Chulin – Daf 37
Our Gemara on amud beis relates the prophet Yechezkel’s reaction to a draconian directive he received from G-d to eat bread baked over human dung (Yechezkel 4:14): “Ah, L-rd G-d, my soul has not become impure; and from my youth until now I have not eaten an unslaughtered carcass or a tereifa, and no pigul flesh came into my mouth.” Yechezkel’s argument is that since he was exceedingly careful about his kashrus, he should be spared from such an indignity.
Zohar (Vayeshev) explains that Yechezkel was referred to as “ben Adam,” “son of man,” because since he was careful with what he ate, he merited the status of a true human being. It also says, similarly, that this is why Daniel was not consumed by the lion, as animals have a natural fear of a true human being. This is also reflected in the teaching of Gemara Shabbos (151b): “An animal does not overpower a person until he appears to it as an animal, as it is stated: ‘But man does not abide in honor, he is like the beasts that perish’” (Psalms 49:13).
One of the ways that a human is distinct from an animal is that via his intellectual reasoning, he can sublimate an immediate need or gratification for a long-term value or goal. Even if the food looks really good and tasty, a human can conceptualize other more lofty goals and gratification, and forgo the cookie.
Unfortunately, the opposite is true as well. A person who constantly succumbs to his needs and urges without any intellectual thought or consideration is no better than an animal. Rambam famously makes this point, and he did not pull any punches or phrase it in a politically correct manner (Shemoneh Perakim 5): “For a person who comes and eats food that is pleasing to the palate, of good aroma, which the soul desires – yet it is harmful to him, and may possibly be the cause of a serious illness or sudden death – such a person and an animal are, in my view, equivalent.”
This has ramifications beyond food. In Moreh Nevuchim (III:18), Rambam explains that the level of Divine Providence varies from person to person on a continuum, from that of beast, literally, to the highest level of humanity: “In the same proportion as ignorant and disobedient persons are deficient in that Divine influence, their condition is inferior, and their rank equal to that of irrational beings: and they are ‘like unto the beasts’ (Ps. 49:21). For this reason, it was not only considered a light thing to slay them, but it was even directly commanded for the benefit of mankind.”
Of course, this is not politically correct, and is even a dangerous, slippery slope, because throughout the millennia, groups have slaughtered other groups claiming that they are less than human. Nevertheless, while a trope or misused principle might be dangerous, that doesn’t take away from whether or not it is actually true. Clearly, according to Rambam, humanity is not an automatic status; it must be earned. We do not have to use such moral principles to look down upon others, but rather to expect the most out of ourselves.
Born Ready: Creation, Maturity, and the Age of the Universe
Daf 38
Our Gemara on amud beis discusses the law that a sacrifice cannot be brought from an animal that is less than eight days old. Merafsin Igra asks: Rambam (Bais HaBechira 2:2) records a tradition that Adam brought a sacrifice the day he was created. But how could this be a kosher sacrifice, since by definition it could not have been eight days old? He answers that this restriction only applies to an animal born from a mother. As the verse says, “Seven days it shall be under its mother” (Vayikra 22:27.) Therefore, these animals created by G-d were not under that restriction.
Sefer Daf al Daf suggests a different answer based on a later Gemara (daf 60a): “All items created during the acts of Creation were created with their full stature, immediately fit to bear fruit; they were created with their full mental capacities; they were created with their full form. As it is stated: ‘And the heaven and the earth were finished, and all the host of them’ (Genesis 2:1). Do not read it as: ‘The host of them [tzeva’am]’; rather, read it as: ‘Their form [tzivyonam].’”
This shows that the animal Adam sacrificed was as if it was a mature animal in its prime. This idea is not only helpful to answer our question on our Gemara, but also provides us with a logical way to understand, according to the Torah, how the world is only a few thousand years old while we have stars in the sky that are hundreds of thousands of light years from us, as well as geological evidence of a much older planet. What is even more remarkable is that this tradition from the Sages did not come from any apologetic urge. Meaning to say, they did not have Darwin to answer to nor did they understand the speed of light. Therefore, this tradition is even more meaningful and credible as an answer because it existed before people even had the question.
Tower of Ambition: Intent, Action, and the Sins of Technology
Daf 39
Tosafos on amud aleph (“Retzono lomar”) draws a distinction between an idolatrous act and an idolatrous thought that remains as thought only, even when expressed as an intention, such as, “I will worship [such and such]…” Though forbidden, the latter is not punishable by an earthly court. However, an idolatrous thought and intention which is carried through in an action is punishable.
Therefore, if one declares he will sprinkle blood or perform some other idolatrous worship, so far it is not punishable. However, if he declares, “I will slaughter this animal in order to sprinkle its blood for such and such a deity,” and he then slaughters the animal, then even though he didn’t yet sprinkle the blood, he is liable for idolatry. This is because his inner thought was supported by an action, even if the action was not yet the act of idolatry that he specified (since he only slaughtered, but did not yet sprinkle the blood). His action of slaughtering demonstrates his intention.
Torah Temimah (Bereishis 11:4) uses this principle to resolve a question regarding the sin of the Tower of Bavel. The Torah itself is ambiguous in its description of the sin. We understand from the narrative that the people wanted to build a tower, which itself doesn’t seem to be sinful. The verse (11:6) states: “And G-d said, ‘If, as one people with one language for all, this is how they have begun to act, then nothing that they may propose to do will be out of their reach.’” While we do not know from the text what their sin is, it is apparent from G-d’s reaction that there was a terrible breach, and that it was of a sinful act that had only just begun and would become worse.
The Gemara Sanhedrin (109a) says their intention was to make this tower into a mode of idol worship. The question is, why should they have been held liable if they had not yet actually performed the worship? The Torah Temimah answers, based on the principle we saw in Tosafos, that an action could substantiate the thought, even if the action is not yet the performance of the intended thought. Here, too, even though they did not worship yet, the building of the tower was the action that substantiated their thought and made them liable.
As we saw, the text itself is ambiguous, and we do not really know exactly what their sin was. One of the most creative ideas is the one put forth by Rabbi Yonasan Eibshutz (Tiferes Yonasan, Bereishis 8:21) that the tower was some kind of rocket platform, which would be high enough that some vessel could then be launched with gunpowder and be able to remain elevated outside of the pull of Earth. (He did not quite know yet about gravity in the Newtonian sense, but understood that there was an area somewhere above the atmosphere that did not pull things down to earth as much.) The idea would be that if they could launch themselves that high and stay in orbit, they’d be able to avoid the rain which came down at a lower level and therefore outwit G-d’s ability to bring upon them another flood.
I think this is fascinating because two of the most famous Jewish astronauts, Judy Reznick and Ilan Ramon, died either upon launch or reentry into the atmosphere. I’ve always wondered: Is this a sign from G-d that we are not to ascend to the heavens? I think not. I think G-d’s directive and blessing to “conquer the land” (Bereishis 1:28) gives license and even obligates human beings to productively and creatively settle and explore the land. There’s no reason to believe that land in this case means anything less than any area that human beings can occupy, even other planets.
Ironically, some people learned that the sin of the Tower of Bavel was that the people wanted to settle in one place and have an authoritarian society that would limit its inhabitants to a centralized city and government, which would lead to stagnation. This itself is a pro-technology, pro-exploration interpretation. That is why G-d mixed up the languages – in order to create a diaspora of different opinions and cultures that would lead potentially to human growth and development. (See Ibn Ezra on Bereishis 11:3-5.)
It is not the technology that is the problem. It is the intent. Is it to explore G-d’s world and develop humanity, or is it with idolatrous or hubristic intentions?
We are in a society that is on the cusp of changes that are so rapid and sweeping, we might not recognize ourselves even within a decade. We are on the breakthrough in advances of bioengineering, artificial intelligence, the imminent approach of Ray Kurzweil’s Singularity, and abundant and free energy. There is a possibility of such rapid change that labor and products could be essentially free, which would disrupt the purpose and meaning of life.
There are two traditions about the Messianic future that indicate that the very same reality can either lead to redemption and bliss or shame and rebuke.
Sukkah (52a) states: “Rabbi Yehuda taught: ‘In the future, at the end of days, G-d will bring the evil inclination and slaughter it in the presence of the righteous and in the presence of the wicked. For the righteous the evil inclination appears to them as a high mountain, and for the wicked it appears to them as a mere strand of hair. These weep and those weep. The righteous weep and say: ‘How were we able to overcome so high a mountain?’ And the wicked weep and say: ‘How were we unable to overcome this strand of hair?’”
Similarly, the Gemara (Avodah Zara 3b) states: “Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish says: ‘There is no Gehenna in the World to Come. Rather, the Holy One, Blessed be He, will remove the sun from its sheath [minnarteikah], where it is situated during these times, and heats [umakdir] that world with it. The wicked will be punished by it and consumed by the heat, but the righteous will be healed by it.’”
And we have the verse in Hoshea (14:10): “For the paths of G-d are straight; The righteous can walk on them, while sinners stumble on them.”
All of our advances in technology can literally lead to heaven or hell. We could be living in a Messianic future or a satanic upheaval – it all depends on our humility and wish to fulfill G-d’s will. May the world choose wisely.