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11 β[1] **The Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying to them. **God addresses Aaron as well as Moses, whether due to the connection between purity and impurity and the matters of the Temple and its consecrated items, or due to the fact that the priests are to be the teachers of Torah to the people. 22
β[2] **Speak to the children of Israel, saying: These are the living creatures that you may eat from all the animals that are on the earth, **i.e., land animals:
β[3] **Anything that has hooves **, as opposed to paws, e.g., dogs, cats, and bears, 23 **and **specifically, if **the hooves are split, **like those of sheep, goats, and cows, **and **if, in addition to this, it **brings up the cud, **it regurgitates its food and chews it a second time, **among the animals, that you may eat. **`
β[4] **However, these you shall not eat from those that bring up **
β[5] T
**he hyrax, **which lives in rocky terrain in Israel and other regions, you may not consume, **because it brings up the cud but it does not have hooves. **Although the hyrax does not have four stomachs like ruminant animals, it chews in a manner that makes it appear as if it chews its cud. With regard to its feet, while there are nails that resemble hooves at the ends of its toes, it does not have one hoof that includes multiple toes, and consequently **it is impure to you. **
β[6] T
**he hare, because it **appears as if it **brings up the cud but it does not have hooves, **and **it is **therefore **impure toΒ you. **
β[7] **And the pig, because it has hooves, and its hoof is split, **like those of kosher animals, **but it does not chew the cud **at all. Consequently, **it is impure to you. **
β[8] **From their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch. **The Sages derive from other verses that the latter prohibition applies only to one who wishes to enter the Temple or handle consecrated items, e.g., during a festival pilgrimage, 24 since one may do so only when ritually pure. **They are impure to you **in both senses of the term. Their consumption is prohibited, and their carcasses impart ritual impurity upon contact.
β[9] **This you may eat from everything that is in the water: All things that have fins and scales in the water, **even if they fall off when the creature is removed from the water. 25 Whether such a creature is **in the seas, or in the rivers, those you mayΒ eat. **
β[10] **And all things that do not have fins and scales in the seas and in the rivers, of all **small **creatures that swarm **slowly **in the waters, and of all the living creatures that are in the water, **whether they are fish, such as eels and most cartilaginous fish, or whether they are not fish, e.g., marine mammals such as whales or dolphins, with regard to all these creatures that do not have scales, whether they ascend upon land or not, **they are a destable thing to you. **
β[11] **They shall be a detestable thing to you; you shall not eat from their flesh, and their carcasses you shall detest **. There is an opinion that the requirement to detest their carcasses indicates a prohibition against commercial activity involving creatures prohibited for consumption. 26
β[12] The verse reiterates:
**Anything that does not have fins and scales in the water, **which includes most water creatures, **is a detestable thing to you. **
β[13] **And these you shall detest **and distance yourselves from them, **among the fowls; they shall not be eaten, they are a detestable thing: the griffon vulture, the bearded vulture, and the lappet-faced vulture. **
β[14] **And the kite, and the buzzard after its kind. **The prohibition against consuming the buzzard does not apply to a specific bird but to a group of birds of similar or identical species. The Talmud states: There are one hundred non-kosher birds in the east, and they are all species of *ayya *. 27
β[15] **Every raven after its kind. **Most species of raven are easily identified, due to their similarity in appearance. There are, however, some birds whose identity as ravens is disputed. 28
β[16] And
**the ostrich, **a large flightless bird found mainly in desert climates, and **the swift, the seagull, **
β[17] **The little owl, the fish owl, **a coastal bird that snatches fish from the sea, 29 **and the short-eared owl. **
β[18] **The barn owl, the eagle-owl, and the roller. **
β[19] **The stork [ *h **Ξ *]. **Although *Δ₯asida *refers to the stork in modern Hebrew, the true identity of the *Δ₯asida *was a matter of disagreement among Jews in the Middle Ages. Jews living in central and eastern Europe considered the stork a non-kosher bird, while the Jews of Spain considered it kosher. 30 And **the heron, **a bird similar to the *Δ₯asida *, **after its kind, the hoopoe, and the bat. **The bat is a mammal, not a bird. It is listed here among the fowl because the Torah does not use modern zoological categories. The Hebrew for fowl, *of *is literally rendered flying creatures, which include the bat.
β[20] **Every flying swarming creature that walks on all fours, **flying insects that have four legs and two additional limbs, which are not feet but are used for walking, e.g., ants, each of these creatures **is a detestable thing to you. **
β[21] **However, this you may eat from all flying swarming **
β[22] **These of them you may eat: the locust after its kind, the bald locust after its kind, the cricket after its kind, and the grasshopper after its kind. **In summary, flying swarming creatures are generally prohibited for consumption, with the exception of a few permitted species.
β[23] **But all flying swarming creatures that have four feet are a detestable thing to you. **
β[24] **By these **creatures that will be enumerated below **you shall become impure. **Not only is their consumption prohibited, but also **anyone who touches their carcasses shall be impure until the evening. **
β[25] **And **furthermore, **anyone who carries some of their carcasses, **even without touching them, 31 e.g., one who carries their carcasses inside a sack, **shall wash his garments, and be impure until the evening. **The act of carrying them renders him and his garments ritually impure.
β[26] In addition,
**with regard to any animal that has hooves, but they are not split, **e.g., a horse, which has round hooves that are not split, **or it does not bring up the cud, it is impure to you. **Their carcasses also impart impurity through contact and through carrying; **anyone who touches **their carcasses **shall become impure. **
β[27] **And **likewise, **anything that walks on its paws, **that does not have hooves, **among all beasts that walk on all fours, **a category that includes most mammals, **they are impure to you; anyone who touches their carcasses shall be impure until the evening. **
β[28] **And **similarly, **one who carries their carcasses shall wash his garments and shall be impure until the evening; they are impure to you. **
β[29] **And this is impure to you among the swarming creatures that teem upon the earth. **These are small creatures that do not necessarily belong to the same zoological category: **the marten, the mouse, and the spiny-tailed lizard after its kind. **Although some opinions maintain that *tzav *refers to a turtle, as it does in modern Hebrew, many commentaries understand that the verse is referring to a different creature. 32
β[30] **The shrew, the monitor, the lizard, the skink, and the **
β[31] **These are those that are impure to you among all the swarming creatures, **in the sense that **anyone who touches them when they are dead shall be impure until the evening. **In addition to the prohibition against eating these creatures, which is due to their lack of kosher signs, they also impart ritual impurity to one who touches their carcasses. Since these swarming creatures are commonly found in human habitations, especially in rural areas, the impurity due to swarming creatures is particularly widespread.
β[32] **And **not only is a person who touches them rendered ritually impure, but **anything upon which some of **these swarming creatures **may fall when they are dead shall become impure. **The verse specifies: **From any wooden implement, or garment, or leather, or sackcloth, any **fashioned **item with which work is done, **which is designed to be used for work, not raw material or a vessel that is still being processed, 33 **it shall be brought into water, **immersed, **and it shall be impure until the evening; and **then it will **be purified. **
β[33] **And any earthenware vessel into which any of them falls, anything that is **found **in it shall become impure, **even if the dead swarming creature did not come into contact with it. The airspace inside an earthenware vessel is rendered impure, in contrast to other types of impure vessels, which become impure and impart impurity only through contact. Another difference between earthenware vessels and other items is that other items may be purified by immersion in a ritual bath, **and it, **the earthenware vessel, **you shall break, **as it cannot be purified; rather, it remains ritually impure for as long as it is categorized as a vessel.
β[34] In addition to people and vessels, which may be rendered impure on account of dead swarming creatures and the like,
**any food that may be eaten upon which water comes shall become impure, **shall become susceptible to contracting ritual impurity. That is, solid food is susceptible to impurity only if water has touched it. **And **conversely, **any liquid that may be drunk, **that is fit for drinking, 34 **in any vessel shall become impure; **namely, it is automatically susceptible to impurity. 35
β[35] **And anything upon which shall fall some of their carcasses, **of swarming creatures, **shall become impure. **For example, if a dead swarming creature falls into **an oven or stove, **which are earthenware vessels, then they **shall be shattered, **as **they are impure, **despite the fact that they are attached to the ground, **and shall be impure to you, **as there is no way to purify them.
β[36] **However, a spring or cistern, a gathering of water, shall be pure. **Water in a spring or collected in the ground remains pure. **But **even so, **one who touches their carcasses, **of swarming creatures, **shall become impure. **If a swarming creature falls into a gathering of water, it remains impure and transmits impurity to one who touches it. 36 Nevertheless, the collection of water itself remains pure.
β[37] **And if some of their carcasses, **of the swarming creatures or of the other animals mentioned above, **shall fall upon any sown seed that shall be sown, **that is not prepared as food, **it is pure. **
β[38] **But if water shall **intentionally **be placed on the seed, and some of their carcasses, **of these swarming creatures, **shall fall on it, it is impure to you, **as was already stated above with regard to food in general. Unlike vessels, which are fashioned and completed by people, seeds and other foods must first be rendered susceptible to ritual impurity by means of water or one of six other types of liquids. 37 If one of these liquids comes into contact with a seed or some other food, with human intentionality, the food is susceptible to impurity from that point onward.
β[39] **And if any animal that is for your consumption, **that comes from a species whose consumption is permitted, **shall die, one who touches its carcass shall be impure until the evening. **
β[40] **One who eats of its carcass shall wash his garments and be impure until the evening; and one who carries its carcass, **even without touching it, **shall wash his garments and be impure until the evening. **Although these animals would have been considered kosher while still alive, not only are their carcasses prohibited for consumption, but they also impart impurity through contact or carrying. It should be noted that the Sages derive several laws from the verseβs mention of the two cases of eating and carrying. 38
β[41] **And any swarming creature that swarms upon the earth, **small creatures not included in the list of swarming creatures whose carcasses impart impurity through contact (11:29β30), **is a detestable thing; it shall not be eaten. **
β[42] Consequently,
**any **creature **that crawls upon the belly, **e.g., snakes and worms, **and any **creature **that walks on four **legs, whether mammals or other creatures, such as scorpions, 39 **up to any **creature **that has numerous feet among all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, **not only those that walk on four legs, **you shall not eat them, as they are a detestable thing. **
β[43] **You shall not render yourselves detestable with any swarming creature that swarms, and you shall not be rendered impure by them, and become impure through them. **
β[44] **For I am the Lord your God; you shall sanctify yourselves and be holy, for I am holy. **One of the ways to sanctify yourselves and draw closer to Me is by refraining from eating certain foods. **And **therefore **you shall not render yourselves impure with any swarming creature that creeps upon the earth. **
β[45] **For I am the Lord who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God; you shall be holy, as I am holy. **These commandments do not apply to mankind in general, but specifically to the people of God. Since the nation of Israel was chosen by God to be βa kingdom of priests, and a holy nation,β 40 they must avoid eating or coming into contact with all creatures defined as impure.
β[46] In summation:
**This is the law of the animals, and of the birds, and of every living creature that creeps in the water, and of every creature that swarms on the earth. **
β[47] With regard to all of these, it is necessary
**to distinguish between the impure and the pure, **the various aspects of impurity and purity mentioned above, beginning with impurity that results from death, where one must avoid contact and the like, e.g., the impurity of animal carcasses, and including other aspects of impurity and purity, non-kosher and kosher animals (see, e.g., 20:25, 27:27), **and between the living creature that may be eaten and the living creature that may not be eaten. **
Version: The Steinsaltz Tanakh - English
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