Netvort Parshas Re’eh 5770:      The Right and the Good
By Rabbi Joshua (instinctively known as The Hoffer) Hoffman

In this week's parsha, the Torah presents us with a series of laws concerning the slaughtering of animals in the wilderness and in Eretz Yisroel, and laws concerning the prohibition of consuming the blood of an animal.  After these laws are presented, we are told, "safeguard and listen to all these matters in order that it be well with you and your children after you forever, when you will do what is good and what is right in the eyes of the Lord, your God" (Devarim, 12:28). This verse seems a little strange, since the two terms, the right and the good, refer to doing what is correct in the eyes of man and the eyes of God.  In what way does observance of these laws relate to what is right, or good (depending on the variant explanations of Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Yishmael in the Sifre), in the eyes of man?

Rav Avraham Yitzchak HaKohein Kook, in his seminal essay on vegetarianism, Chazon HaTzimchout Ve Hashalom, writes that man instinctively has an inner revulsion for eating meat from an animal, and this is reflected in the fact that Adam was forbidden to eat meat. The Talmud in Sanhedrin teaches that it was only after the flood that mankind was granted permission to eat meat.  Rav Kook's proof text for this notion that man instinctively does not want to eat meat is in this week's parsha, in a verse included in the section on the laws we have been discussing. The Torah says there, When the Lord, Your God, will widen you borders, as He spoke to you, and you will say, "I would eat meat, 'as all the desire of your soul you will eat meat.'" (Devarim,12:20). Rav Kook argues that the fact that the Torah does not simply say, 'if you eat meat,' but couches this scenario in terms of desire, and in the form of the 'tzivui,' or imperative tense, indicates that the eating of meat is not the optimum level that a person should be on.  In the future, in the messianic age, says Rav Kook, man will revert to this basic instinct, and he will no more have a desire to eat animal meat than he has now to eat human meat.

In the meantime, before that eagerly anticipated era, although man is allowed to eat meat, this consumption is bound by the various guidelines of the laws of kashrus so that there will be some sensitivity to the plight of the animal kingdom.  However, until that time, man needs to focus on his relations with his fellow man, which, from the time of the flood, became corrupted. Without, at this time, emphasizing that there is a difference between man and animal, proper sensitivity to our fellow man will not develop properly, and as a consequence, there will be a situation of 'man is a wolf to his fellow man' (although Rav Kook does not use this adage, it encapsulates the scenario that he imagines would occur if the sharp distinction between man and animal would not be developed).

Following Rav Kook's explanation of the verse in our section concerning the consumption of animal meat, we can propose a further explanation of the closing verse of this section, which tells us that observing these laws constitutes doing what is right and good in the eyes of God and man. The Torah is telling us that even though ideally man should not eat meat and in fact in the future, he will not be permitted to do so, at this time in human history, he is not restricted in this way.  By utilizing this permission, man will be able to develop his relationships with his fellow man in a proper way, and not blur the distinction between man and animal that is so crucial for this development to occur.  At the same time, by following the restrictions placed on him in this realm of animal consumption, such as not consuming animal blood, he will also do that which is good, or right, in the eyes of God, by preparing the ground for the return to the original instinct implanted in man by God to refrain from consuming animal meat.


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