04 Aug RE’EH: HOW DO YOU KNOW IF YOU ARE ALIVE? HOW TO BECOME A KOSHER HUMAN BEING: DO YOU HAVE STANDARDS? DO YOU CHALLENGE YOURSELF?

David Goldberg
bumps into somebody
in the street who
looks like his old
friend Jack. “Jack,”
he says. “You’ve put
on weight and your
hair has turned gray.
You seem a few inches shorter than I recall
and your cheeks are puffy. Plus, you’re
walking differently and even sound different.
Jack, what’s happened to you?”
“I’m not Jack,” the other gentleman tells him.
“My name is Sam!” “Wow! You even changed
your name,” David says.
Two Signs
Land animals that are permitted, or kosher, for
Jews to consume are identified in this week’s
parsha by two distinct characteristics.
Firstly, the animal must bring up its cud and
chew it. This means that after swallowing its
food, the animal must regurgitate it from the
first stomach to the mouth to be chewed again.
This regurgitated food is called “cud.”
Second, the animal must have completely
cloven hooves. For example, the cow, goat,
sheep, and gazelle possess both these
characteristics and are thus kosher. The
donkey and the horse, on the other hand,
which lack both of these features, are defined
as non-kosher animals. The pig, which has
split hooves but does not chew its cud, and the

camel, which chews its cud but has no split
hooves, are non-kosher animals.
Why do these particular characteristics cause
an animal to become kosher?
The Power of Food
Judaism teaches that the physical attributes of
an animal reflect the distinct psychological
and spiritual qualities of its soul.
Another point expounded by Judaism is that
the food a person consumes has a profound
effect on one’s psyche. When a person eats the
flesh of a particular animal, the “personality”
of this animal affects, to some degree, the
identity of the human consumer.
The split hooves and the chewing of the cud
represent two qualities of the soul of these
animals that are crucially necessary for the
healthy development of the human character.
When the Jew consumes the substance
of these animals, he becomes a more “kosher”
and refined human being.
Moral Self-Discipline
Cloven hooves — the division existing in the
coverings on an animal’s feet — are symbolic of
the notion that one’s movement in life
(reflected by the moving legs) is governed by
a division between “right” and “left,”
between right and wrong, between the
permissible and the prohibited. A split hoof
represents the human capacity to accept that
there are things to be embraced and things to
be rebuffed.

This process of moral self-discipline is the
hallmark of living a wholesome life,
physically, psychologically, and spiritually. A
violin can produce its exquisite music only
when its cords are tied, not when they are loose
and “free.” Similarly, a human being who
allows himself to do whatever he wants,
whenever he wants, wherever he wants and
with whomever he wants, robs himself of the
opportunity to experience the inner music of
his soul. And when we have no clear
differentiation between right and wrong, in a
short time we tend to lose the very foundation
of civil life. Nothing is a given, nothing is
important, nothing is sacred, because nothing
is even real. We end up in an endless
wasteland, trying to numb our pain and
anxiety through every possible distraction.
The very core of the “I” gets lost in world
where nothing matters besides the fact that
nothing matters. Semantics, rather than
conviction, becomes the stuff our soul is
carved of.
Rabbi Adin Even Yisroel-Shteinsaltz (1937-
2020), one of the luminaries of our
generation, once shared a story about a
philosophy professor in Israel who asked one
of his students to make a presentation. The
student began by saying, “I speculate that …”
The professor interrupted him: “Please, before
you continue, define the meaning of the word
‘I.” The student attempted thrice to define the

word “I,” but the teacher refuted every
definition. The student gave up and sat down.
The professor stood up and said: “How many
times did I instruct you guys not to use terms
which you cannot define?!”
Challenge Yourself
The second quality that characterizes a
“kosher” human being is that he or she always
chews their cud. Even after a person
“swallows” and integrates into his life certain
values, attitudes, and behaviors, he must never
become totally self-assured and smug
about them. The spiritual human being needs
to continually regurgitate his ideas to be
chewed and reflected upon again. Man must
never allow himself to become fully content in
his own orbit. Contentment breeds smugness;
smugness breeds boredom, arrogance, and
judgementalism. A person ought always – till
his last breath – challenge himself, examine
his behavior, and refine his character.
Or as Rabbi Adin Even Yisroel–Shteinsaltz
once said: How do you know if you are alive
or dead? If something hurts you, it means you
are alive.