishnah legitimizes the Ari’s exposition here: intermediate between the animal and the human is the ape… A time will come when men of science, in their search for the link between man and animal, will attempt to consider the ape as that living form from which man came” (Rabbi Ḥayyim Vital, Ets Ḥayyim, Sha’arei 42).
“The halakhah mentions an organism called אַבְנֵי הַשָּׂדֶה (avnei ha-sadeh), or אַדְנֵי הַשָּׂדֶה (adnei ha-sadeh), beast of the field, whose corpse, like that of a human being, communicates uncleanness (Sifra, Shemini 6). Explained by some as referring to the chimpanzee [or orangoutang (Tif’eret Israel)], it is said in the Jerusalem Talmud (Kil’ayim 8:5, 31c) to be ‘a man of the mountains who lives from his navel; if the navel is severed, he does not live,’ the reference being to a manlike organism joined by its navel like a plant to the ground. Legends about such an organism were current among various nations (see Raphael Patai, Adam ve-Adamah, 1 [1942], 216ff)” (Virtual Jewish Encyclopedia).
The Rambam identified the אַדְנֵי הַשָּׂדֶה (adnei ha-sadeh), beast of the field, as al-nasnas, a creature which was reputed to speak incessantly without interruption and whose speech was like that of a human being. In modern Egyptian Arabic, al-nasnas is “monkey.”
Vegetable-men and Tree Geese.
“A more general elaboration of the entire concept appears in the works of Joseph ben Shalom Ashkenazi and his colleagues (early 14th century). They maintain that transmigration occurs in all forms of existence, from the Sefirot (“emanations”) and the angels to inorganic matter, and is called din benei ḥalof or sod ha-shelaḥ. According to this, everything in the world is constantly changing form, descending to the lowest form and ascending again to the highest. The precise concept of the transmigration of the soul in its particular form into an existence other than its original one is thus obscured, and is replaced by the law of the change of form. Perhaps this version of the doctrine of gilgul should be seen as an answer to philosophical criticism based on the Aristotelian definition of the soul as the ‘form’ of the body which consequently cannot become the form of another body. The mystery of true gilgul in this new version was sometimes introduced instead of the traditional kabbalistic teaching as found in Masoret ha-Berit (1916) by David ben Abraham ha-Lavan (c. 1300). The kabbalists of Safed accepted the doctrine of transmigration into all forms of nature and, through them, this teaching became a widespread popular belief” (Jewish Virtual Library).
I died as a mineral and became a plant,
I died as plant and rose to animal,
I died as animal and I was Man.
Why should I fear? When was I less by dying?
Yet once more I shall die as Man, to soar
With angels blest; but even from angelhood
I must pass on: all except God does perish.
When I have sacrificed my angel-soul,
I shall become what no mind ever conceived.
Oh, let me not exist! for Non-existence
Proclaims in organ tones, “To Him we shall return” (Rumi).
“On the mystery of cycling souls and its details: Know that God will not subject the soul of the wicked to more than three cycles; for it is written, Look, all this God performs twice or thrice with a גָּבֶר (gever), man [to bring back his being from the Pit] (Job 33:29). Which means, He makes him appear twice and thrice in a human body; but the fourth time he descends into the body of a pure animal. And when a man offers a sacrifice, God will, by miraculous intervention, make him select an animal that carries the soul of a human being. Then will the sacrifice be doubly profitable: to the one that offers it and to the soul imprisoned in the brute. For with the smoke of the sacrifice the soul ascends heavenward and attains its original purity. Thus is explained the mystery involved in the words, YHWH saves man and beast (Psalms 36:8)” (Rabbi Avraham Azulai, Ḥesed le-Avraham, 57d).
“My son, abstain from ritual slaughter… alas, you ignorant… why do you not understand… that there is more intelligence… in beasts than in you” (Sefer ha-Qannah 120r).
“Inanimate nature exists in order for plants to grow; plants exist in order to raise animals, and animals in order to raise humans, while people exist in order to raise the Creator.
Each level of nature is required to maintain a higher level. Just like the task of the earth is to support the plants and lend itself for their use, so the task of an animal is to be used by man. The question is only in exactly how to use the animals, in what form.
This is why we are given laws that define how to rear animals, how to kill them, how to prepare the meat, and how to eat it. All of this is described in great detail in the laws of Kashrut.
If we perform these actions correctly, then through them we sanctify both plants and animals, raising them to the degree of man, and together with man, onto the next degree. After all, a person lives in order to bring himself up to be אָדָם (adam), human, דוֹמֶה (domeh), similar, to the higher force.
This is how I see it through my knowledge of the wisdom of Kabbalah and understanding of the entire system. I am not forcing vegetarians to eat meat. For example, my wife eats it very rarely, but not for ideological reasons but simply because her blood type is A, and people of that blood type do not like meat. So this occurs in a natural way.
But the problem is that vegetarians are usually fighting for their idea. I have not yet met a single calm vegetarian. One would think that on the contrary, those who eat meat should be bloodthirsty and aggressive. But they appear to be calmer, perhaps because they are well fed, while vegetarians, possibly from lack of satiation, are often very irritable and demanding.
I do not understand why they are taking such a strong stand. Let everyone eat all the foods that nature has provided for us. We do not realize that we exist in a closed system of nature, and if we somehow alter our habits, then through that we change the laws of nature even on its still, vegetative, and animal levels.
Suppose the majority of humanity would now decide to become vegetarians, meaning, they would change their attitude toward the still, vegetative, and animal nature. Thus, we introduce into the overall system, which integrally ties all of us together, a new attitude that is opposite to the one originally imparted to us by nature.
Nature intended for every level to nurture and raise the one above it: the still would do that for plants, the plants for animals, and the animals for people.
We are made in such a way that we need to use all types of food specifically in this form: salt and water from the still level, permitted vegetables from the vegetative level, and permitted meat from the animate level, carrying out all the laws of their preparation.
We are talking about natural laws. I am not simply eating, but through this I am figuring out my attitude toward general nature. After all, I have to observe all the rules that determine what can be eaten and what cannot, and if it is allowed, then in what form. And if something cannot be eaten, maybe it could be used not as food, but in some other way, for example, for making leather.
Everything is structured so that a person would utilize all of nature correctly. If he does not do so, then through one’s incorrect relationship to nature he introduces a distortion into the overall system and alters physical, chemical, and other natural laws.
And then we are surprised when suddenly, some volcano erupted, or a tsunami appeared, or that there is an extraordinary heatwave up to 50° C in London. We do not understand why such disasters occur ‘all of a sudden,’ and yet it is we ourselves who have disrupted the balance in the system” (Dr. Michael Laitman, What is the Connection between Vegetarianism and a Volcanic Erutpion).
“Our Rabbis taught: who hunts down prey (Leviticus 17:13). I only know from this that which is taken in hunting, how would I know that it also applies to such as are always taken hunting [i.e., which are domesticated and within one’s house], such as geese and fowl? It therefore adds a hunting; the law thus applies to all cases. Why then does it say who hunts down prey? Torah teaches a rule of conduct, that a person should not eat meat except after such preparation as this [i.e., after toilsome preparation, and only as a rare luxury, for otherwise one would soon be reduced to poverty].
Our Rabbis taught: When YHWH your God enlarges your territory as He has spoken to you, and you say, ‘Let me eat meat,’ [when your appetite craves eating meat, wherever your appetite’s craving may be, you shall eat meat] (Deuteronomy 12:20). Torah here teaches a rule of conduct, that a person should not eat meat unless he has a special appetite for it. I might think that this means that a one should buy [meat] in the market and eat it, it therefore says: you shall slaughter from your herd and from your flock [that YHWH has given you… and you shall eat within your gates wherever your appetite’s craving may be] (ibid. 21). I might then think that this means that he should kill all his herd and eat and all his flock and eat, it therefore says: from your herd, and not all your herd; from your flock and not all your flock. Hence Rabbi El’azar son of Azariah said: A man who has a maneh may buy for his stew a litra of vegetables; if he has ten maneh he may buy for his stew a litra of fish; if he has fifty maneh he may buy for his stew a litra of meat; if he has a hundred maneh he may have a pot set on for him every day. And the others [of lesser means]? From Sabbath eve to Sabbath eve. Said Rav: We must defer to the opinion of the Elder [namely, Rabbi El’azar son of Azariah]. Rabbi Yoḥanan said: Abba [i.e., Rav] comes from a healthy family, but as for us [who are not so healthy and strong as those of former generations], whosoever amongst us has a penny in his purse should hasten with it to the shop-keeper. Rabbi Naḥman said: As for us [our generation which is still weaker than that of Rabbi Yoḥanan], we must even borrow to eat.
There are sheep for your clothing (Proverbs 27:26)—of the fleece of your own lambs should be your clothing. he-goats, the price of a field (ibid.)—a person should always sell his field and buy goats rather then sell his goats and buy a field. Enough she-goat’s milk (ibid., 27)—it is enough for a person to sustain himself with the milk of the goats and lambs in his home. For your food, for the food of your house (ibid.)—your own sustenance comes first, before the sustenance of your household. And viands [lit., life] for your young women (ibid.)—Mar Zutra the son of Rabbi Nahman said: Discipline your young women [i.e., your household] in the way of life [in thrift and moderation]; hence Torah teaches a rule of conduct that a parent should not accustom his child to meat and wine” (BT Ḥullin 84a).