Flying Crawling Creatures Permitted and Prohibited for Consumption

20 You must consider loathsome—and therefore not eat—any crawling creature that also flies and walks on four legs—such as flies, wasps, mosquitoes, and forbidden species of grasshopper.

21 However, among all the flying crawling creatures that walk on four legs, you may eat from those (a) that have jointed leg-like extensions above their regular legs, close to their necks, with which they hop on the ground; (b) that have four wings; and (c) whose wings cover the greater part of their bodies.1

22 From among those that satisfy these criteria, you may eat the following: the red locust and all varieties of its species, the yellow locust and all varieties of its species, the spotted gray locust and all varieties of its species, and the white locust and all varieties of its species.

23 Nonetheless, it is only any four-legged flying crawling creature that does not satisfy these criteria that you must consider loathsome. You may, however, eat five-legged flying crawling creatures that do not satisfy these criteria, as long as they are members of the four above-named species of locust.2

Additional laws concerning animals prohibited for consumption will be given presently.3

A Closer Look

[21-23] Permitted grasshoppers: Rashi notes that there are many types of grasshoppers that possess the requisite signs, but we no longer know which of these are encompassed by the names by which they are referred to in the Torah. However, certain Yemenite communities have preserved traditions regarding which varieties of grasshoppers are permitted, so members of those communities are allowed eat those grasshoppers even today.4

Defilement Contracted by Contact with Animals Prohibited for Consumption

24 Through contact with the following animals, you will become ritually defiled. Anyone who touches their carcass will be ritually defiled until he immerses himself in a mikveh during the day and then waits until evening,

25 but anyone who carries their carcass must also immerse his garments in a mikveh, besides becoming ritually defiled himself until he immerses himself in a mikveh and then waits until evening.

26 You must consider any animal whose feet are partially cloven but not completely split into at least two sub-feet, and that does not regurgitate its cud, to be ritually defiled, meaning that anyone who touches it will become ritually defiled. An example of such an animal is the camel. The same rules apply to any animal that is forbidden for consumption.5

27 You must consider, among all the animals that walk on four legs, any animal that walks on its paws to be ritually defiled, meaning that anyone who touches their carcass will be ritually defiled until he immerses himself in a mikveh and then waits until evening. This includes dogs, bears, and cats.

28 Anyone who carries their carcass must immerse his garments in a mikveh, besides becoming ritually defiled himselfuntil he immerses himself in a mikveh and then waits until evening. You must consider them ritually defiled in this respect, as well.

29 Although all crawling creatures (except the types of locusts mentioned above6) are prohibited for consumption (since none of them satisfy the requirements for permitted animals), only the carcasses of eight types of them impart ritual defilement. You must consider the following ritually defiled among crawling creatures that crawl on the ground: the weasel, the mouse, the toad and all varieties of its species,

30 the hedgehog, the chameleon, the lizard, the snail, and the mole.

31 These are the ones among all crawling creatures that you must consider ritually defiled, in that anyone who touches them when they are dead will be ritually defiled until he immerses himself in a mikveh and then waits until evening. A piece of the carcass of one of these creatures imparts ritual defilement only if its volume is equal to or greater than that of a lentil.7

32 All the aforementioned animals do not only impart ritual defilement to you: if any of these dead creatures falls upon anything, it will also become ritually defiled, i.e., prohibited from being brought into precincts that are off-limits to ritually defiled people, and disqualified for holding consecrated food. This rule applies whether the object be any wooden vessel, garment, hide, or sack—in fact, any implement with which work is done. In order to purge it of its ritual defilement, it must be immersed in the water of a mikveh, but even after that, it will remain ritually defiled until evening, after which it will be rid of this defilement.

Seventh Reading 33 In contrast, no earthenware vessel becomes ritually defiled unless any of these animals fall into its interior, but not if they merely touch its external surface. If they do fall into it or are suspended inside it, however, whatever food or drink (as will be specified presently) is inside it will become ritually defiled, even if the defiling creature did not touch the vessel or the entity inside it. Moreover, you must shatter the vessel itself, for earthenware vessels are not freed of ritual defilement any other way; immersing them in a mikveh does not purge them of ritual defilement.

34 As to the types of food and drink that are susceptible to ritual defilement: Any portion of food that is usually eaten—and, if it is a fruit or vegetable, upon which water has fallen once it was plucked from the ground or its tree8—can become ritually defiled. In addition, any of seven specific beverages that can be drunk in any vessel—water, wine, olive oil, blood, milk, dew, and bee honey9—can become ritually defiled.

Not only contact with water, but also contact with any of the other just-mentioned beverages that can be drunk in any vessel will render plucked food susceptible to becomingritually defiled, even if the food had already dried off at the time of defilement.

Thus, you see that ritual defilement can be contracted indirectly, i.e., through a medium that itself is not inherently defiled (in this case, the earthenware vessel), but only contracted defilement from an original source (in this case, the defiling creature). However, only food and drink contract ritual defilement indirectly; people and implements do not.

An article of food that has contracted ritual defilement directly (e.g., through contact with a dead creature) only conveys ritual defilement to other food (by touching it) if its own volume is at least that of an egg [approximately 57 ml or 2 oz].

35 Anything upon which any part of the carcasses of these aforementionedanimals falls will become ritually defiled. Thus, a portable earthenware oven or stove, once they have become ritually defiled as described above, must be demolished—similar to the case of the earthenware vessel described previously10—and their pieces reassembled into a new oven or stove if you wish to use them to prepare ritually undefiled food. If, however, you want to use them to prepare ritually defiled food, which you may eat as long as you understand the restrictions that doing so places upon you, you may keep them intact for use in their defiled state.

In contrast, an immovable oven or stove that is built into the ground does not contract ritual defilement, even if it is earthenware.

36 It was just mentioned11 that water contained in a vessel can become defiled if the carcass of a defiling creature falls into it. But a spring, cistern, or a gathering of water (mikveh) that is built into or hewn out of the ground remains undefiled, even if a defiling carcass falls into it. Furthermore, a ritually defiled person who immerses himself or herself in a spring, cistern, or gathering of water that is built into or hewn out of the ground becomes rid of this defilement, either totally or partially, depending upon the situation.12 Nevertheless, even someone who is inside such a mikveh when he or shetouches the carcass of these creatures will become defiled. In order to be rid of defilement, the person must separate from the carcass and immerse himself again.

A Closer Look

[36] Mikveh: In order for water to purify someone or something from ritual defilement, it must be part of a natural body of water, such as an ocean, lake, permanent river, or spring, or it must be directed from a natural source (such as a natural body of water, rain, or snow) into a cistern. Inasmuch as the entire body must be immersed at once, the minimum volume of a cistern-mikveh is determined to be that held by a parallelepiped 3 cubits long, 1 cubit wide, and 1 cubit deep,13 which in turn is roughly 40 seah14 (approximately 332 liters or 88 gallons). There are many additional rules governing the construction of a mikveh, what type of water may be used to fill it, how the water must be directed into the cistern, and so on.15

37 Regarding the role of liquids in rendering plant-derived foods susceptible to ritual defilement, the rule is as follows: If any part of the carcass of any of these aforementioned animals falls upon any sown plant while it is still sown, i.e., before it has been uprooted, it remains undefiled.

38 But if water or any of the other six aforementioned liquids is put upon sown plants that have been uprooted, or the uprooted plant falls into any of these seven liquids, and then, even after they have subsequently dried off, any of their carcasses falls on them, they become ritually defiled for you.

Defilement Contracted by Contact with Animals Permitted for Consumption

39 If an animal that you are permitted to eat dies by any means other than proper ritual slaughter, one who touches its carcass will be ritually defiled until he immerses himself in a mikveh and then waits until evening, just as in the case of one who touches the carcass of a forbidden animal. In contrast, touching such an animal’s bones, sinews, horns, hooves, or hide does not render a person ritually defiled. If the animal was properly ritually slaughtered, its carcass does not impart ritually defilement, even if the animal is found to have been suffering from a fatal disease or injury.16

40 One who carries a part of the carcass of a permitted animal whose volume is equivalent to the volume that one who eats of the same carcass would have to ingest in order to be culpable for punishment for doing so, i.e., the volume of an egg [approximately 57 ml or 2 oz] or more, must immerse his garments in a mikveh, besides being ritually defiled himself until he immerses himself in a mikveh and waits until evening. Thus, one who carries the carcass of a permitted animal must purify himself exactly as one who carries the carcass of a forbidden animal:17 he must immerse his garments in a mikveh, and he himself will remain ritually defiled until he immerses himself in a mikveh and then waits until evening.

Crawling Creatures Prohibited for Consumption

41 We discussed previously18 which flying crawling creatures are permitted and prohibited for consumption. Any non-flying crawling creature that crawls on the ground is considered loathsome, and you must therefore not eat it. Furthermore, it must not be eaten by others—e.g., minors—through your agency. In contrast, a non-flying crawling creature that began its life inside a fruit or vegetable and has not yet crawled on the ground (or emerged from the fruit or vegetable in any other way) is not forbidden for consumption.

42 Among all crawling creatures that only crawl on the ground, you may not eat the snake, who moves about bent over and then falls on its belly; any creature that moves about only on its belly, such as a worm; the scorpion, who walks on four legs; and any creature that walks on more than four legs, such as a beetle, including any type of centipede or other creature that has many legs.19 You may not eat these, for they, too, must be considered loathsome.

43 You must not make yourselves loathsome by eating any crawling creature that only crawls on the ground. You must not spiritually defile yourselves by eating them, for if you do, you will remain spiritually defiled in the afterlife through having eaten them in this life, unless you properly repent beforehand.”

44 God instructed Moses to tell Aaron to tell his sons20 to conclude this section by saying in His Name, “For I am God, your God, and therefore, just as your God is holy, so must you sanctify yourselves; then you will also be holy in the afterlife, just as I am holy.

As stated, you must not defile yourselves by eating any crawling creature that crawls on the ground. I am repeating this prohibition in order to make you liable to multiple punishments if you transgress it—subject to what kind of forbidden creature you eat.

Maftir 45 You must obey these commandments because I am God, who brought you up from Egypt on the condition that I be your God and you submit to My decrees. Thus, you must be holy in this respect, because I am holy and command you to be so. But in any case, you should appreciate these restrictions; in fact, if I would have taken you out of Egypt solely in order to forbid you to eat these creatures—which the Egyptians and others do eat—you should have considered it a significant enough spiritual elevation for you to thank Me.

46 The above section is the law regarding the permissibility of eating animals, fowl, all living creatures that move in water, and all creatures that creep on the ground, as well as the ritual impurity contracted by contact with them.

Further Requirements for Animals Permitted for Consumption

47 With regard to animals that are permitted for consumption, you must additionally be proficient and practiced in the laws of ritual slaughter as well as expert in identifying the signs of fatal diseases or injuries for which you must inspect the animal after slaughtering it. Specifically, you must be easily able to distinguish between improperritual slaughter, which causes the animal’s carcass to be ritually defiled,21 and proper ritual slaughter, which leaves the dead animal ritually undefiled. For example, if its trachea was cut only halfway, the slaughter is invalid and you will become ritually defiled if you touch the animal’s carcass, whereas if its trachea was cut even slightly more than halfway, the slaughter was valid and the dead animal does not impart ritual defilement. The difference between these two cases is very slight, so you must learn how to distinguish between them.

Similarly, when you examine an animal after it was properly ritually slaughtered, you must be able to distinguish between an animal that is allowed to be eaten and an animal that may not be eaten. Specifically, if there are indications that the animal had been suffering from a fatal disease or injury, it is forbidden for consumption—despite it having been proper ritually slaughtered; however, if it does show signs of disease or injury but only of one that is not fatal, it is permitted for consumption. The difference between these two cases can be very slight, so you must learn how to distinguish between them.”22