"Lest you eat and become satisfied, and build good houses, and dwell" (Deuteronomy/Devarim 8:12)
The Holy Rebbe Levi Yitzchok of Berdtichev zt"l once happened upon an inn in a small village, and when the innkeeper saw a prestigious-looking Jew was visiting him, he approached him and said, "I have an animal that I wish to slaughter kosher, however our shochet resides in another town two miles from here, and it difficult for me to wait until the shochet arrives here. I see that you appear to be a talmid chacham, and I can assume that you are an expert in the laws of shechitah, therefore I ask that I might hire you to slaughter this animal for me." The holy Rebbe agreed saying, "Bring me the animal and the slaughtering knife."
When the innkeeper brought the cow and the knife, the Holy Rebbe of Berditchev asked the innkeeper, "May I ask you a small favor? Could you loan me 20 rubles? I need it very much right now, and in a few days I will, G-d willing, return the loan to you. If you recognize my face as a trustworthy man, then you will surely entrust this loan to me." The innkeeper replied, "Sir, please forgive me. I do not know you well enough to do this. How could you ask me such a big favor to loan you 20 rubles without witnesses and cosigners, when I do not know you?"
The Holy Rebbe replied, "May your ears hear the words that your mouth is saying! If you do not feel comfortable enough to loan me 20 rubles because you do not know me, how could you rely on me to slaughter an animal properly when you have no idea who or what I am? You should know the truth is that I am not a shochet. But you decided to rely on me because of how I appear. This illustrates how much you must repent and rectify your conduct. If you happened to find an unscrupulous individual who appeared pious—one who wished to profit from your offer to pay for the shechitah—he might have slaughtered the cow and, due to his lack of knowledge of the laws of shechitah, may have, Heaven forbid, caused Jews to eat non-kosher meat. This is much greater damage than the possible loss of 20 rubles, which you feared that I might not return!"
From this story, one can learn a valuable mussar lesson. If one is concerned in material matters to avoid any potential damages, how much the more so must one distance oneself from even the most distant worry of non-kosher food? Because eating non-kosher food brings a greater damage than any monetary or physical harm. This damage applies even to someone who consumed non-kosher food by accident—one who was unaware that his food was not kosher.
In the Holy Zohar, it is stated that someone who eats non-kosher food has the Sitra Ahara [the other side, that of unholiness] attached to him, and an impure spirit rests upon him. We find that this causes spiritual damage to a person's soul, and the soul is the main part of a human being. The great physician and leader the Rambam zt"l writes that one of the reasons for the mitzvah that prohibits non-kosher food is because consuming non-kosher animals, who are generally cruel predators, places those cruel tendencies into our bodies, and so too with other non-kosher foods, which damage body and soul.
Similarly, the Baal Shem Tov zy"a tells us that someone once asked the Rambam about the concept of the Resurrection of the Dead. The questioner stated that just as there are proofs to support the idea of the Resurrection, so too are there proofs in the opposite direction. The Rambam did not want to respond directly, but rather allowed his disciples to respond. They surmised that the person asking the question must have eaten non-kosher food. This food then became his blood, and the blood entered his brain, thus causing him to have doubts in faith (because every Jew has faith planted in their hearts from Avraham Avinu).
Therefore, even if young children are fed non-kosher food, because their parents are not careful enough in this matter, this causes their brains to become confused and closed, and this will bring doubts in faith. Therefore, they will be unable to understand their studies in the Holy Torah properly, and through this they might leave the proper path.
Similarly, the Pri Chadash (Yoreh Deah 81:26) wrote concerning the concept of Kosher food that, "because in our era people are not careful with these things, most of the children are going away on the wrong path, and most of them are the insolent people of the generation, and the pious awe of Hashem does not touch their hearts. Even if one rebukes them to their face, they are unable to receive mussar!"
The temptations in this area can become more difficult when one is on vacation. Even if someone is very careful in his home to follow the strictest interpretations of Kosher laws, he might find himself on vacation in a location where the best Kosher options are unavailable, and if he sees that everyone eats in a certain place, he may hold himself back from asking who is the Rav HaMachshir and the Mashgiach, and ascertaining if they are trustworthy or not.
Therefore, each person must become strong and know for himself, and must also teach his family, that when it comes to Kosher food, one should not allow for any leniencies. Just as when one build a house he does not just trust anyone, but specifically seeks out expert architects, with government licenses and the like, in order to ensure that everything will be built in the best manner, and he will distance himself from any doubt, so too when there is the slightest doubt of the kosher status of food, if it is a good hechsher or not, one must distance from this.
It is possible to explain that this is what Scripture is saying here: If you are a person who says "lest…" (a concept of doubt -- meaning if there is a doubt if the food is kosher or not) "lest you eat and be satisfied" without ensuring that it is indeed kosher. However, on the other side, when it comes to material issues such as building your house, "the you will build good houses" – you only build with the best materials and workers without any doubt. "And you shall dwell" is a term of teshuvah (repentance), that you need to repent for this and to rectify your deeds from now on, in order to be worthy that you and your family enjoy good and healthy lives, both materially and spiritually.
Comments
Post a Comment