The Tikkun of Eating Part 2

From the Writings of Rabbi Nachman Goldstein, Rav of Tcherin

The supreme purpose for which man was created is to know G-d. Thus, everyone should gaze at the Divine wisdom and life-force concealed within the multiplicity of Creation and strive to draw close to God through everything he sees and hears. When a person accomplishes this, he fulfills the Divine intention in creation. This is why man was created with wisdom and speech: through these faculties he may grasp all this and make God's power known to others. As a result, all nations will come to know God. [As the Aleinu prayer states,] "They will accept upon themselves the yoke of His kingship" and all Creation will reach a state of harmony and perfection.

When a spiritually-refined person eats something and receives nourishment and vitality from it, the holy sparks concealed therein are raised up to a much higher level, for they become subsumed within the wisdom and life force of that person. This fulfills the purpose of all Creation. However, when a person is far from this holy wisdom, because he has followed the promptings of his evil inclination - especially if he has actually transgressed - then he is comparable to a beast. Sometimes the spiritual damage he has done to himself is so great that he completely falls from the level of a human, possessing speech and intellect, and his soul is reincarnated in the body of an animal. Sometimes he falls to an even lower level.

Therefore, the shochet (ritual slaughterer) must concentrate intensely on the blessing he recites at the time of slaughter in order to release the blood - the blood is a vehicle for the forces of severity - and purge it from the spirit of folly that cleaves to the animal soul. By examining the knife and reciting the blessing prior to the act of slaughter, the shochet "sweetens" the forces of severity and redeems the transmigrated soul. He delivers the soul from the Sword of Esau, the Kingdom of the Other Side, and raises it up to the Kingdom of Holiness, by slaughtering the animal with the Sword of Holiness, the blade that is perfect and smooth without flaw. Then the reincarnated soul is able to rise up and cleave to the soul of the spiritually-refined person who eats the animal's flesh, until it attains its ultimate destiny. In such a case, ritual slaughter is a great religious task. Not only does it render the meat permissible for consumption, but also the act of slaughter greatly benefits the reincarnated soul (Nachas HaShulchan, Shechita 19).

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Whenever Rabbi Yochanan finished the Book of Job, he would say, "The fate of man is death, and the fate of a beast is slaughter..." (Berachos 17a). At first glance, this seems cruel. How can one take another living thing and slaughter and eat it? We are forced to conclude that, on the contrary, this is the ultimate act of benefit to the animal, for it enables it to ascend and become one with the life force of man. However, since man himself is destined to die, how does this help the animal to attain spiritual rectification?

We clearly see that everything in this world is subject to death; even in its fleeting existence, it is like nothing. For if a thing is fated to be burned, it is considered to be ashes already, as our sages state (Menachos 102b). How is it possible that from a perfect Creator an imperfect Creation may come forth - that everything is doomed to death, destruction, and loss, God forbid? How could this be, when everything was created with such wondrous wisdom, as it states, "You have made them all with wisdom" (Psalms 104:24), and Divine wisdom is the source of life? Therefore, we must conclude that every appearance of death and destruction in the world is only an illusion, due to our lack of wisdom. As our sages interpret the verse, "'He shall die and not with wisdom' - without the wisdom of Torah" (Yalkut Shimoni 898, citing Job 4:21). The main goal is to acquire holy wisdom by overcoming corporeality and the spirit of folly that comes from the Other Side and the evil inclination. This is acquired only through the Torah.

A person must devote himself to Torah all his days, with all his physical strength. Thus, he will overcome the evil inclination, which is the spirit of folly within him, and fully accept the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven upon himself. He will perceive within all things the light of Divine wisdom and draw close to God through the multiplicity of the world. By means of this wisdom and knowledge, everything in the world will fulfill its eternal destiny and endure forever (ibid.).

 

From David Sears, The Vision of Eden: Animal Welfare and Vegetarianism in Jewish Law and Mysticism