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This week’s Torah reading lists the animals that Jews are forbidden to eat.

Although the Torah was given over 3,300 years ago it is astounding that it here informs us that only three animals in the world (the Hare the Rabbit and the Camel) DO chew their cuds but DO NOT have split feet, and only one (the pig) does not chew its cud but has split hooves.

(A Moslem once wrote me an email saying that he heard from expert veterinarians and professors that rabbits definitely do NOT chew their cuds! So the Torah isn’t so accurate.
Luckily there was a pet store in the large outdoor market where I go every Friday in Tel Aviv to put Tefillin on Jews. Usually the owner, a non-observant Jew, is very unreceptive and rude to me when I offer him Tefillin, but I figured he was the one to ask. So I stopped in his store and when I asked him my question about rabbits the strangest thing happened.
He looked up at me in the friendliest way and said, “Isn’t that the most amazing thing! YES, it does! The rabbit chews its cud!”
Then he smiled, leaned over the counter to me and said, “You know it’s the most incredible thing how the Torah covered all the animals in the world in just a few sentences. Only G-d could do a thing like that!” I thought to myself that maybe G-d did it just so this fellow would also find something in the Torah.
I wrote my findings back to the Moslem and he never got back to me.)

There are three types of laws in the Torah; those that make sense; (don’t kill etc.) those that have religious significance (holidays etc.) and those that are done only because Gd says so, like these dietary laws.

But interestingly here the Torah gives a sign (reason) why certain animals are forbidden: They lack split hooves and they don’t chew their cuds (11:3).

This is not so clear. If G-d forbade pigs, for instance, because they wallow in filth or rabbits because they live in holes maybe it would make some sense, but why give reasons that aren’t reasons? What is so bad about not having split hooves or not chewing the cud?

Also, the word ‘Torah’ means ‘teaching’. Every detail in the Torah comes to teach us something about life. What could be the message here?

To understand here is a story that is well known in Chabad circles.

This story takes place some 200 years ago in the days of the third Chabad Rebbe, the Tzemach Tzedek.

It was well after midnight, and the Chassidim had been sitting together in a “Farbrengen” for most of the night, when suddenly they realized they were running out of “farbisen”: food eaten after making ‘Lechiam”.

[Chassidim are Jews that devote their lives to trying to love G-d, the Torah and every Jew. This is not easy – it demands constant positive attitude. So they make informal get-togethers called “Farbrengens” where they sing, say inspiring stories and words of Torah, and make “L’chaim” (drink vodka). But to ease the sharpness of the drink, and thereby continue the spirit of the evening, it is customary to eat a little something called “farbisen” after each drink]

They pooled their money to buy more farbisen and one of them ran to wake up the butcher who provided them with a cow liver (a different version says it was cow lung). The butcher’s wife was nice enough to roast it, and less than an hour the Chassid brought it to his friends.

When they saw the platter with the liver on it being placed on the table, they were happy. It put a new life into the Farbrengen and they broke into song while one of them got a knife to cut it into smaller pieces.

But unexpectedly one of the Chassidim by the name of Shmuel Munkis, (known for both his genius and his sense of humor), stood from his seat, grabbed the platter with the meat on it, lifted it over his head out of everyone’s reach and began running around the table!

The Chassidim began yelling at him. “Hey! Put it down! Are you crazy!!? You’re going to drop it!! Stop acting like a fool!!”

But they couldn’t stop him; he wouldn’t listen to reason and he was simply too quick for them.

Then, to their shock, after a few minutes of this, rather than returning it to the table, he ran to a window, opened it, and threw the entire thing, platter and liver, outside into the mud and filth rendering it inedible!! This was no joke!!

The other Chassidim were astounded. What had he done!! He was certainly no more drunk than they were, and he certainly knew that it was a sin to waste food! But even more, that liver cost them their last few kopeks, and now the farbrengen was destroyed!

Everyone was furious. Someone grabbed him by the lapels and began shaking him, “What did you do? Why did you do that you fool! You wasted all the food, and what about the money we paid?!”

Suddenly the door burst open and everyone turned to see. It was the butcher; he was out of breath and looked half insane; waiving his hands, shaking his head wildly and trying to say something urgent but all that came out was this strange wheezing sound.

In a few seconds he caught his breath and gasped, almost in tears

“DON’T EAT THE LIVER!!”

“Why not!?” the Chassidim asked almost in unison.

“Because it’s not kosher!!” he pleaded. I made a terrible mistake and gave you a non-kosher piece of meat!! Oy! I ran here as soon as I realized it. Am I too late? What a mistake. Oy! G-d forbid!!”

The Chassidim looked at Rav Shmuel Munkis and said angrily, “Are you trying to play Rebbe or something? Why didn’t you just tell us you thought something was wrong? Why did you make us run around like chickens?” They were even considering punishing him for his “Chutzpa” (cheek), until he yelled out.

“One minute!! You have it all wrong! The reason I did it was because the Rebbe told me to!”

Now they thought he was really insane. “The Rebbe told you to throw the liver out the window?!” Someone asked incredulously. “Do….do you really expect us believe that?! Do YOU really believe it??”

“Yes!” answered Rav Shmuel. “It’s true!! When that liver was brought into the room, it was as though a fire was lit in my heart! I simply could not control myself. I tried to think of something else, but just wanted a piece of that liver. Suddenly I remembered something the Rebbe told me five years ago; he told me that if anything in this world ever aroused in me a strong desire, a lust, I should avoid it as though it was forbidden.

So, I picked it up and threw it out the window!. It took five years, but the Rebbe saved me and us all from eating unkosher meat!!”

This answers our questions about chewing the cud and split hooves.

‘Chewing the cud’ means not immediately accepting every thought or impulse that comes to us, but rather chewing and re-chewing it until we are sure it is according to the Torah.

‘Split hooves’ means that our contact with the world; our ‘hooves’, should be open in such a way that what is ‘above’ shines through. In other words, that everything we do in this physical world should be ‘illuminated’ by thinking about what Gd wants according to His Torah.

Something like what the Tzemach Tzedik asked Rav Munkis in our story to do.

This is the secret of kosher foods; and why it is one of the main things that separate the Jews from the other nations (Shemini, 11:45). And this is for two reasons.

Firstly; the Jews are ‘chosen’ to make this world a holy place. And to do this we have to use it exactly according to G-d’s instructions. For instance the animals must chew their cuds and have split hooves.

And secondly; the Jews themselves must “chew their cuds” and have “split hooves”! Not only must their deeds and speech be according to what the Creator wants, but even their thoughts must directed to G-d and bringing G-dliness into our every deed.

That will be one of the accomplishments of Moshiach: To bring every Jew, and eventually every human, to consider if their lives are in accordance with the ‘manufacturer’s instrutions.

And not much is missing. After thousands of years of Jewish self-sacrifice it could be that just one more good deed, word or even thought will bring…

Moshiach NOW!!

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