14 – Eating Meat

01. The Permission to Eat Meat

At first, humanity was meant to subsist on plants, as it is stated (Bereishit 1:29): “God said: Behold, I have given you every seed-bearing herb upon the face of all the earth, and every tree that has seed-bearing fruit; they shall be yours for food.” Animals, however, were forbidden to human beings as food (Sanhedrin 59b). The commentators explain that at that time animals, too, lived on plants and did not prey upon one another (Rashi and Ramban to Bereishit 1:29).

Over time, however, sin spread and the entire world became corrupted. This began with Adam Ha-rishon’s sin, which led to his banishment from Gan Eden, brought death upon him and his descendants, and even caused the earth to fall from its original state and produce thorns and thistles. Yet this punishment did not lead people to learn their lesson. Kayin murdered his brother Hevel. In the generation of Enosh, Adam Ha-rishon’s grandson, people began to sin through idolatry; later, theft, adultery, and murder became increasingly widespread. As human beings sinned, the nature of the animals changed as well. They became more insensitive and cruel, and began preying upon one another, until destruction was decreed upon all flesh. As it is stated (Bereishit 6:11–14): “The earth became corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth. God said to Noaḥ: The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence because of them; behold, I will destroy them with the earth. Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood…”

Only Noaḥ, his sons, and everything aboard the ark were saved from the floodwaters. When they emerged, they were given the task of rebuilding the world from the ground up by carefully observing the seven foundational commandments, which form the basis of human morality. Only once the basic moral order between human beings is properly established can humanity continue to rise in its moral relationship with animals. To this end, the distinction between the human being, created in the image of God, and the animal world had to be made unmistakable. Humanity had to recognize its unique calling and responsibility: the task of repairing and elevating the world was entrusted to human beings alone.

The clearest expression of this is that after the flood, human beings were permitted to eat animal flesh, while at the same time being given a severe warning not to murder a person, who was created in the image of God. As it is stated (Bereishit 9:1–6): “God blessed Noaḥ and his sons, and He said to them: Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. The fear and dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon all that moves upon the ground and upon all the fish of the sea; into your hand they have been given. Every living creature that moves shall be yours for food; as with the green herb, I have given you everything… But your blood, of your souls, I will require… Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God He made man” (based on Maran Rav Kook, Ḥazon Ha-tzimḥonut Ve-ha-shalom 6–9).

It must be added that the sins of Adam Ha-rishon and of the generations before the flood also damaged the natural order. Plant foods could no longer sustain human life as they once had; in other words, moral decline produced a new ecological reality in which people needed to eat meat. This was not the ideal, but what is necessary for survival cannot be condemned. There is also a certain fairness in this: since the animals were saved from destruction through Noaḥ, his descendants may eat them in order to live.

In the world as it now stands, it is not clear that the animals people commonly eat would be better off if humanity stopped eating meat. If people no longer raised them for food, these species would exist in far smaller numbers. Today, cattle and chickens multiply in great numbers only because human beings care for and breed them; if they were all released into the wild, very few would survive for long. See Rabbeinu Beḥaye, Radak, and Malbim to Bereishit 1:29; Malbim and R. Samson Raphael Hirsch to Bereishit 9:3.

02. Should We Encourage Vegetarianism?

Maran Rav Kook wrote that although, according to the perfect ideal, a person should not eat animal flesh, people should not be encouraged to refrain from eating meat at our present moral level. After the flood, when it became clear how low humanity could fall, the Torah sought to direct human beings toward their primary task: repairing the relationships between people. The gap between human beings and animals is vast. Human beings are created in the image of God, with developed thought and a deep emotional life; when a person is wronged, the injury reaches incomparably deeper than it does in an animal. And when people treat one another with decency and love, their relationships become fruitful and can help bring redemption to the world. To keep the moral demand of “Love your fellow as yourself” (Vayikra 19:18), and the teaching “What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow” (Shabbat 31a), at the center of moral life, the Torah directed us, for now, to set aside the ideal of refraining from harm to animals (Rav Kook, Ḥazon Ha-tzimḥonut Ve-ha-shalom 6–7). For this reason, one may slaughter animals for food. As the Sages teach, all creatures were created to serve human beings (Kiddushin 82a); at the world’s present moral level, this means that they may also be eaten.

There is a further danger as well. If too much moral effort were directed toward cultivating love for animals before human morality itself had been repaired, then instead of improving the animals’ lot, it would damage the moral relations among people. Those whose moral sense is not properly developed might say to themselves: “Since we do not refrain from killing animals and eating them, perhaps we may also kill people who stand in our way, and perhaps even eat their flesh.” Others, though morally corrupt, would channel their better impulses toward animals — for even a wicked person retains some spark of kindness — and, having soothed their conscience by treating their pets well, would feel free to steal from, exploit, and kill human beings. For this reason, in the current state of society, people should not be encouraged to stop eating meat. As long as people still crave meat, that craving itself shows that we have not yet reached the stage at which refraining from eating it has moral value (Ḥazon Ha-tzimḥonut Ve-ha-shalom 4, 6, 11).

In the future, however, all creation will rise to a higher state. The kabbalists teach that animals, too, will be elevated and developed until they are capable of speech (Arizal, Sha’ar Ha-mitzvot, Parashat Ekev). Their moral stature will also be transformed completely, as the prophet states (Yeshayahu 11:6–9): “The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; the calf, the young lion, and the fatling together, and a small child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together, and the lion shall eat straw like cattle. An infant shall play over the hole of a cobra, and a weaned child shall stretch his hand over the viper’s den. They shall not harm nor destroy throughout My holy mountain, for the earth shall be filled with knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”

Then everyone will understand that it is inappropriate to kill animals, and no one will desire to eat their flesh. As the prophet says (Hoshea 2:20): “On that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground; and bow, sword, and war I will break from the earth” (Ḥazon Ha-tzimḥonut Ve-ha-shalom 12, 32).

03. The Mitzva to Eat Meat on Shabbat and at Mitzva Meals

There is a mitzva to eat meat on Shabbat and Yom Tov, for the Torah commands us to delight in Shabbat and to rejoice on Yom Tov, and most people experience delight and joy through eating meat (SA, OḤ 250:2; MB 242:1; Peninei Halakha: Shabbat 7:2; Peninei Halakha: Mo’adim 1:9). When the Temple stood, there was also a mitzva to eat from the meat of the offerings.

At first glance, this raises a challenge. How did eating meat, which was forbidden according to the original ideal, become a mitzva? The simple answer is that the moral reality of the world has changed. In the world as it now stands, eating meat is not inherently immoral. Since there is a mitzva to rejoice on Shabbat and Yom Tov, and eating meat brings joy, eating meat on those occasions becomes a mitzva.

The kabbalists explain that in our present state, eating meat has spiritual value. Because of sin, the entire world fell from its level: the inanimate, plant, animal, and human realms all declined, and evil became mixed into each of them. When Jews eat animal flesh in accordance with the laws of kashrut, intending to strengthen themselves in the service of God, the evil in the meat is separated from the good and leaves the body as waste, while the good is elevated, absorbed into the body, and gives them strength to do good deeds. The process of restoration unfolds gradually: plants draw nourishment from the inanimate realm, thereby raising the good within it to the level of plant life. When an animal feeds on plants, it raises the good within them to the level of animal life. When human beings eat from the animal realm, behave morally, and cleave to God, the animal flesh is elevated to the human level. Through the food chain, the entire world is gradually restored to its original level (Arizal, Sha’ar Ha-mitzvot, Parashat Ekev).

This repair is achieved especially when meat is eaten at Shabbat and Yom Tov meals and at other mitzva meals, such as a wedding meal or a berit mila. In those settings, the meat becomes an expression of the joy of a mitzva and helps fulfill it. At ordinary meals, by contrast, the kabbalists teach that this elevation does not always take place. If a person does not go on to live properly, then the meat he ate has not contributed to any repair or ascent. For this reason, some ḥasidim refrain from eating meat at meals that are not connected to a mitzva, concerned that they may not succeed in elevating it as they should. ^[1]

04. The Permission for the Jewish People to Eat Meat

During the forty years in the wilderness, when the Jewish people lived near the Mishkan and the altar, they could eat domesticated animal meat only as part of a shelamim offering. The animal would be slaughtered as an offering; the kohanim would sprinkle its blood on the altar, offer its fats upon the altar fire, and receive their portion of the meat. Only then could the people eat from the offering, and only in a state of ritual purity. Once they entered Eretz Yisrael and settled across the Land, however, they were far from the place of the Temple. They were then permitted to slaughter animals wherever they lived and eat their meat without bringing them as offerings on the altar. As the Torah states (Devarim 12:21): “If the place that the Lord your God will choose to place His Name there is far from you, you shall slaughter from your cattle and your flock, which the Lord has given you, as I have commanded you, and you shall eat within your gates according to all your heart’s desire.” As the Torah describes it, the meat the Jewish people ate in the wilderness was initially bound to the sanctity of a shelamim offering. When they merited entering Eretz Yisrael, that sanctity expanded throughout the Land itself, and meat could be eaten anywhere through proper halakhic sheḥita. ^[2]

Because the Jewish people sanctify themselves through the service of God, their eating need not remain a merely physical act. Their calling places them above the animal realm, and for that reason they may eat meat even outside the framework of an offering. Moreover, through the merit of bringing offerings to God as the Torah commands, the Jewish people became able to draw the sanctity of those offerings into ordinary eating as well. When the Jewish people eat for the sake of Heaven, their eating becomes akin to an offering: the food is raised into the service of God and rises before Him, like an offering, as a pleasing aroma.

This pattern already appears with Noaḥ. He, too, was permitted to eat meat in the merit of the offerings he brought. Before the flood, it is stated (Bereishit 7:1–3): “The Lord said to Noaḥ: Come, you and your entire household, into the ark, for I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation. From every pure animal you shall take for yourself seven pairs, male and female, and from the animal that is not pure, two, male and female. Also, from the birds of the heavens, seven pairs, male and female, to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth.” After the flood ended and Noaḥ left the ark, he understood that God had commanded him to bring seven pairs from the pure species so that he could offer some of them as sacrifices. And so he did: “Noaḥ built an altar to the Lord, and he took from every pure animal and from every pure bird, and he offered burnt offerings on the altar” (ibid. 8:20). Only afterward were Noaḥ and his descendants permitted to eat meat (ibid. 9:2–3).

05. The Permission to Eat Meat and the Danger of Craving

Even after meat was permitted, the desire for it remained dangerous. A craving for meat can pull a person downward, toward animal impulse and sin. This is what happened to the people of Israel in the wilderness, when their demand for meat became a form of rebellion: “The rabble among them were seized by craving, and the Children of Israel also wept again and said, ‘Who will feed us meat?’” (Bamidbar 11:4). Moshe Rabbeinu cried out to God over this: “Where shall I get meat to give this entire people, when they cry to me, saying, ‘Give us meat, that we may eat’? I cannot bear this entire people alone, for it is too heavy for me” (ibid. 11:13–14).

Moshe was then told to warn them that their punishment would come through the very thing they had demanded: “until it comes out of your nose and becomes loathsome to you, because you have rejected the Lord Who is among you, and you cried before Him, saying, ‘Why did we leave Egypt?’” (ibid. 11:20). The Torah continues: “A wind went forth from the Lord and swept quail from the sea… The people rose up all that day, all night, and all the next day, and gathered the quail. Even the one who gathered least gathered ten ḥomarim (a vast quantity), and they spread them out all around the camp. The meat was still between their teeth, before it had been consumed, when the anger of the Lord burned against the people, and the Lord struck the people with a very great plague. That place was named Kivrot Ha-ta’ava, because there they buried the people who had craved” (ibid. 11:31–34). This episode teaches for all generations how grave and dangerous an unrestrained craving for meat can be: it dims the light of the soul and destroys the body.

To keep us from being drawn too strongly after meat, the Torah describes the wish to eat it as a “craving,” as it says (Devarim 12:20): “When the Lord your God expands your border, as He has spoken to you, and you say, ‘I will eat meat,’ because your soul craves to eat meat, you may eat meat according to all your soul’s craving.” If eating meat is bound up with craving, that craving should be restrained. Along these lines, the Sages said: “The Torah teaches proper conduct: a person should eat meat only when he has an appetite for it” (Ḥullin 84a), that is, when he truly wants to eat it.

The Sages also learned from these verses that one must be careful not to let the desire for meat lead him to waste his money. The verse says, “When the Lord your God expands your border, as He has spoken to you, and you say, ‘I will eat meat’”; only when a person has attained financial comfort is it proper for him to allow himself to buy meat. The Sages further inferred from the phrase “you shall slaughter from your cattle and your flock” that one should eat only part of his cattle and flock, leaving them to continue reproducing abundantly. This guidance applies to all luxuries: a person should spend only a small portion of his money on luxuries, while reserving most of it for more important needs or investing it wisely (based on Ḥullin 84a).

06. Mitzvot of Compassion When Animals Are Slaughtered

Although eating animal flesh is permitted, the Torah guides us through several mitzvot to treat animals with compassion. In doing so, it also directs us to recognize the moral difficulty involved in eating meat, preparing us for the future era when we will no longer eat it. We will briefly review six Torah mitzvot that address this concern.

The first is the prohibition against eating a limb from a living animal (ever min ha-ḥai). The cruelty is clear: one may not take flesh from a creature still in pain, let alone eat it. This mitzva applies to Noaḥ’s descendants as well. Although they may eat any living creature and do not require sheḥita, they may take meat from it only after it has died.

The second is the mitzva of sheḥita. We are commanded to slaughter an animal at the neck, and any animal that has not undergone sheḥita is a neveila and forbidden to eat. This law applies to birds and wild animals as well. Although sheḥita is a divine statute whose full reason we do not understand, it clearly expresses compassion, as will be explained below (18:3). Birds are less developed than domesticated and wild animals, and therefore the Torah requires only one of the two simanim to be cut. Fish and locusts, whose brains and nervous systems are less developed, and whose experience of pain is presumably more limited, require no sheḥita at all. The prohibition against eating a limb from a living animal also does not apply to them (below, 15:1, principle 2; 17:7–8; 18:11).

The third is the prohibition against eating the blood of domesticated animals, wild animals, and birds. Sefer ha-Ḥinukh explains that eating blood is especially cruel, because an animal’s blood resembles human blood, and its life-force is bound up with it (Sefer ha-Ḥinukh, mitzva 148).

The fourth is the mitzva to cover the blood of a wild animal or bird after sheḥita (below, 18:9–10). There is an element of cruelty in eating meat while the animal’s blood lies spilled on the ground. Additionally, covering the blood expresses a certain shame over the fact that we must slaughter animals in order to eat their flesh.

The fifth is the prohibition against slaughtering an animal and its offspring on the same day (below, 18:8). Although we are permitted to slaughter an animal for food, the Torah commanded us not to slaughter a mother animal and its young on the same day, as doing so contains an element of cruelty (Sefer ha-Ḥinukh, mitzva 294). There is also concern that the slaughterer might kill the young in front of its mother, or the mother in front of its young, thereby greatly increasing their suffering (Moreh Nevukhim 3:48).

The sixth is the mitzva of sending away the mother bird. According to many commentators, this mitzva too is meant to prevent the mother’s suffering (below, chapter 16).

We see, then, that although the Torah permitted us to eat meat, it sought to prevent that permission from making us cruel or indifferent to animal suffering. It therefore gave us several mitzvot that limit animals’ pain and keep us from adding to it unnecessarily (see below, 15:9, regarding cruelty to animals in the food industry).^[3]