for Parshat Shemini
i
God speaks of the animals we may eat
and the animals we may not:
we may eat
cloven-footed beasts that chew their cud;
insects with jumping legs
like crickets, grasshoppers, locusts;
we may not eat
rabbits, pigs, eagles, owls, mice.
*
God says we may eat
any creature of the water
with fins and scales,
but no other water- creatures.
*
God mentions beasts, birds, vermin by name.
He mentions nothing of the water by name.
For creatures of the water,
God mentions only qualities.
ii
Perhaps this is because
God speaks to a desert people.
In the desert,
the people know beasts,
birds,
vermin.
But the sea is far away.
Water and the fish and the animals in it
are far away.
So perhaps these people
have many names for beasts,
birds,
vermin—
but few names
for the creatures of the sea.
*
So God does not mention
the creatures of the water
by name;
God merely describes.
iii
To say:
God does not speak to us
in spiritual codes
in lofty constructs;
God speaks to us
in the language we speak
in the lives we live,
as the people
we actually are.
___
Shabbat Shalom,
~Abe
___
Leviticus Chapter 11
___
Answer to last week’s question: The “error” in last week’s piece was that it was about Parshat VaYikra, not Parshat Tzav. A special commendation to Evan Farber, Hadar Wise, and Yosi Kra for guessing correctly!