Parshat Reeh 5781
Rabbi Jablinowitz
We read in this week’s parsha that the Torah allows Bnei Yisrael to eat meat whenever they so desire. While still in the desert, they were permitted meat only in the context of a Karban. But once they would enter Eretz Yisrael, they would be allowed to eat meat even if it wasn’t part of a sacrifice. The pasuk states (Chapter 12, Pasuk 20), Ki Yarchiv Hashem Elokecha es Gevulcha Ka’asher Diber Lach, Va’Amarta Ochla Basar, Ki Se’aveh Nafshecha Le’echol Basar, Be’Chal Avas Nafshecha Tochal Basar. When your borders shall be expanded and you shall desire to eat meat, you shall eat meat with all your desire.
While the point of the Torah is to allow the eating of meat, there seems to be an unusual emphasis on the desire for meat. The word Ta’avah is repeated twice within the same pasuk. Why is the Torah focusing so much on our physical desire for meat as a basis for eating?
The Sfas Emes answers by quoting a principle of the Gemara (see Pesachim 23A), Eiyn Ribui Achar Ribui Ela Le’Me’at. Whenever something is mentioned twice, it is coming to minimize its application. The word Ta’avah repeated is coming to teach that one should eat with less desire. While a clever application of the Talmudic principle, how is the Torah teaching us less by emphasizing more?
He explains that every craving and striving that we have is really based on a spiritual yearning. But being physical beings in a physical world, it is typically expressed in a more physical manner. We need to ensure that our desires are given expression in a spiritual manner, and not use eating or some other physical activity to compensate for a longing of our soul.
The Ba’al Shem Tov learns this principle from a pasuk in Tehillim. The pasuk states (Chapter 107, Pasuk 5), Re’avim Gam Tzema’im Nafsham Bahem Tisataf. He interprets this pasuk to mean, hunger and thirst are the outer trappings of the soul. They express a deeper and more meaningful desire of the soul. And the Sfas Emes adds, this is the meaning of the pasuk in Amos (Chapter 8, Pasuk 11), Lo Ra’av La’Lechem V’Lo Tzama La’Mayim, Ki Im Lishmo’a es Divrei Hashem. In the future, our true hunger and thirst will be revealed. Not a hunger for bread nor a thirst for water, rather a true longing to hear the words of Gd.
The Sfas Emes and others emphasize this idea from the fact that our pasuk refers to the desire for meat as Avas Nafshecha. It should be a desire of the soul as well as the body. When our physical desires do not cancel out the spiritual ones but rather work in tandem, then the Torah encourages us to eat. Our eating then becomes a means to an end, i.e. of serving Gd better. As Rashi comments, Limdah Torah Derech Eretz, Shelo Yisaveh Adam Le’echol Ela Mitoch Rachavas Yadayim V’Osher. The Sefarim teach that the wealth and Rachavas Yadayim referred to in the words of Rashi speak of spiritual wealth. One should desire to eat meat when one’s spiritual desires are able to control and determine his physical ones, and not have the physical cancel out the spiritual. When the physical works together with the spiritual, then it’s Be’Chal Avas Nafshecha, and then we have Eiyn Ribui Achar Ribui Ela Le’Me’at.
The Medrash Rabbah on Bereishis (64,8) teaches that when Yitzchak dug the well Rechovos, it relates to sefer Devarim. This is based on our pasuk in our parsha, Ki Yarchiv Hashem Elokecha es Gevulcha. This last well dug by Yitzchak was free of strife, V’Lo Ravu Aleha, and the Sfas Emes adds that this notion of Rechovos applies to Shabbos, the Yom Menuchah. And the word Rechovos also connects with Shabbos since Shabbos is a day of expansiveness. On Shabbos we have a Neshamah Yeseirah, and the reward for Kol Ha’Me’aneg es Ha’Shabbos is a Nachalah Bli Metzarim; a portion without borders (Shabbos 118A). And this supports the notion that the Rachavas Yadayim that Rashi requires is a spiritual wealth and desire. For on Shabbos, our eating is one of holiness, as Rashi explains in Beitzah 16A, one of the expressions of the Neshamah Yeseirah is to be able to eat more. Hence, on Shabbos we eat meat and drink wine, for whenever we have a Rachavas Yadayim and an increase in our borders, whether it’s from Shabbos, Nachalah Bli Metzarim, or whether it’s from our physical desires controlling our physical desires, Ki Yarchiv Hashem Elokecha es Gevulcha, then we are enjoined to eat meat.
Good Shabbos
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