Pisqa’ 1041
1
“Do not eat any carcass” (Dt.14:21).
I might infer only that
[the rule applies to] a carcass found dead.
On what basis do I know that
[it applies] to what is mauled [and about to die]?
The teaching states:
“Any carcass” (Dt.14:21)—
[this includes] anything found dead
[including a mauled animal that will not survive].
2
“Give it to the migrant (ger) within your gates” (Dt.14:21)—
this teaches that
one may make a gift of the carcass
to the resident alien (ger toshav).
On what basis do I know that
[the carcass may be given]
even to a foreigner?
The Teaching states:
“To a foreigner” (Dt.14:21).
On what basis do I know that
one may sell it to a resident alien?
The Teaching states:
“Or sell it” (Dt.14:21).
On what basis do I know that
one may sell it to a foreigner?
The Teaching states:
“To a foreigner” (Dt.14:21).
You might conceivably say that
one may sell it or give it as a gift
to a foreigner or a resident alien.
R. Judah says:
Matters stand as they are written
[and require no further explication].
3
“For you are a people consecrated (qadosh) to HASHEM your God” (Dt.14:21).
[Therefore,] consecrate (qadesh) yourself.
Permitted acts that others treat as prohibited—
you are not permitted to treat them as permissible.
“Do not boil a kid in its mother’s milk” (Dt.14:21).
Why is this taught [on three separate occasions
[(Dt.14:21, Ex.23:19, and Ex.34:26)]?
[The repetition] corresponds to three covenantal promises
that the Blessed Holy One sealed with Israel
at three separate occasions:
Once at Horeb (Dt.6:1ff.),
and once on the Plain of Moab ( Dt.28:69-30:20),
and once at Mt. Gerizim and Mt. Ebal (Dt.28:1-24).2
4
R. Akiva says:
[prohibitions against cooking milk with]
wild cattle and fowl are not grounded in the Torah!
Therefore, it is stated three times:
“Do not boil a kid in its mother’s milk” (Dt.14:21)—
specifically, wild cattle, fowl, and unclean beasts
[along with domestic cattle, may not be cooked with milk].3
R. Yose the Galilian says:
One verse states:
“Do not eat any carcass” (Dt.14:21),
while another states:
“Do not boil a kid in its mother’s milk” (Dt.14:21) –
{thus, whatever is prohibited under the rule of carcass
is forbidden to boil in milk.
As for fowl, which is prohibited under the rule of carcass,
is it possible to say that
it should be forbidden to boil in milk?
The Teaching states:
“In its mother’s milk” (Dt.14:21).}4
This excludes fowl,
which has no mother’s milk!5
- H:149-150; JN1:265-266.
- This material is identified by F:163, n.9 as an interpolation based upon Mechilta Ishmael, kaspa’, 20.
- //M. Hul.8:4.
- The bracketed material is added to the text by F:163 based on M. Hu.8:4. See his list of variant readings ad loc.
- = M/ Hul.8:4; cf. Mechilta Rashbi-Nelson, pp.369-370.