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19 โ[1] ** ืืช ืืงืืชื ืชืฉืืจื, ืืืืชื ืื ืชืจืืืข ืืืืื, "You shall keep My statutes. Do not let your cattle mate with a different species of animal."** Here is the way *Torat Kohanim* interprets this verse: "From the wording of the text I only know a prohibition concerning a domestic animal owned by one. How do I know that the same prohibition applies also to the domestic animals owned by one's neighbour? We derive this from the extraneous word **ืืช** in the expression **ืืช** ืืงืจืชื. If this is correct, why did the Torah use the suffix "your" altogether when describing the domestic animal? It could have written ืืืื ืื ืชืจืืืข ืืืืื and saved both the word ืืช as well as the possessive ending ื. I have seen a comment by the author of *Korban Aharon* explaining that the verse deals with a normal situation, i.e. an owner cross-mating his own animals. I do not believe that this is an adequate reason for the Torah phrasing the commandment in this fashion.
โ[2] I believe that the key to the verse is the fact that the Torah wrote this law immediately after the commandment to love fellow Israelites like ourselves. The message of that commandment is that G'd loves for Jews whose souls are all branches of the same pool of sanctity to behave accordingly towards each other. As a result we might think that G'd does not mind if those mammals which are fit for consumption by us, i.e. the ืืืืืช ืืืืจืืช, would intermate. The Torah tells us that this is against G'd's will. The ending **ื** in the word refers to the fact that these animals are **yours to eat,** not that they are owned by you. *Torat Kohanim* also writes that the verse as it stands forbids only the crossbreeding or mating of pure animals with other pure animals. Whence do I know that one must not crossbreed or mate impure animals with pure animals? Answer: This is why the Torah says ืืช ืืงืืชื ืชืฉืืจื. This shows you quite clearly that the author had understood the word ืืืืชื to mean pure animals as opposed to animals which are your own. If the Torah had not written the suffix ื, I would not have known that the subject are pure animals at all, but would have assumed that inasmuch as the pure animals are fit to eat, mating between pure animals would be permissible as opposed to mating between impure and pure species.
Version: Or Hachayim, trans. Eliyahu Munk
Source: http://www.urimpublications.com/or-hachayim-commentary-on-the-torah-5-vols.html
License: CC-BY