The Weekly Sedra – Parshas Re’eh

The Rebbe says:

1. In this week’s Torah portion the Torah says1 “When Hashem, your G-d, will broaden your boundaries as He spoke to you, and you say “I would eat meat”, for it is the desire of your soul to eat meat, as all the desire of your soul you may eat meat”.

Rashi (an acronym for Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki) brings two explanations for this verse:

Rabbi Yishmael explains2 that this verse is teaching us that before the Yidin (the Jewish people) entered Eretz Yisroel (the Land of Israel) they were not allowed to eat meat out of desire, they were only allowed to eat meat from the Sacrifices which they brought, however now, once Hashem brought them into Eretz Yisroel and broadened their boundaries, they were allowed to eat meat out of desire.

Rabbi Akiva however does not hold like this3, he holds that even before the Yidin entered Eretz Yisroel they were allowed to eat meat out of desire. And not only this, but according to Rabbi Akiva, entering Eretz Yisroel came with more restrictions then before; in the desert the Yidin were allowed to eat meat that was not Shechted (ritually slaughtered) and only once they entered Eretz Yisroel were they obligated to Shecht (ritually slaughter) their animals.

If so, what is our verse teaching us? Rabbi Akiva holds that our verse is teaching us proper conduct- “A person should not desire to eat meat except out of broadness of hands and wealth”.

The bottom line is:

Rabbi Akiva holds that while the Yidin were in the desert they were allowed to eat meat out of desire, and they were allowed to eat this meat of desire without even Shechting (ritually slaughtering) it, (however even Rabbi Akiva holds that the meat which they ate from the Sacrifices had to be Shechted). However once the Yidin entered Eretz Yisroel they were obligated to Shecht (even) their animals which were not sacrifices.

Rabbi Yishmael holds that while the Yidin were in the desert they were not allowed to eat meat out of desire (and therefore obviously there is no law regarding their obligation to Shecht this animals or not). However once they entered Eretz Yisroel they were allowed to eat meat out of desire and they were obligated to Shecht their animals.

Also, as we said, these two opinions learn the words of our verse differently:

Rabbi Yishmael learns that the words “When Hashem, your G-d, will broaden your boundaries” refers to the boundaries of Eretz Yisroel.

Rabbi Akiva however learns that these words refer to a persons own boundaries- only when a person is rich and prosperous should he desire meat, however he can eat the meat where ever he may be.

2. The Halacha (law) actually follows Rabbi Akiva.

3. The Rebbe asks a question:

Question: When Rashi brings both opinions regarding how to learn this verse, he does not say “this one holds this and that one holds that”, instead, he just brings them both as one explanation of the verse4.

How can Rashi do this? Obviously both explanations cannot coexist as one!:

If we say- like Rabbi Yishmael- that the words “When Hashem, your G-d, will broaden your boundaries” refers to the boundaries of Eretz Yisroel and the verse is teaching us that the Yidin can only eat desired meat once they entered Eretz Yisroel, we obviously cannot also say- like Rabbi Akiva- that these words teach us that the Yidin can eat desired meat wherever they want (as long as they are rich)!

4. The Rebbe now lays the foundation for our answer:

Since Rashi did indeed bring both of these opinions as one explanation of the verse, we must say that in truth these two opinions do not argue and are actually the same thing; they both come from the same starting point, they just argue about the ramifications5.

5. The Rebbe now lays the foundation for our explanation:

As we said many times, the time that the Yidin spent in the desert differed greatly from the time that they spent in Eretz Yisroel:

In the desert they did not have to get involved in the mundane aspects of life; they did not have to work the fields and plant seeds to have food because they had the Manna which fell steaming hot from the sky, they did not have to dig a well to find water because water flowed from the Rock of Miriam6, they did not have to buy clothes because their clothes grew with them and cleaned themselves, they did not have to worry about the terrain they were crossing because the Clouds of Glory made mountains low and valleys high, and they did not have to worry about their safety because the Clouds of Glory kept them safe from any attack.

However when they entered Eretz Yisroel all of this was taken away from them and they had to now work for everything they needed and have armies for defense because this was a part of Hashem’s plan of making every aspect of His world a resting place for Him.

6. The Rebbe now discusses how this affected their meat eating habits:

As we said earlier, the food that the Yidin had in the desert was Manna. The Manna came from Heaven and was therefore higher then coarse physical desires, it had a refinement to it7. Only once the Yidin entered Eretz Yisroel and were involved in the mundane aspects of life did they have desires to eat meat. While the Yidin were in the desert and were separated from the world, desire for meat (which was not from a Sacrifice) was not an option.

The reason why the Yidin desired to eat meat when they entered Eretz Yisroel is because now they were involved in elevating every aspect of life (which is allowed according to Torah) and therefore they even wanted to elevate meat which was not from a Sacrifice (Holy).

And this is why our verses continue and tell us8 “Only be strong not to eat the blood”; since the Yidin were now going to begin their work of elevating every aspect of life, even meat which one eats out of desire (and not because it is from a Sacrifice and must be eaten), the Torah warns them “not to eat the blood” which symbolizes passion and lust. The Torah is telling the Yidin that even though they must now be involved in physical things (to elevate them) they should only have a passion for Holy things and not for physical things.

7. The Rebbe now explains how this is the basis for Rabbi Yishmael and Rabbi Akiva’s argument:

From the above explanation we see that there are “two sides of the coin” regarding entering Eretz Yisroel: On one hand it was a descent, and therefore they now had desires for meat. But on the other hand it was a great ascent because they were now able to bring G-dliness into every aspect of this world and therefore Hashem gave them the strength to do exactly that.

Now, Rabbi Yishmael and Rabbi Akiva both agree that the source of this newfound strength to even elevate meat of desire was from their souls; when they entered Eretz Yisroel their soul’s strength was broadened and was now able to handle elevating meat of desire. And they both see this from our verse, as it says “When Hashem, your G-d, will broaden your boundaries”.

The difference between Rabbi Yishmael and Rabbi Akiva is this; before the Yidin entered Eretz Yisroel, did they have any strength at all to elevate meat of desire?

Rabbi Yishmael says no, they did not have the ability to elevate regular meat, and therefore he holds that before the Yidin entered Eretz Yisroel they were not allowed to eat regular meat.

However Rabbi Akiva9 held that even before the Yidin entered Eretz Yisroel they were able to elevate meat of desire to some degree and therefore he held that in the desert regular meat of desire was allowed.

The only thing left to understand is why Rabbi Akiva held that in the desert the meat did not have to be Shechted.

The explanation: Even Rabbi Akiva agrees that the elevation of the world which the Yidin were able to accomplish once they entered Eretz Yisroel was much greater then what they could do while they were in the desert.

Now that we know this, we must understand what Shechita (ritually slaughtering an animal) really is and then we will arrive at our answer:

The Talmud tells us10 that “slaughtering is pulling (it’s life out)”. Pulling obviously means taking something from one place and putting it somewhere else. Chassidus explains11 that the inner meaning of this is that when one Shechts (ritually slaughters) an animal, he is taking it from being a coarse living animal and elevating it to becoming part of the Jew’s service to Hashem.

Therefore, since Rabbi Akiva holds that the Yidin were not able to totally elevate regular meat, they did not have to Shecht it12. However once the Yidin entered Eretz Yisroel and were able to totally elevate the animal, they were obligated to Shecht it.

8. The Rebbe now tells us the lesson we can learn from each of the opinions:

If the Halacha (law) is not in accordance with Rabbi Yishmael, Rashi must have brought him because his opinion is pertinent to our daily lives. The lesson we can learn from Rabbi Yishmael is that every single day a Jew goes through the two stages of being in the desert and then entering Eretz Yisroel; before a Jew Davens (prays) he is in the desert and therefore does not have the strength to elevate coarse physicality (he can’t eat meat), and after he Davens he has entered Eretz Yisroel and now has the strength to even elevate meat of desire. Simply put, before we Daven we should not eat food (unless it is for health reasons) because we do not have the strength to elevate it.

The lesson we can learn from Rabbi Akiva is that we should constantly be moving upwards in our service of elevating the world. If tomorrow you have more strength, you must elevate more.

Translated and adapted by Rabbi Shalom Goldberg. Taken from Likutei Sichos Volume four.